CARACAS, Venezuela (CNN) — President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela signed a decree Wednesday that orders the nationalization of the country’s leading steel producer.

Chavez nationalized Sidor, a steel making company, a Venezuelan government official told CNN. The Argentine company Ternium owns the majority of shares in Sidor, according to a report about Chavez’s decision in the Venezuelan-based Bolivariana News Agency.

The leftist administration of Chavez has nationalized companies from several industries.

(CNN) — A group of native Hawaiians occupied the grounds of the old Hawaiian monarchy’s royal residence Wednesday, vowing to stay and do the business of the kingdom’s government.

“It is through a greater realm than ours” that the group took this action, said Mahealani Kahau, elected leader of the group, called Hawaiian Kingdom Government. “Today and every day, we will be here to assume our role.”

The group is one of several in Hawaii that reject statehood and seek to return to the constitutional monarchy that effectively ended in 1893 when a group of politicians, businessmen and sugar planters — aided by the U.S. minister to Hawaii — overthrew the kingdom’s government.

The monarchist groups say that the kingdom was overthrown and annexed into the United States illegally.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — A nationwide computer failure briefly shut down terminals at U.S. Customs entry points all over the country, a spokesman said Wednesday.

Customs and Border Protection spokesman Mike Balero said the failure happened at about 7 p.m. ET and lasted for about 30 minutes. Not all the country’s entry points were affected, he said, although he could not say how many were.

Balero said the temporary problem caused no backups.

(CNN) — Thousands of people packed a broad street Wednesday in downtown Santa Cruz, Boliva, listening to speakers urge them to vote “Si” Sunday on a referendum seeking autonomy for the eastern department of Santa Cruz.

Autonomy “is a fundamental right to be creators of our own destiny; autonomy is an essential part of our liberty,” said Santa Cruz Prefect Ruben Costas Aguilera.

But a mine union worker opposed the supporters of autonomy. “They want to divide our departments and the whole Bolivian people,” he told a reporter. “We’re not going to permit that the country be divided.”

WASHINGTON (CNN) — A nationwide computer failure has shut down terminals at U.S. Customs entry points all over the country, a spokesman said Wednesday.

Customs and Border Protection spokesman Mike Balero said the failure happened at about 7 p.m. ET.

He said passengers entering the country are being processed using laptop computers and that slowdowns at entry points are minimal. The laptops are part of a backup plan implemented after several customs computer failures in the past, Balero said.

(CNN) — Two bombs exploded overnight in northern Spain’s Basque country, though there were no reports of casualties.

The first occurred without warning shortly after midnight in an industrial pavilion belonging to the Ministry of Labor in the town of Arrigorriaga, reported CNN’s partner station, the 24-hour Spanish language news channel CNN Plus.

The second bombing occurred half an hour later in the San Sebastian neighborhood of Donostiarra, but this time authorities had cordoned off the area.

An hour ahead of the attack, a caller had declared to authorities that the attack was imminent and was to be carried out in the name of the separatist group ETA.

(CNN) — Investigators are looking into the possible sexual abuse of some of the young boys taken from a polygamist sect’s ranch in Texas, and into how several children apparently sustained broken bones while there, the state child welfare department said Wednesday.

Child Protective Services said suspicions of sexual abuse are based on interviews with the children and journal entries found at the Yearning For Zion ranch, owned by the Fundamental Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a Mormon offshoot that practices polygamy.

But an FLDS spokesman blasted the department, saying it was unethical of CPS to leak information without any legitimate evidence.

“They don’t have any evidence that there’s abuse and neither do I,” said Rod Parker at a news conference in Salt Lake City, Utah — home to the sect. “CPS is trying to grab headlines … and insulate themselves from fair and justified criticism on the way they have treated this case.”

WASHINGTON (CNN) — U.S. troops fear that seeking help for mental health problems could harm their careers, according to a survey released Wednesday, and the Pentagon is expected to change its policies to ease that concern.

Three out of five members of the military worry it would have at least some impact, according to the small online survey conducted for the American Psychiatric Association. About half said they thought other people would think less of them if they sought help for mental health problems.

The report was released a day before a scheduled announcement by Defense Secretary Robert Gates aimed at encouraging more servicemembers to seek help for post-combat stress. Pentagon officials told CNN that troops who file for security clearances will no longer have to answer a question on the standard application for a security clearance that asks whether the applicant has been treated for combat-related mental health issues.

Currently, if a service member says they have received treatment they are required to answer the question in depth, in person, in an interview with a security agent.

From CNN’s Mythili Rao

NEW YORK (CNN) — A little more than a month after New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer announced his resignation, Penguin Group imprint Portfolio will be publishing a book about his career “from start to finish,” president and publisher Adrian Zackheim told CNN.

Peter Elkind, editor-at-large at Fortune and author of a 2005 profile of the governor called “Satan or Savior?” in that magazine, will be collaborating with filmmaker Alex Gibney to produce a book and documentary which will be released together, according to Allison McLean, Penguin spokeswoman.

Elkind’s last book, “The Smartest Guys in the Room,” in which he and co-author Bethany McLean retraced Enron’s downfall, was a bestseller in 2003.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Burgeoning populations, the rise of China, and a less-than-harmonious relationship with Europe are three key challenges facing the United States as it moves further into the 21st century, according to CIA Director Michael Hayden.

In a speech at Kansas State University on Wednesday, Hayden indicated the world’s population is expected to grow by 45 percent to 9 billion people by mid-century, mostly in countries that cannot sustain it. Such rapid growth in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, coupled with likely mass migration to developed countries, will strain resources and increase the risk of violence, civil unrest or extremism, he said.

The CIA director predicted China will achieve great-power status during this century. Although he called China an economic and political competitor, he said, “China is not an inevitable enemy.”

–From CNN National Security Producer Pam Benson

(CNN) — Investigators are looking into the possible sexual abuse of some of the young boys taken from a polygamist sect’s ranch in Texas, the state’s Department of Family and Protective Services said Wednesday.

The department said it is looking into the possibility that some of the boys taken from the Yearning For Zion Ranch near Eldorado, Texas, had been sexually abused, a suspicion based on interviews with the children and journal entries found at the ranch.

The department’s commissioner, Carey Cockerell, did not provide details on the possibility of sexual abuse in a briefing to the Texas Senate Health and Human Services committee Wednesday. However, he told the state senators that investigators had identified 41 children who had had broken or fractured bones.

On its Web site, the department said that it does “not have X-rays or complete medical information on many children so it is too early to draw any conclusions based on this information.” But it added that “it is cause for concern and something we’ll continue to examine.”

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — A group of Democratic lawmakers unveiled sweeping legislation Wednesday that promises to shield consumers from harmful, and in some instances predatory, practices by the credit card industry.

Introduced by Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Connecticut, the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure — CARD — Act would take aim at industry billing, marketing and disclosure practices at a time when credit card debt has become an issue of importance to a growing number of Americans.

“This bill will stop abusive credit card practices that drag so many Americans and their families further and further into debt,” said Dodd, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee.

The proposed legislation would prohibit issuers from, among other things, engaging in practices like charging customers fees to pay bills by phone or “universal default,” which allows an issuer to raise interest rates if a consumer is late paying any other bills.

–From CNNMoney.com’s David Ellis

SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) — Five people were killed and nine were injured, two seriously, early Thursday when two boats collided on Sydney Harbor, police said.

The collision occurred about 2:40 a.m. (12:40 p.m. Wednesday ET), according to a statement issued by the New South Wales Police Department. Sydney Water Police responded to the crash, authorities said.

Five people were dead at the scene, police said. Nine others were taken to the hospital.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The United States will comply with a request from the Belarusian government by withdrawing 10 U.S. diplomats from Minsk within 72 hours as part of an ongoing disagreement with the former Soviet republic, a State Department spokesman said Wednesday.

Sean McCormack said he didn’t know why Wednesday’s request was made.

“You can hypothesize that they weren’t happy about the fact that we continue to meet with those people in Belarusian political circles who have an interest in seeing greater political freedoms — freedom of expression and other kinds of freedoms — in Belarus,” McCormack said

He also noted the United States is pushing for the release of an American who in March was detained in Minsk and placed in a psychiatric hospital.

(CNN) — The deaths of six U.S. soldiers since Tuesday brought the military death toll in Iraq for the month of April to 50, the highest monthly figure since September, U.S. commanders reported Wednesday.

Asked Wednesday why the toll has risen, Maj. Gen. Kevin J. Bergner, spokesman for Multi-National Force-Iraq, said the situation reflects the challenges of militants trying to reassert themselves. “We have said all along this will be a tough fight,” Bergner said at a news conference.

The U.S. military death toll spiked last year as the U.S. troop escalation dubbed the “surge” was unfolding. There were 104 deaths last April, 126 in May and 101 in June. Numbers began dropping when the “surge” strategy took hold and Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr suspended the activities of his Mehdi Army militia.

There were 78 deaths in July, 84 in August, 65 in September, 38 in October, 37 in November, 23 in December, 40 in January, 29 in February, and 38 in March.

JERUSALEM (CNN) — One person was killed and three were wounded Wednesday when an Israeli airstrike targeted a metal shop in Rafah, according to Palestinian security and medical sources.

Israel Defense Forces confirmed the airstrike.

The person killed was the deputy commander of the Islamic Jihad military wing, according to the Palestinian sources, who said he also served as a school headmaster at a U.N. Relief and Works Agency school.

UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunnes said he could not immediately confirm that the person was employed by the United Nations, but said staff members who bring politics into U.N. institutions are fired immediately, as that is a violation of staff rules.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The embattled head of the federal government’s top contracting agency has resigned amid multiple controversies over her leadership, including allegations that she tried to enlist agency officials to assist Republican political hopefuls.

“It has been a great privilege to serve our nation and a great president,” Lurita Doan said in a statement released by the General Services Administration, which buys and manages billions of dollars worth of federal government property.

Doan’s resignation comes 10 months after the government’s Office of Special Counsel (OSC) recommended to the White House that she be disciplined to the “fullest extent” for violating federal laws against using government employees for political purposes — a finding she denied.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — A member of the American-backed militia Sons of Iraq was killed Wednesday and four others, three of them also Sons of Iraq members, were wounded Wednesday when an improvised explosive device detonated near the town of Hawija, Iraq, the U.S. military said.

The Sons of Iraq members were returning from a meeting when the explosion occurred, the military said. The wounded were taken to a Hawija hospital.

BAGHDAD (CNN) — Three U.S. soldiers in Iraq were killed Wednesday in two roadside bombings, the U.S. military said.

The first died in an incident about 1 a.m. during a dismounted patrol in northern Baghdad, the military said. The other two died about 4:50 p.m. when their patrol was struck by an improvised explosive device in southern Baghdad, it said.

Names of the soldiers were withheld pending notification of relatives.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate by a quarter percentage point Wednesday, but the central bank’s statement signaled it may be the last rate cut for at least a while.

The cut took the federal funds rate, the key overnight rate at which banks loan money to one another, to 2 percent. It had been at 5.25 percent as recently as September, when the Fed started slashing rates in an effort to spur the economy and keep the nation out of recession.

The federal funds rate is a benchmark for home equity lines of credit, credit cards and other consumer loans as well as the prime rate used for short-term business loans.

But the Fed’s statement suggested that it needs to continue to closely monitor inflation pressures and it dropped its previous mention of downside risks to growth. Experts generally believe that type of language signals the central bank is ready to pause for some time.

NEW YORK (CNN) — The Federal Reserve slashed a key interest rate by one-quarter of a percentage point Wednesday, in what many economists are predicting might be the last such cut by the central bank for a while.

The Fed cut its federal funds rate, an overnight bank lending rate, to 2 percent. It is the seventh cut since August, when the rate stood at 5.25 percent, and comes as the Fed is trying to balance between fears of recession and inflation.

(CNN) — Air traffic through the Memphis International Airport in Tennessee was slowed slightly Wednesday after power went out in the terminal for several hours, airport spokeswoman Janice Young told CNN.

Power was restored as of 12:40 p.m. (1:40 p.m. ET), Young said. However, she added, there could still be some residual delays. “There won’t be an instant recovery on that, obviously.”

The problems began when crews tried to restore power at 4 a.m. Wednesday after a scheduled shutdown to clean the electrical system at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday night, Young explained.

As workers tried to turn the electricity back on, a component in the main switch gear failed and damaged other pieces in the electrical system.

LONDON, England (CNN) — Thursday’s election for London mayor is a race between two distinct characters — one of them a liberal incumbent who does deals with Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, the other a mop-haired, politically-incorrect conservative with his own twist on politics.

Ken Livingstone, 62, is hoping to win a third term in office but is facing a stiff challenge from former journalist Boris Johnson, 43.

Trailing far behind Livingstone and Johnson is Brian Paddick, 50, a former top police officer who is also openly gay.  Six other candidates are also in the race.