EU broadens inquiry into drug market
Antitrust investigators are trying to determine whether companies are blocking generics makers from getting less-expensive medicines to market quickly.

French housing holds steady in face of subprime crisis
As the housing bubble deflates in the U.S. and U.K., the French market looks less vulnerable, helped by factors like a prudent approach to credit and mortgages, less speculative buying and social factors.
- U.S. housing collapse spreads overseas
- Downturn in housing gathers pace in Britain
- In Spain, your casa is suddenly the state's casa
- Deere's $763.5 million quarterly profit disappoints
- Condo life in the U.S.: Foreclosures, higher fees and mowing the lawn

Woman speaks of husband's torture at CIA abduction trial in Italy
The wife of a fiery Muslim cleric Wednesday tearfully recounted publicly for the first time how her husband was kidnapped on a Milan street in 2003 and sent to Egypt to endure torture.

Is Obama doomed to face a race problem?
How big a problem does Senator Barack Obama really have among white working-class voters? And what, if anything, can he do about it as he heads into the general election?
- Edwards to endorse Obama
- Obama endures an awkward waiting period
- West Virginians choose Clinton, as race plays a larger role
- Clinton's universal bargaining chip

After long march into quake zone, soldiers find scenes of horror
The possibility of far worse damage from the earthquake that hit China this week was raised when the government released information that nearly 400 dams suffered damage.
- China earthquake brings faulty school design to the fore
- China's new tack on rescue: High profile, open and aggressive

Junta is stealing aid, relief groups assert
Amid signs that a second cyclone may be headed toward the Irrawaddy Delta, the directors of several relief organizations said that some of the international aid for the victims of Cyclone Nargis was being stolen, diverted or warehoused by the military.
- As cyclone struck Myanmar, a struggle to survive

Zenit finally breaks through dour Rangers, 2-0
Zenit St. Petersburg finally eclipsed a gutsy but utterly defensive Glasgow Rangers, 2-0, in Manchester.

Vatican astronomer cites possibility of extraterrestrial 'brothers'
The Reverend José Gabriel Funes, head of the Vatican Observatory, says there is no conflict between believing in God and in the possibility of extraterrestrials, perhaps even more evolved than humans.

Miners shun mineral wealth of the Philippines
Excessive and slow regulatory procedures, illegal miners and security problems are all blamed for discouraging investment by foreign mining companies.

7 sentenced in France in case of jihadist recruiting ring
A Paris court Wednesday sentenced five Frenchmen, one Algerian and one Moroccan to prison terms of up to seven years on charges of helping to send French youths to fight in the Iraq insurgency.

Bleak economic outlook in Britain batters Brown
Inflation, which rose to 3 percent in April, is likely to remain at that level or rise because of soaring energy and food prices, pinching the consumers and homeowners that the prime minister pledged to help.

EU considers toughening offensive on tax havens
In what is likely to become a lengthy negotiation, the European Commission will propose the expansion of a directive, which aims to ensure that EU citizens do not evade taxes on the interest from savings by opening accounts abroad.

Russia offers warm welcome to German foreign minister
The Kremlin rolled out the red carpet Wednesday for Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany, the first foreign official to hold talks with President Dmitri Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin since they took up their new positions last week.

Among Czechs and Poles, same missile shield, differing sense of threat
The Czech Republic believes that the threat the shield is designed to counter comes from Iran and other "rogue" regimes. But Poland's stance is dramatically different.

Cellphones in a supporting role
Even in advanced economies, cellphones have been used to accomplish missions ranging from sex education to dispersing emergency food.

Prime time for Henin and Sorenstam to retire
Within 24 hours, two of world sport's leading women announced their retirements this week, and what made it all the more surprising was that the announcements came with both Annika Sorenstam and Justine Henin in the prime of their careers.
- Annika Sorenstam announces retirement

Deal reached on truce in Sadr City
Shiite leaders in Parliament and in the Sadrist movement agreed to a truce that would end more than a month of bloody fighting in the Baghdad ghetto.