The Christian Science Monitor - The capture of the Sirius Star, which can carry more than one-fourth of Saudi Arabia's daily oil output, helped send prices above $58 a barrel. And the fact that it was nabbed 450 miles off Kenya's coast is a sign of growing sophistication and reach by the pirates, who have tended to stay closer to the Gulf of Aden, a pinch point for sea traffic routed through the Suez Canal.

AFP - US president-elect Barack Obama Wednesday telephoned UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon plus the presidents of Colombia, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa, his office said.

Katy Phiri, who is in her 70s, picks up single corn kernels spilled from trucks that ferry the harvest to market. She says she hasn't eaten for three days.

AP - Leaders of the world's biggest media organizations filed a protest with Israel's prime minister Wednesday criticizing the government's decision to ban journalists from entering the Gaza Strip for the last two weeks.

AFP - South Africa claimed a record-equalling fourth consecutive international victory Wednesday by edging Cameroon 3-2 in a Nelson Mandela Challenge thriller.

Reuters - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday the United Nations was looking into reports of aerial bombings in Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region after the Sudanese government declared a ceasefire.