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A purported message from al Qaeda's deputy leader posted on Islamist Web sites on Wednesday told President-elect Barack Obama that "a heavy legacy of failure and crimes awaits you."

An Indian warship has exchanged fire with a pirate "mother vessel" off the hijacking-plagued Horn of Africa, leaving the ship ablaze in the Gulf of Aden, an official said Wednesday.

An 8-year-old Arizona boy suspected in the deaths of his father and another man can be heard in a videotape of his police interview telling officers that he shot both men after he came home from school. The boy, sitting cross-legged in an overstuffed armchair, initially denied involvement in the shootings but later said he shot his already wounded father "because he was suffering."

A 6.2-magnitude earthquake shook coastal Panama early Wednesday, near the border with Costa Rica, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

Doctors have given a woman a new windpipe with tissue engineered from her own stem cells in what experts are hailing as a "milestone in medicine." The breakthrough allowed Claudia Castillo, 30, to receive a new section of trachea without the risk that her body would reject the transplant.

A suspected U.S. missile strike in northwestern Pakistan left five dead and seven wounded early Wednesday, a local official said.

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Things didn't go quite according to plan for astronaut Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper during her spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Tuesday.

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Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, the Republican lawmaker convicted on felony corruption charges in October, was defeated in his bid for re-election by Democrat Mark Begich, according to a release from Begich's campaign and unofficial results from state officials.

The heads of Detroit's car companies -- Ford, Chrysler, GM -- bumper to bumper, are begging Congress for a bailout. Let's start by cutting through the bull and look at how the automobile companies got into this mess.

Democrat-turned-independent Sen. Joe Lieberman managed to keep his Senate committee chairmanship in part because President-elect Barack Obama didn't want to punish him for supporting Sen. John McCain, Lieberman said today. The Senate Democratic caucus, following a heated debate, voted 42-13 to let Lieberman continue chairing the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

Former Clinton Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder is President-elect Barack Obama's choice for the position of attorney general, according to two prominent Democrats involved in transition matters. If confirmed, Holder would be the first African-American to lead the Justice Department.

Skeptical senators grilled auto executives at a hearing today, calling them short sighted and unimaginative, as they seek a $25 billion taxpayer-funded bailout to ward off looming bankruptcy, CNNMoney reports. "Their board rooms in my view have been devoid of vision," said Sen. Chris Dodd.

It was heartwarming, in a way, to see Sen. John McCain and President-elect Barack Obama together the other day.

The popular herb ginkgo biloba does not reduce the risk of dementia or Alzheimer's disease, according to a study of more than 1,500 elderly patients who took the supplement. Often touted as a way to preserve aging memories, no large-scale, randomized clinical trial -- until now -- has thoroughly evaluated the safety and effectiveness of ginkgo biloba extract as a way to prevent dementia.

Drew Peterson has met with a prominent divorce attorney more than a year after his wife, Stacy, disappeared, his lawyer confirmed to CNN today. Police have said that the former Bolingbrook, Illinois, police sergeant is a suspect in his wife's disappearance, which investigators have labeled a "potential homicide." Peterson maintains his wife left him for someone else.

A man who was detained during Chile's "dirty war" in 1973 and declared dead in 1995 showed up in his old hometown very much alive last week, a human rights group in Santiago has announced. An immediate investigation has been launched to determine whether the former political prisoner may have violated the law.

In the early 1970s, when we were the first black-and-white comedy team in the history of show business -- and the last -- we had a routine in which Tom would interview Tim, who had just been elected the first black president of the United States.

Authorities in Aruba say they're looking into new evidence that could lead to an arrest 3½ years after Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway disappeared on a senior class trip to the island. The lead prosecutor told CNN police again consider Dutch student Joran van der Sloot to be the prime suspect. CNN.com and Nancy Grace are working together to bring fresh eyes to cold cases.