AP News

NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street hit levels not seen since 2003 on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones industrial average plunging below the 8,000 mark as the fate of Detroit's Big Three automakers amid a slumping economy disheartened investors....

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The Kansas City Royals picked up the leadoff hitter they had been seeking, acquiring center fielder Coco Crisp from the Boston Red Sox for reliever Ramon Ramirez on Wednesday. Kansas City was 12th among 14 AL teams in runs last season and added power last month, obtaining first baseman Mike Jacobs from Florida....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mike Huckabee wouldn't rule out a 2012 run for president Wednesday, but he acknowledged it could be hard to take back the spotlight from fellow Republican Sarah Palin. "I'm not ruling anything out for the future, but I'm not making any specific plans," Huckabee told reporters at a briefing to promote his new book, "Do the Right Thing."...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle has accepted President-elect Barack Obama's offer to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, Democratic officials said Wednesday. The appointment has not been announced, but these officials said the job is Daschle's, barring an unforeseen problem as Obama's team reviews the background of the South Dakota Democrat....

CHICAGO (AP) -- Associates of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday the former first lady is weighing whether to leave the Senate and become secretary of state in the Obama administration, a job they say she believes is hers if she wants it....

CAIRO, Egypt (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. The message appeared chiefly aimed at persuading Muslims and Arabs that Obama does not represent a change in U.S. policies....

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- A 30-day age limit in the Nebraska safe-haven law appears headed for final approval. The state Legislature voted 41-6 Wednesday to give second-round approval to the limit. A final vote is expected Friday and then the bill will go to Gov. Dave Heineman, who has said he would support a 30-day age limit....

LONDON (AP) -- Winona Ryder was briefly hospitalized after falling ill on a flight to London's Heathrow Airport on Wednesday, her publicist said. Mara Buxbaum said the 37-year-old actress was taken to a west London hospital "as a precaution" and had been released....

HERODIUM, West Bank (AP) -- Israeli archaeologists excavating what they believe is the tomb of biblical King Herod said Wednesday they have unearthed lavish Roman-style wall paintings of a kind previously unseen in the Middle East and signs of a regal two-story mausoleum, bolstering their conviction that the Jewish monarch was buried here....

BLOOMFIELD, Ind. (AP) -- Three male and three female inmates at a southern Indiana jail face charges that they devised a way to sneak between cell blocks to help pass their time behind bars by having sex....

CHICAGO (AP) -- Associates of Hillary Rodham Clinton and her husband say the former first lady is weighing whether to leave the Senate and become secretary of state, believing the job is hers if she wants it....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Top Senate Democrats suggested Wednesday that a bill to rescue Detroit's Big Three automakers was stalled and challenged the Bush administration to take steps to save the industry if congressional efforts falter. The White House quickly rebuffed the suggestion....

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

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Reserve on Wednesday sharply lowered its projections for economic activity this year and next, and signaled that additional interest rate reductions may be needed to help combat the worst financial crisis to jolt the country in more than a half-century....

SEATTLE (AP) -- Don Wakamatsu became the first Asian-American manager in major league baseball history when he was hired Wednesday by the Seattle Mariners....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Scientists for the first time have unraveled much of the genetic code of an extinct animal, the ice age's woolly mammoth, and with it they are thawing Jurassic Park dreams....

NEW DELHI (AP) -- The Indian navy sank a suspected pirate "mother ship" and chased two attack boats into the night, officials said Wednesday, as the owners of a seized Saudi oil supertanker negotiated for the release of their vessel and its $100 million cargo....

NEW YORK (AP) -- Suri Cruise is the most popular kid on the playground. The 2-year-old daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes tops Forbes.com's second annual list of "Hollywood's 10 Hottest Tots."...

WASHINGTON (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....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The health insurance industry said Wednesday it will support a national health care overhaul that requires them to accept all customers, regardless of pre-existing medical conditions, but in return it wants lawmakers to mandate that everyone buy coverage....