AFP - Al-Qaeda number two Ayman Zawahiri ridiculed US president-elect Barack Obama and warned him against sending more troops to Afghanistan, in an Internet audio-message released on Wednesday.

AP - Consumer prices plunged by the largest amount in the past 61 years in October as gasoline pump prices dropped by a record amount.

AP - A source close to the process of selecting Barack Obama's attorney general says the president-elect has "informally" offered the post to Washington lawyer Eric Holder, who has accepted.

Reuters - Al Qaeda's second-in-command urged Muslims to keep up attacks on the "criminal" United States and criticized U.S. president-elect Barack Obama for promising to back Israel.

AP - Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader used a racial epithet to insult Barack Obama in a message posted Wednesday, describing the president-elect in demeaning terms that imply he does the bidding of whites.

Reuters - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton has offered to allow ethics reviews of future business and charitable activities should his wife be picked by President-elect Barack Obama as secretary of state, Democrats familiar with the issue said on Wednesday.

Reuters - An Indian warship destroyed a pirate ship in the Gulf of Aden and gunmen from Somalia seized two more vessels despite a large international naval presence off their lawless country.

Reuters - Auto executives headed to Capitol Hill for a second day to argue their case for a $25 billion aid package in the face of mounting political opposition to another huge government bailout.

AP - Sen. Ted Stevens' election defeat marks the end of an era in which he held a commanding place in Alaska politics while wielding power on some of the most influential committees in Congress.

Reuters - Consumer prices dropped at the fastest rate on record in October and new home construction was at a record low, according to government reports on Wednesday that underlined how rapidly the economy was weakening.

AP - Al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri is criticizing Barack Obama in a new message, calling him a demeaning racial term implying that the president-elect is a black American who does the bidding of whites.

Reuters - A suspected U.S. drone aircraft fired two missiles at a house in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing five suspected militants, possibly including an Arab al Qaeda operative, intelligence officials said.

Reuters - World stocks and oil fell on Wednesday while government bonds and the yen gained as U.S. car makers begged for a bailout from Washington, adding to evidence that the credit crisis is hitting the real economy.