Up to half the food aid in Somalia is routinely diverted to corrupt contractors and militants, a leaked UN report says.

Barack Obama warns that the crisis in quake-hit Haiti is not over, as he meets the country's president.

The UN secretary general asks the world's leading science academies to review the UN's climate science body.

EU nations decide to support a ban on international trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna until stocks recover.

Israel comes under growing international pressure following its approval of new building in occupied East Jerusalem.

Police say 49 people are to be charged with murder following communal violence that left scores of Nigerian villagers dead.

Businessman Boris Berezovsky wins his libel case over claims he was behind the murder of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko.

Lost Boys actor Corey Haim dies at the age of 38, the Los Angeles coroner's office confirms.

Italy signs a deal with Google to put online the contents of its two national libraries, including works by Dante and Galileo.

An Israeli supermarket chain uses spoof surveillance footage, parodying that of the alleged assassins of a Hamas commander in Dubai, in a TV advert.

An elephant in a Sydney zoo shocks vets by giving birth to a live baby elephant who appears to have survived labour in a coma in the womb.

Wayne Rooney scores twice in another irresistible display as Manchester United beat Milan 4-0 on the night and 7-2 on aggregate to ease into the Champions League quarter-final.

Lyon draw 1-1 in the Bernebau to earn a 2-1 aggregate win over Real Madrid.

Joe Biden is in the region to encourage talks between the Palestinians and Israel. What can be achieved?

Why the UK fears politics and force are out of synch

Church authority at risk as scandals spread in Europe

Ashton in EU turf battle over new diplomatic team

It's a big task, but how do you recycle a plane?

Eye-catching images from around the world

The ban, announced by House Democratic leaders, wipes out one of the most lucrative and controversial means of awarding no-bid contracts to private firms.

The new standards, which experts said could well be adopted by a majority of states, would replace the nation?s checkerboard of locally written standards.

Palestinian leaders meeting with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. condemned a decision by Israel on new housing, but still spoke of participating in peace talks.

Through a controversial practice called vision therapy, some optometrists say they can treat learning disabilities.

Hamtramck, Mich., settled a long-running housing discrimination suit by offering homes to the descendants of black residents forced off their property in the 1950s and ?60s.

The administration doesn't hesitate to take issue with remarks made by the chief justice of the United States.

How long "before the business model collapses of its own weight?'' the secretary of health and human services asked insurers on Wednesday.

The announcements by Ingersoll-Rand and Royal Dutch Shell come as the U.S. is pressing for new sanctions.

The question is whether the U.S. is prepared to lead or whether protectionist pressures will make it impossible to engage fully with trading partners.

President Obama made the pledge after meeting with President René Préval of Haiti on Wednesday, even as the U.S. military begins withdrawing forces.

The review aims to help the U.N. climate change panel avoid the kinds of errors that have brought its work into question in recent months, officials said Wednesday.

ST. CHARLES, Mo. (AP) -- President Barack Obama denounced waste, inefficiency and downright fraud in the government's health care system on Wednesday as he sought to rally public support for his revamped overhaul plan. "Improper payments cost taxpayers almost $100 billion last year alone," Obama said at a rally in this St. Louis suburb....

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) -- An open diplomatic row during the visit of Vice President Joe Biden has shined a spotlight on the U.S. failure to rein in Israeli settlement ambitions and deepened Palestinian suspicions that the United States is too weak to broker a deal....

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Corey Haim, a 1980s teen heartthrob whose career was blighted by drug abuse, has died. He was 38. Haim died early Wednesday at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, Los Angeles County coroner's Lt. Cheryl MacWillie said....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- They flew planes during World War II but weren't considered "real" military pilots. No flags were draped over their coffins when they died on duty. And when their service ended, they had to pay their own bus fare home....

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Church abuse scandals in Germany have reached the older brother of Pope Benedict XVI and are creeping ever closer to the pontiff himself....

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Colleen LaRose spent long days caring for her boyfriend's father in a second-floor apartment in Pennsburg, a small town north of Philadelphia. But online, federal authorities say, the devoted caretaker developed a daring alter ego, refashioning herself as "Jihad Jane" while helping recruit and finance Muslim terrorists - and eventually moving overseas to try to kill an artist she perceived as an enemy to Islam....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate voted Wednesday to extend key pieces of last year's economic stimulus measure, including help for the jobless and money to help financially strapped states pay for health care for the poor....

STOCKHOLM (AP) -- The point of a caricature depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a dog was to show that artistic freedom allows mockery of all religions, including the most sacred symbols of Islam, the Swedish artist who created it said Wednesday....

AMES, Iowa (AP) -- Second-degree burglary charges have been filed against an Ames man who broke into a church where he allegedly used the institution's electronic equipment to watch pornography. Police allege the 55-year-old man broke into the First Christian Church on Thursday. After gathering items from around the building, he is believed to have gone to the basement to spend the night....

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) -- Nomar Garciaparra rejoined the Red Sox for one day and then retired, ending a 14-year career in which he won two batting titles with Boston and was once a beloved player in the city....

WASHINGTON — Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia posted net gains in employment in January, the Labor Department reported Wednesday, providing further evidence that the economy is slowly gaining momentum.

WASHINGTON — Macie Jo Wheelis, 91, has had a colorful life. A pioneering female aviator, she was one of the 1,102 Women Airforce Service Pilots in World War II. She was an avid golfer who played with the legendary Byron Nelson, a Dallas bowling champion and, for years, a West Texas racehorse breeder and owner.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The picture, spread virally on the Web, was the last straw for state Sen. Frederica Wilson. It showed a man posing in front of the White House with a noose wrapped around an American flag.

LOS ANGELES — A preliminary investigation into the death of former child actor Corey Haim found he died early Wednesday morning of an apparent drug overdose, sources said.

WASHINGTON — Rep. Roy Blunt has never been a favorite of the environmental lobby.

WASHINGTON — Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham joined Democratic Reps. Jim Clyburn and John Spratt on Wednesday in introducing bipartisan legislation to provide $4.9 billion in federal loans for rural power consumers to make their homes and businesses more energy efficient.

WASHINGTON — Macie Jo Wheelis, 91, has had a colorful life. A pioneering female aviator, she was one of the 1,102 Women Airforce Service Pilots in World War II. She was an avid golfer who played with the legendary Byron Nelson, a Dallas bowling champion and, for years, a West Texas racehorse breeder and owner.

WASHINGTON — The Senate Wednesday passed a $137.9 billion package aimed at helping jobless people get more benefits and businesses to hire more workers, but only after controversy about the bill's cost and impact. The rare bipartisan vote was 62 to 36.

WASHINGTON — Richard Doerflinger doesn't look the part of a high-powered political strategist. Bearded and bespectacled, he works in a small, cluttered office out of one of Washington's less-fashionable neighborhoods, far from the lobbying bastions of K Street.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius ratcheted up the pressure on health insurance companies on Wednesday, urging them to forgo short-term profits to make coverage more affordable and to stop fighting the Obama administration's reform effort.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Vice President Joe Biden publicly scolded Israel on Wednesday over a Jewish settlement plan, saying it was undermining peace efforts after Palestinians agreed to U.S.-mediated talks.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - With Governor David Paterson enveloped in scandal, New York's lieutenant governor is leading the notoriously difficult budget process and freeing up his boss to fight for his political life, experts say.

DETROIT (Reuters) - Federal regulators said they were looking into a report of another runaway Toyota Prius, this one in Westchester County, New York, where police said a woman pulling out of a driveway zoomed across a busy street and into a stone wall.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The leader of the House of Representatives -- a persuasive arm twister and deal maker -- faces her toughest challenge yet: getting 216 votes to pass final legislation revamping the U.S. healthcare system.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Initial results from Iraq's national election are likely to be released by Thursday, Iraqi and U.N. officials said on Wednesday, as further signs emerged of a strong showing for Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Wednesday he believed Britain would maintain its coveted top credit rating and announced a pay freeze for senior civil servants and military officers to help tame a record deficit.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three American detained in Iran last year and accused of spying have been allowed to telephone their families, although formal consular access has not been granted, the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Pennsylvania woman has been charged with plotting to kill a Swedish man and trying to recruit fighters via the Internet to commit violent attacks overseas, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday.

JOS, Nigeria (Reuters) - Sporadic shooting rang out overnight in the central Nigerian city of Jos and witnesses said at least one person was killed by soldiers enforcing a curfew days after attacks on three nearby Christian villages.

TUSCALOOSA, ALA. -- Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said Tuesday that the scene at President Obama's State of the Union address was "very troubling" and that the annual speech has "degenerated to a political pep rally."

The company at the heart of a growing recall of processed foods knew that its plant was contaminated with salmonella but continued to make a flavoring and sell it to foodmakers around the country, according to inspectors at the Food and Drug Administration.

An outside review of a United Nations panel on climate change -- promised after a handful of flaws were uncovered in the panel's most recent report -- will not re-check that report's conclusions and will instead focus on improving procedures for the future, officials said Wednesday.

The Senate approved a $140 billion package of tax breaks and aid to the unemployed Wednesday, the most substantial effort by the chamber to boost the nation's economy since passing the stimulus bill last year.

Several states are poised to adopt standards proposed Wednesday for what students should learn in English and math, a crucial step in President Obama's campaign to raise academic expectations across the country.

Not long after Eric Massa joined Congress in January 2009, several male staff members began to feel uncomfortable with the sexually loaded language their boss routinely used, according to accounts relayed to the House ethics committee.

700 jobs Legalization of same-sex marriages expected to create in District.

-- The headline on a March 9 Economy & Business item misidentified the agency conducting reviews of some campuses of Kaplan, the education company owned by The Washington Post Co. It is the Education Department, not the Securities and Exchange Commission. The item also incorrectly included the...

A suicide plane crash that killed the pilot and an Internal Revenue Service worker at an office building in Austin on Feb. 18 was not a case of domestic terrorism, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Tuesday in a radio interview.

LONDON -- U.S. intelligence agencies misled key allies, including Britain, about its mistreatment of terrorism suspects, the former head of the country's domestic spy agency, MI5, said Tuesday.

The millions of blue forms being mailed this month in the first census count since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, do not ask about religion. But the idea of answering any questions posed by the government makes some Muslims uneasy, and community leaders are worried that many may avoid the...

After Thursday's shooting at the entrance to the Pentagon -- which ended with the wounding of two security officers and the death of shooter John Patrick Bedell -- Washington Post reporters visited several federal sites.

A coalition of activists launched a petition this week to press governments in Virginia, Maryland and the District to increase funding for Metro by $74 million to help stave off service cuts and fare increases.

Maryland officials have agreed to make developer-friendly changes in a law that requires new building projects to reduce the pollution that rain washes off their roofs and parking lots.

Stars 4, Capitals 3 (SO) SCORING FIRST PERIOD Scoring: 1, Washington, Poti 4 (Steckel, Bradley), 2:51. Penalties: None.

HORNETS 135, WARRIORS 131 Darren Collison had 16 points and a career-high 20 assists, and New Orleans snapped a four-game losing streak with a victory over Golden State.

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Myanmar's ruling junta has announced a new election law that disqualifies pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from participating in upcoming national elections.

The situation in Haiti "remains dire," U.S. President Barack Obama says, adding that the rainy season will exacerbate a desperate need for food, medicine and shelter.

Boris Berezovsky wins his UK libel case against a Russian broadcaster which claimed the Russian oligarch was behind the poisoning of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko.

The United States will hold both Israel and the Palestinians responsible for any steps that make peace between them more difficult, Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday.

The parents of a U.S. woman who was killed as she tried to stop a bulldozer from crushing homes in Gaza are taking Israel's defense ministry to court.

President Obama is turning up the heat on private health insurers again, taking his increasingly populist health care overhaul pitch on the road to Missouri.

Former 1980s teen movie actor and heartthrob Corey Haim died early Wednesday, authorities said.

With tears in her eyes and her voice shaking at times, Marie Osmond donned her bravest face Tuesday night as she took to the stage for the first time since the death of her son for a show that she dedicated to him.

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson says David Beckham will offer a "threat" to his side's Champions League ambitions but admits he has no idea if his former midfield star will feature in the AC Milan lineup at Old Trafford.

Wednesday's decision by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to hand indefinite bans on two of their leading players is another example of how this great cricketing country lurches from crisis to crisis both on and off the field.