(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.