Aaron's Daily WWW Newspaper

HOUSTON - Former first lady Barbara Bush was recovering Thursday following 2 1/2-hour heart surgery to replace her aortic valve, hospital officials said.

LOS ANGELES - A Los Angeles computer security consultant has been sentenced to four years in federal prison for using malicious software that turned thousands of computers into "zombies" so he could steal private information.

LOS ANGELES - Michael Jackson sued an auction house Wednesday to halt the scheduled sale of thousands of his personal possessions, an action the firm says caught it completely off-guard.

HONG KONG - Cathay Pacific has apologized for embarrassing a customer whose anguish after missing her flight was captured on video by an airline employee and posted on the Internet.

IRVING, Texas - Terrell Owens' days in Dallas are done, according to ESPN. ESPN cited anonymous sources Wednesday night in saying that the Cowboys have decided to cut the receiver, ridding them of a big locker-room distraction but also absorbing a big hit on their salary cap.

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp on Thursday said its auditors had raised "substantial doubt" about its ability to survive outside bankruptcy if it fails to stem its losses and stop burning cash.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama takes on healthcare reform at a White House forum on Thursday, seeking to design an overhaul of a costly and inefficient system he believes is threatening the U.S. economy.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's president told thousands of cheering supporters on Thursday an international call for his arrest on war crimes charges was a colonialist ploy and announced the expulsion of 10 foreign aid agencies.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Top former Merrill Lynch executives, including two former CEOs, invested in hedge funds that lost money with alleged fraudster Bernard Madoff, becoming the highest-level Wall Street victims of the scandal to date, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co on Wednesday announced a plan to cut its $25.8 billion in automotive debt by about 40 percent by offering creditors cash and new shares as it looks to slash financing costs at a time of plunging sales and tight credit.

BISHKEK (Reuters) - Kyrgyzstan will not reverse its decision to shut a U.S. military air base that was used by Washington for the war in Afghanistan, a spokesman for President Kurmanbek Bakiyev said on Thursday.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Gay marriage advocates on Thursday will ask the California Supreme Court to overturn a second voter-approved same-sex marriage ban, in a cultural battle that has divided the United States.

CARACAS (Reuters) - President Hugo Chavez seized a unit of American food giant Cargill on Wednesday and threatened to take over Venezuela's largest private company, renewing a nationalization drive as the OPEC nation's oil income plunges.

BEIJING (AFP) - Premier Wen Jiabao said Thursday China was facing unprecedented challenges from the global crisis but he was confident the country would still achieve economic growth of about eight percent this year.

BRUSSELS (AFP) - The United States endorsed Thursday a resumption of top-level NATO talks with Russia, setting the stage for an end to a seven-month freeze sparked by Moscow's war on Georgia.

LAHORE, Pakistan (AFP) - Pakistan faced new questions about its security forces Thursday as dramatic footage emerged of the cricket attackers making a leisurely getaway from the scene of their deadly assault.

KHARTOUM (AFP) - Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir lashed out at the West on Thursday over the arrest warrant which has split the world community and sparked fears of insecurity and a humanitarian crisis in Darfur.

JAKARTA (AFP) - New infra-red footage released Thursday captures hitherto unseen images of elusive Javan rhinos, the most endangered mammal in the world with less than 60 individuals believed to remain alive.

FRANKFURT (AFP) - The European Central Bank (ECB) kicked off a period of record low interest rates Thursday by cutting its benchmark level by half a point to 1.50 percent to jumpstart recession-hit eurozone activity.

BEIJING (AFP) - China drew the spotlight in the race to beat the global economic crisis on Thursday, promising eight-percent growth, but markets also focused on downward pressure on interest rates in Europe.