JERUSALEM - Ehud Olmert said on Wednesday he would resign as Israel's prime minister after his ruling party chooses a new leader in September, leaving Middle East peace talks in limbo.
ORLANDO - Those consumers already worried about genetically engineered or cloned food reaching their tables may soon find something else in their grocery carts to furrow their brows over - nano-foods.
USA - The sharp drop in energy prices since the beginning of the month is turning into a rare bright spot in a bleak economic landscape. For the moment, at least, fears of a prolonged energy shock seem to have subsided a bit.
IRELAND - There is continued coverage of a Red C poll commissioned by Open Europe showing that Irish voters are strongly opposed to a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, and would vote no by a larger margin than the last time around if a second vote was held.
TEHRAN - Iran has more than 5,000 active centrifuges for enriching uranium, its president was quoted as saying on Saturday, suggesting expansion of the nuclear work the West suspects is aimed at making bombs.
UK - Almost one in three Muslim students in the UK believe it justifiable to kill in the name of their religion, a poll has shown.
LONDON - Fraud in the UK jumped 50 percent in the first half of the year, compared with the previous six months, and is likely to worsen as the effects of the credit crunch spread throughout the economy, a report said.
NEW YORK - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon joined the General Assembly on Monday in calling on all peoples who are at war to observe the traditional two-week Olympic Truce.
CINCINNATI - The US trade deficit with China cost 2.3 million American jobs between 2001 and 2007, the Economic Policy Institute said on Wednesday in a report likely to fuel debate about free trade ahead of November elections.
NEW YORK - Billion-dollar bankruptcies are at their highest in five years only half way through 2008, according to bankruptcy filing tracker BankruptcyData.com.
NEW YORK - Russia has allocated $4 billion to nanotechnology research over the next four years, the general director of the Russian Rosnanotech state corporation said Tuesday.
NEW YORK - Merrill Lynch said on Monday it will take a $5.7 billion third-quarter write-down as it unloads huge amounts of risky debt, and raise $8.5 billion by selling new stock.
ATLANTA - Delta Airlines, the third-largest US carrier, will double its charge for checking a second bag on a domestic flight as part of a set of fee increases to help offset the high cost of fuel.
USA - An earthquake measuring 5.4 has caused buildings to shake across a wide area of southern California in the US.
SWITZERLAND - As the credit crunch has bitten over the past year, the country's two largest banks, UBS and Credit Suisse, have between them been forced to write down almost $50 billion (£25bn).