Aaron's Daily WWW Newspaper

CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden urged Muslims to launch a jihad against Israel and condemned Arab governments as allies of the Jewish state in a new message aimed at harnessing anger in the Mideast over the Gaza offensive.

MOSCOW - The leaders of several gas-starved European nations traveled to Ukraine and Russia on Wednesday, pressing them to restore supplies as the EU threatened both with legal action for halting energy deliveries in the midst of winter.

NEW YORK - The original financial supermarket is dead. Citigroup signaled the end of a decade-long experiment to create one-stop shopping for financial services — everything from consumer loans to investment banking — with Tuesday's announcement that it was merging its Smith Barney brokerage into a joint venture with Morgan Stanley.

NEW YORK - Jennifer Hudson is using sports' grandest stage to make her return to the spotlight. The NFL confirmed Wednesday that Hudson will sing the national anthem at the Super Bowl in Tampa, Fla., on Feb. 1. E! News first reported that Hudson would perform.

Dwight Howard had 25 points and 15 rebounds, and the Orlando Magic made an NBA-record 23 3-pointers Tuesday night in a 139-107 victory over the Sacramento Kings.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Sales at retailers fell at a steeper-than-expected rate in December, government data showed on Wednesday, as a deteriorating economic environment forced consumers to cut back on spending during the key holiday period.

GAZA (Reuters) - Rockets fired from Lebanon struck Israel on Wednesday for the second time in a week while its Gaza offensive ground on, but there was no immediate sign the incident would escalate into wider violence.

DETROIT/PARIS (Reuters) - Struggling U.S. automaker Chrysler is in talks to sell assets to Renault-Nissan and parts supplier Magna, sources with knowledge of the discussions have told Reuters, though the French automaker Wednesday denied such talks were under way.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc agreed to merge its Smith Barney brokerage with Morgan Stanley's wealth management unit on Tuesday, and is expected to make further asset sales to raise capital and to isolate toxic assets from the rest of the bank.

MOSCOW/KIEV (Reuters) - Russia and Ukraine wrangled over gas supplies again on Wednesday and two European Union states, cut off by the row for a freezing week, launched missions to plead for Russian gas flow to be restored.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon official overseeing the tribunals for Guantanamo Bay detainees has concluded that the U.S. military tortured a Saudi national who allegedly planned to participate in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

MIAMI (Reuters) - U.S. marshals have arrested a pilot accused of parachuting out of his plane and letting it crash in an apparent attempt to avoid financial fraud prosecution by faking his death, an investigator said late on Tuesday.

DETROIT (Reuters) - Automakers received more bad news at the world's largest auto show on Tuesday as forecasts for a 27-year low in sales this year and auto bailout politics threw cold water on hopes for a speedy industry recovery.

GAZA CITY (AFP) - Israel bombed smuggling tunnels and battled fighters in Gaza streets on Wednesday as UN chief Ban Ki-moon arrived in the region seeking to end the war on Hamas that has killed nearly 1,000 people.

MOSCOW (AFP) - EU leaders kept up pressure Wednesday on Russia and Ukraine to resolve their gas dispute after an attempt to resume transit supply failed to deliver gas to European consumers.

NEW DELHI (AFP) - The head of India's army on Wednesday confirmed that Pakistan has redeployed troops along the two countries' tense border but said he regarded war as a "last resort."

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has issued a 22-minute audio statement calling for jihad, or holy war, to stop Israeli "aggression" in Gaza, the US-based IntelCenter monitoring service reported Wednesday.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Huge global interest in "the best job in the world" -- earning good money for lazing on a paradise island -- has crashed the Australian website where it is advertised, according to officials.

FRANKFURT (AFP) - Snared by the global economic slump, the German economy contracted sharply late last year, suggesting a disastrous 2009 for Europe's industrial powerhouse.

BEIJING (AFP) - China upwardly revised its 2007 growth figures Wednesday, indicating the Asian giant overtook Germany as the world's third largest economy, analysts said.