AP - Omar strengthened into a fierce Category 3 hurricane late Wednesday as it pummeled St. Croix with heavy rains and winds, sinking boats in the harbor, knocking down trees and forcing workers to shut down a major oil refinery.

AP - American troops could face trial before Iraqi courts for major crimes committed off base and when not on missions, under a draft security pact hammered out in months of tortuous negotiations, Iraqi officials familiar with the accord said Wednesday.

AFP - Pop megastar Madonna and her British film director husband Guy Ritchie announced plans to divorce on Wednesday after seven and half years of marriage, ending months of speculation about their relationship.

AP - American soldiers killed the alleged No. 2 leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, a Moroccan who trained in Afghanistan, recruited foreign fighters and ran operations in northern Iraq where Sunni insurgents remain a potent threat, the U.S. military said Wednesday.

AP - As of Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008, at least 4,183 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

AFP - Another Wayne Rooney double fired England to a 3-1 win over Belarus as Fabio Capello's squad made it four wins out of four on the road to South Africa 2010.

AP - It all seemed like the stirrings of a major political challenge to Iran's firebrand President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: schoolchildren serenaded the popular reformist leader he replaced and a hometown audience chanted Wednesday: "Our next president."