Aaron's Daily WWW Newspaper

MOMBASA, Kenya - Somali pirates fired grenades and automatic weapons at an American freighter loaded with food aid but the ship managed to escape the attack and was heading Wednesday to Kenya under U.S. Navy escort, officials said.

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's president said Wednesday he is willing to forget the past and build a new relationship with the United States, adding that he is preparing a new package of proposals aimed at breaking the impasse with the West over his country's nuclear program.

SAN FRANCISCO - There are plenty of reasons to hate spammers. Add this to the list: They're environmentally unfriendly.

LOS ANGELES - After weeks of dismal scores, Steve-O was booted from the "Dancing With the Stars" ballroom Tuesday.

LOS ANGELES - The Utah Jazz got a preview of their first-round playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers and didn't like what they saw.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pirates attacked a U.S.-flagged cargo ship off the coast of Somalia with rockets and automatic weapons on Tuesday but failed to board the craft, the ship's owner and the U.S. military said.

MILAN (Reuters) - Fiat SpA's chief executive, facing a two-week deadline to work out a partnership with Chrysler LLC, warned the troubled U.S. carmaker's unions he would ditch the idea unless they agreed to cut labor costs.

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea said on Wednesday it will soon announce plans to curtail the North's suspected trade in illicit weapons after its neighbor raised tensions by vowing to quit talks and restart its nuclear arms plant.

(Reuters) - The Obama administration is drawing up plans to disclose the financial condition of the 19 biggest banks in the country, the New York Times said, citing senior administration officials.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday Iran had prepared proposals to end a stalemate over its nuclear ambitions with six world powers, state television reported.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Black American community workers are wrestling with how to translate their pride over Barack Obama's presidency into tangible gains for a racial minority that often lags behind the rest of the country.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - NASA on Tuesday named its new living quarters on the International Space Station "Tranquillity," denying television comedian Stephen Colbert his attempt to get the new Node 3 named after himself.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration will name former Justice Department official Alan Bersin to oversee its policy on illegal immigration and drug-related violence along the U.S. border with Mexico, Politico reported on Tuesday.

MOMBASA, Kenya (AFP) - Pirates attacked an American freighter with rocket fire and machine guns but the ship escaped even as other vessels fell into the clutches of marauding Somali bandits.

LIVERPOOL, England (AFP) - Liverpool fans bowed their heads on Wednesday as Britain mourned on the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, when 96 fans were crushed to death at an FA Cup semi-final.

SEOUL (AFP) - An unrepentant North Korea on Wednesday hailed its rocket launch as a historic victory, a day after vowing to restart its nuclear weapons programme in response to UN censure of the exercise.

BANGKOK (AFP) - Thailand revoked the passport of Thaksin Shinawatra on Wednesday, escalating a campaign against the fugitive former premier and his allies for allegedly inciting deadly anti-government protests.

TUCSON, Arizona (AFP) - Astronauts' meals have come a long way from the freeze-dried powders and semi-liquid pastes of decades ago: now US scientists want to grow vegetables in mini-greenhouses on the Moon.

ZURICH (AFP) - Embattled Swiss bank UBS on Wednesday said it would slash 8,700 jobs in a bid to cut costs after it reported fresh losses for the first three months of this year.

PARIS (AFP) - Air France said on Wednesday it would cut up to 3,000 jobs over the next two years as the European airline giant feels the pinch following a sharp decline in traffic due to the global economic crisis.