An ethnic standoff in northern Kosovo
A mob of 300 Serbs carrying Serbian flags and wielding clubs gathered in northern Kosovo, prompting NATO to send armored vehicles and tanks to stop them.
- Russia says EU approach to Kosovo jeopardizes stability
- Serbs torch border posts in northern Kosovo
- EU split over recognition could undermine Kosovo

Clinton in a corner after Obama extends streak
Barack Obama decisively beat Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Wisconsin primary and the Hawaii caucuses, making it crucial for her to win the next big Democratic primaries, in Ohio and Texas, with very big margins.
- Small donations add up for Obama
- Democratic rivals trade charges over borrowed phrases
- Comments bring candidates' wives into fray
- In politics, inspiration or plagiarism is a fine line

British patients put public health care system to the test
Switching between private and public care has long been standard in Britain. But a few recent cases have exposed contradictions between policy and practice in the system.
- Britain proposes tougher citizenship rules

Société Générale says its controls failed for 2 years
An independent investigation into the trading losses at the French bank found that the trader Jérôme Kerviel began making unauthorized speculative bets in 2005, but internal controls were insufficient to uncover them.
- Former Société Générale trader had big bets in place as early as July

German steelworkers win pay increase
Steelworkers of the German union IG Metall on Wednesday won a 5.2 percent pay increase, a deal that could set the tone for a season of wage negotiations and complicate the European Central Bank's job.
- German service sector resists demands for big pay increases

Musharraf safe as opposition falls short of two-thirds majority
Despite the strong protest vote against President Pervez Musharraf and his party in parliamentary elections Monday, the Pakistan People's Party, which won the most seats, said it would not move against him since it does not have the two-thirds majority needed to impeach him.
- Bush seeks commitment from Pakistan to fight terrorism
- EU monitors: Pakistan election campaign favored ruling party
- U.S. scrambles to salvage its Pakistan policy

A sad and revealing tale of teen steroid use
She just wanted six-pack abdominal muscles. So in the summer of 2003, Dionne Passacantando, a 17-year-old high school cheerleader, gymnast, and vice president of her Allen (Texas) High School class, made a decision she regrets. She bought anabolic steroids from a boy on the school football team.

U.S. navy prepares to shoot down spy satellite
The many moving parts of the mission began after the shuttle landed, though rough seas could delay the launch.

Cellphones are bringing Pakistanis together
About 65 million people are using mobile phones each day in Pakistan. For most Pakistanis, the wireless devices are the first phones they have ever had.

Taiwan Lantern Festival causes concern for environmentalists
Every year during the Lantern Festival, people in Taiwan light lanterns and send them skyward with prayers. But the nation's environmental protection agency, concerned over debris and fires, is encouraging a digital version of the folk ritual.

Berlin presses Liechtenstein to cooperate more in tax-evasion case
After a week in which the police conducted raids across Germany in a broad effort to uncover tax cheats, Chancellor Angel Merkel of Germany told her visiting counterpart from Liechtenstein that he needed to move quickly to negotiate a new antifraud agreement with the European Union.
- Liechtenstein details stronger privacy rules

Mercury risk poses threat to Japanese dolphin hunt
Alarming levels of mercury in dolphin and whale meat have caused residents of the Japanese town of Taiji, which relies on whaling for income, to question its traditional dolphin hunt.
- Biggest and best tuna tend to have the most mercury, experts say

Fed sharply reduces U.S. growth forecast
The new forecast anticipates that the United States will grow 1.3 percent to 2 percent in 2008 and implies that the economy will be almost stagnant during the first six months of this year.
- Chinese inflation hits highest level in 11 years

Kenyan opposition threatens mass protests
Kenya's leading opposition party on Wednesday accused the government of stonewalling negotiations and threatened to resume protests if a power-sharing agreement was not reached within a week.

Whose Kremlin is it? Medvedev's economic plan rocks the boat
Having chosen Dmitri Medvedev to succeed him, President Vladimir Putin has unleashed a power struggle inside the Kremlin over the direction of the economy and the political future of the groups he has promoted.

At Gucci, Ruritanian rock 'n' roll
The vast Ukrainian-patterned carpet said it all about the boho-deluxe theme at Gucci on Wednesday. The designer Frida Giannini had taken her decorative ideas - tapestry patterns, cross-stitch decoration, gilt studs and fringing - all the way back to Bohemia.