U.S. presidential nominees John McCain and Barack Obama squared off in their third and final debate Wednesday night, an event some observers saw as McCain's last chance to turn his political fortunes around.

Hurricane Omar is strengthening as it barrels toward the Virgin and Leeward Islands in the Caribbean, the U.S. National Hurricane Center reported Wednesday night.

The U.S. economy will not bounce back quickly even if badly needed confidence in the financial system returns and jittery markets finally calm down, U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke cautioned Wednesday.

Two leading international organizations have backed the idea of reforming the international financial system to prevent another credit crisis.

Chile's Supreme Court has jailed a retired general who led the "Caravan of Death," a military party that toured the country by helicopter ordering the deaths of suspected leftists after a 1973 coup.

A drop in the speed of winds spreading wildfires in California has helped firefighters contain the blazes.

A Thai police officer charged in the shooting death of a Calgary man was remanded into custody Wednesday.

Thai and Cambodian generals have scheduled a meeting Thursday to discuss a dispute about land on the border that cost two Cambodian soldiers their lives Wednesday.

Russia has walked out of negotiations being held in Geneva on two breakaway Georgian regions, Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili said on Wednesday.

Capping a particularly bloody day in Afghanistan, about 70 Taliban fighters were killed in an overnight air strike by foreign forces in southern Helmand province, the provincial governor's spokesman said Wednesday.

Authorities in Azerbaijan said turnout was high on Wednesday in a presidential election boycotted by the opposition and almost certain to return Ilham Aliyev for a second term in the oil-producing state.

Millions of children around the world will be encouraged to wash their hands with soap on Wednesday to mark the UN's first Global Handwashing Day.

Japanese officials warned consumers on Wednesday not to eat a type of frozen green beans imported from China that contain extremely high levels of pesticide.

Strong winds Tuesday morning stoked three major wildfires in southern California that have destroyed dozens of homes, forced thousands to flee and killed two people.

Nearly 3,000 Palestinian refugees who have been stranded in the Iraqi desert for more than two years desperately need a home abroad, the United Nations said on Tuesday, as it launched a global appeal asking countries to take them in.