Aaron's Daily WWW Newspaper

WASHINGTON - Yahoo Inc. said Wednesday that it will shorten the amount of time that it retains data about its users' online behavior — including Internet search records — to three months from 13 months and expand the range of data that it "anonymizes" after that period.

ALBANY, N.Y. - Gov. David Paterson's first state budget threatens to affect just about every New Yorker. Even those online.

WASHINGTON - Sixty-seven percent of pet owners say they understand their animals' woofs, meows or other sounds, including 18 percent like King and Thibodeau who say they comprehend completely, according to an Associated Press-Petside.com poll released Wednesday. In a finding many parents of teenagers would no doubt envy, 62 percent of pet owners say that when they speak, their critter gets the message.

EASTON, Pa. - The father of 3-year-old Adolf Hitler Campbell, denied a birthday cake with the child's full name on it by one New Jersey supermarket, is asking for a little tolerance. Heath Campbell and his wife, Deborah, are upset not only with the decision made by the Greenwich ShopRite, but with an outpouring of angry Internet postings in response to a local newspaper article over the weekend on their flare-up over frosting.

The Lakers had to play short-handed. The Houston Rockets seem to have that problem every night. When the Rockets' stars were healthy Tuesday, they showed why they believe they could challenge Los Angeles if they ever stay that way. Tracy McGrady notched his fourth career triple-double, Yao Ming scored 32 points and the Rockets beat the Denver Nuggets 108-96.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A recession-mired economy and growing job insecurity have shaken American confidence in the future despite an upbeat view of President-elect Barack Obama's performance, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.

BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bernard Madoff, the longtime Wall Street executive accused of cheating investors around the world out of $50 billion, scrambled to find friends or relatives to guarantee his bond on Tuesday and keep him out of jail.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A government bailout for automakers was being assembled as quickly and carefully as possible, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Tuesday as a new ratings report showed that bankruptcy was the most likely restructuring scenario for the industry.

ORAN, Algeria (Reuters) - OPEC oil ministers met on Wednesday to remove a record 2 million barrels per day from oil markets in a race to balance supply with the world's rapidly crumbling demand for fuel.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley reported a much wider-than-expected quarterly loss as the credit crisis generated more writedowns and slashed fees from investment banking and brokerage.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea, which is resisting verification of its atomic programs, should not expect the incoming Obama administration to offer easier terms, the top U.S. nuclear negotiator said on Tuesday.

ATHENS (Reuters) - Protesters hung banners from the Acropolis in Greece on Wednesday calling for demonstrations across Europe, in the twelfth day of protests since police shot dead a teenager.

LONDON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve's radical step of dropping interest rates to near zero prompted cuts elsewhere on Wednesday and threw the spotlight onto both a Bank of Japan meeting and other available policy measures.

ORAN, Algeria (AFP) - OPEC and non-OPEC oil exporters took action on Wednesday that could remove up to 2.6 million barrels of oil from the market in a bold bid to boost prices and producers' incomes.

NEW YORK (AFP) - The US finance watchdog expressed concern at how repeated warnings about Bernard Madoff were ignored, ahead of the Wall Street investment baron's first court appearance Wednesday over a 50-billion-dollar fraud.

BAGHDAD (AFP) - British forces will wrap up their mission in Iraq in the first half of next year, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said during a surprise trip to Baghdad on Wednesday.

PRETORIA (AFP) - South African President Kgalema Motlanthe expressed hope Wednesday that Zimbabwe would have a unity government this week, as he refused to join international calls for Robert Mugabe to step down.

STRASBOURG (AFP) - The European Parliament on Wednesday approved the EU's climate change package, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020, lifting the last hurdle to the ambitious plan.

LONDON (AFP) - Global stock markets saw mixed fortunes on Wednesday as investors gave a cautious welcome to a steep overnight cut in US interest rates and digested a raft of European economic data.

LONDON (AFP) - The dollar slid to a 13-year low point against the yen on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates to near zero as it struggled to curb an accelerating economic downturn, dealers said.