BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - Tornadoes ripped across the Southern and Midwestern United States on Thursday and killed at least 11 people, most of whom had been taking shelter in a high school that collapsed in southern Alabama.

AP - South Korea's foreign minister scheduled meetings with senior U.S. officials about joint efforts to push North Korea to live up to its promise to begin scrapping its nuclear weapons.

AP - Even on one of his best nights, LeBron James couldn't take the Dallas Mavericks down. James had 39 points, combining eye-popping dunks with all sorts of other scoring tactics, and played terrific defense on fellow MVP contender Dirk Nowitzki with the game on the line.

Reuters - Tornadoes ripped across the Southern and Midwestern United States on Thursday and killed at least 11 people, most of whom had been taking shelter in a high school that collapsed in southern Alabama.

ISLAMABAD/KABUL (Reuters) - Pakistani security forces captured one of the Taliban's three top leaders just hours after U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's unannounced visit to Pakistan earlier this week, a senior security official and Taliban sources said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon is not adequately equipping the National Guard and has not adapted to the increasingly important security role it plays in the post-September 11 environment, an independent commission said in a report to Congress on Thursday.

AP - A quick withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq could allow victorious Muslim extremists to fan out into other countries, with some militants going to Afghanistan to fight alongside a resurgent Taliban, Vice President Dick Cheney says.

AP - An al-Qaida-linked Sunni group claimed Friday that it had kidnapped 18 government workers and soldiers in retaliation for the alleged rape of a Sunni woman by members of the Shiite-dominated police force.

Reuters - Pakistani security forces captured one of the Taliban's three top leaders just hours after U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's unannounced visit to Pakistan earlier this week, a senior security official and Taliban sources said.

Reuters - The Pentagon is not adequately equipping the National Guard and has not adapted to the increasingly important security role it plays in the post-September 11 environment, an independent commission said in a report to Congress on Thursday.

AFP - The United States reported progress Thursday in talks with five other world powers on a new UN resolution aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear program and said work on a text could start next week.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Fourteen Iraqi police from a rapid reaction force based in Diyala province north of Baghdad went missing after leaving their base on Thursday to go on leave, a police source in Diyala said on Friday.

AP - A system of powerful storms packing tornadoes passed from Alabama into southwest Georgia, hitting a hospital and causing at least nine deaths statewide, a state official said early Friday.

AP - South Korea on Friday refused to fully resume aid shipments to North Korea until the communist regime follows through on its agreement with the U.S. and four other countries to start scrapping its nuclear weapons program.

AP - Anna Nicole Smith's body will leave for the Bahamas by private plane early Friday and the former model will be buried there hours later, said the attorney given control of her remains after weeks of legal wrangling.

Reuters - Fourteen Iraqi police from a rapid reaction force based in Diyala province north of Baghdad went missing after leaving their base on Thursday to go on leave, a police source in Diyala said on Friday.

AFP - A string of deadly tornadoes have struck the southern United States, with reports Friday of at least 16 dead, including five children killed when the roof of their school collapsed.

AFP - Pakistani security forces have arrested the Taliban's former defence minister, the most senior figure from the Islamist regime to be captured since it fell in 2001, security officials said Friday.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Fourteen Iraqi police officers have gone missing and an al Qaeda-linked group on Friday showed pictures of 18 men it said had been kidnapped to avenge the alleged rape of a woman last month.

WIESBADEN, Germany (Reuters) - Germany stepped up calls on Friday for NATO talks on creating a missile defense shield for Europe, a day after the United States vowed to press ahead with its system without alliance approval.

GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas said they need more time and will not announce a line-up of ministers for a unity government as planned on Friday.

SEOUL (Reuters) - North and South Korea agreed on Friday to resume reunions of families separated during the Korean War in a step toward improving ties chilled by Pyongyang's weapons tests last year.

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Fifteen foreigners, including 11 French nationals, a Briton and an Italian, are believed to have been kidnapped in a remote and inhospitable area of Ethiopia where separatist rebels operate.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - At least six explosions rocked the Somali capital, Mogadishu, on Friday, witnesses said, a day after Ugandan peacekeepers started arriving in the lawless Horn of Africa country.

AP - A powerful storm system packing tornadoes that killed at least seven people in Alabama and one other in Missouri is being blamed for nine more deaths in Georgia, a state official said early Friday.

Reuters - Germany stepped up calls on Friday for NATO talks on creating a missile defense shield for Europe, a day after the United States vowed to press ahead with its system without alliance approval.

AP - LeBron James already had zipped down the baseline and thrown down a dunk so impressive that his teammates — who've certainly seem him do some amazing things — were awed by it. He'd already twisted his way around fellow All-Star Josh Howard during a one-on-one breakaway. And he'd made 15 of his other 23 shots. That's why it was so hard to believe how cold he turned in the final 13.7 seconds against the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night.

Reuters - Fourteen Iraqi police officers have gone missing and an al Qaeda-linked group on Friday showed pictures of 18 men it said had been kidnapped to avenge the alleged rape of a woman last month.

Reuters - Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas said they need more time and will not announce a line-up of ministers for a unity government as planned on Friday.

Reuters - North and South Korea agreed on Friday to resume reunions of families separated during the Korean War in a step toward improving ties chilled by Pyongyang's weapons tests last year.

Reuters - Fifteen foreigners, including 11 French nationals, a Briton and an Italian, are believed to have been kidnapped in a remote and inhospitable area of Ethiopia where separatist rebels operate.

Reuters - At least six explosions rocked the Somali capital, Mogadishu, on Friday, witnesses said, a day after Ugandan peacekeepers started arriving in the lawless Horn of Africa country.

AFP - More than a dozen Western tourists are feared kidnapped in northern Ethiopia with the French foreign minister saying on Friday that he thought French nationals are among the group.

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - Tornadoes swept across the Southern United States and killed at least 17 people across three states, ripping up a hospital and a high school, CNN and Fox News reported on Friday.

ATLANTA (Reuters) - At least six people were killed and 29 injured on Friday when a bus carrying a U.S. university baseball team fell off an overpass onto a freeway, a police spokesman in Atlanta said.

MIAMI (Reuters) - The body of former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith was moved from a Florida morgue on Friday for a final journey to the Bahamas for burial, a Reuters eyewitness said.

AP - A violent storm system that ripped apart an Alabama high school as students hunkered inside later tore through Georgia, hitting a hospital and raising the death toll to at least 20 across the Midwest and Southeast.

AP - A charter bus carrying a college baseball team from Ohio plunged off a highway ramp early Friday and slammed into the pavement below, killing at least six people and scattering sports equipment across the road, authorities said.

AP - What began as a routine training exercise almost ended in an embarrassing diplomatic incident after a company of Swiss soldiers got lost at night and marched into neighboring Liechtenstein.

Reuters - Tornadoes swept across the Southern United States and killed at least 17 people across three states, ripping up a hospital and a high school, CNN and Fox News reported on Friday.

Reuters - Shut out of elections and barred from television screens, Russia's tiny band of die-hard Kremlin opponents now believe street protests are the only way to make their voice heard.

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Tornadoes swept across the southern United States and killed at least 20 people in three states, ripping up a hospital and high school where students huddled for shelter, authorities said on Friday.

OSLO (Reuters) - Governments are making scant progress toward extending a U.N. pact to fight global warming despite mounting public concern about climate change and U.N. warnings it poses a threat as great as war, experts say.

AP - A charter bus carrying a college baseball team from Ohio plunged off a highway ramp early Friday and slammed into the pavement below, killing six people, injuring 29 and scattering sports equipment across the road, authorities said.

AP - Stocks opened the final session of a tumultuous week falling modestly Friday as the yen rallied against the dollar and concerns about the strength of the U.S. economy continued to weigh on investors following a plunge in stocks early in the week.

AP - President Bush will name a commission to investigate the quality of care at the nation's military and veterans hospitals after a scandal about the treatment of wounded troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi police found the bodies of 14 policemen on Friday, all shot in the head, and an al Qaeda-linked group said it had killed them to avenge the alleged rape of a woman last month.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - NATO allies are failing to tackle the drug trade that has funded the Taliban resurgence and the alliance still faces military shortfalls as the Afghan insurgency begins to ramp up springtime attacks, NATO's top commander said on Friday.

NASSAU (Reuters) - The funeral for former Playboy pin-up Anna Nicole Smith finally got under way in the Bahamas on Friday after a three-week fight for her corpse and amid continuing legal skirmishing over her 5-month-old baby.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scrambling to answer an outcry over shoddy health care for U.S. soldiers wounded in Iraq, the White House announced on Friday that President George W. Bush will appoint a bipartisan commission to review health care for military veterans.

AP - President Bush ordered a comprehensive review Friday of conditions at the nation's military and veteran hospitals in the wake of a scandal surrounding care for wounded troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.

AP - The Bush administration selected a design Friday for a new generation of atomic warheads, taking a major step toward building the first new nuclear weapon since the end of the Cold War two decades ago.

AP - Stocks ticked moderately lower in the final session of a tumultuous week as the yen rallied against the dollar Friday and concerns about the strength of the U.S. economy still weighed on investors following a plunge in stocks early in the week.

AP - Clem Labine, a relief pitcher who threw two of baseball's most significant shutouts in his role as a part-time starter and pitched for two Dodgers World Series championship teams in the 1950s, died Friday. He was 80.

Reuters - Tornadoes swept across the southern United States and killed at least 20 people in three states, ripping up a hospital and high school where students huddled for shelter, authorities said on Friday.

Reuters - At least six people were killed and 29 injured on Friday when a bus carrying a U.S. university baseball team fell off an overpass onto a freeway, a police spokesman in Atlanta said.

Reuters - The body of former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith was moved from a Florida morgue on Friday for a final journey to the Bahamas for burial, a Reuters eyewitness said.

AFP - Authorities were digging through the rubble of a Georgia high school Friday hoping to find survivors after a string of tornadoes that killed at least 20 tore across the southern United States.

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Tornadoes across the southern United States killed at least 20 people as they tore up a hospital and high school where students huddled for shelter, authorities said on Friday, a day after the rampage.

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Astronaut Lisa Nowak, who stunned colleagues by driving from Houston to Orlando in a diaper to confront a woman she thought was a love rival, was charged with attempted kidnapping but not with attempted murder on Friday, prosecutors said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. health regulators said on Friday they have been reviewing the safety of over-the-counter children's cough and cold medications, especially for those under age 2.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A spectacularly quirky creature with long, curved spines protruding from its armored body prowled the ocean floor half a billion years ago near the dawn of complex life forms on Earth, scientists said.

AP - A violent storm system ripped apart an Alabama high school as students hunkered inside and later tore through Georgia, hitting a hospital and raising the death toll Friday to at least 20 across the Midwest and Southeast.

AP - A charter bus carrying a college baseball team from Ohio plunged off a highway ramp early Friday and slammed into the pavement below, killing six people, injuring 29 and scattering sports equipment across the road, authorities said.

AP - President Bush ordered a comprehensive review Friday of conditions at the nation's military and veteran hospitals in the wake of a scandal surrounding care for wounded troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.

Reuters - NATO allies are failing to tackle the drug trade that has funded the Taliban resurgence and the alliance still faces military shortfalls as the Afghan insurgency begins to ramp up springtime attacks, NATO's top commander said on Friday.

AP - Stocks slid in the final session of a tumultuous week as the yen rallied against the dollar Friday and concerns about the strength of the U.S. economy still weighed on investors following a plunge in stocks early in the week.

AP - The Washington Redskins opened free agency Friday by preparing for a visit from free agent linebacker London Fletcher and completing deals with three of their own players.

Reuters - Tornadoes across the southern United States killed at least 20 people as they tore up a hospital and high school where students huddled for shelter, authorities said on Friday, a day after the rampage.

Reuters - Iraqi police found the bodies of 14 policemen on Friday, all shot in the head, and an al Qaeda-linked group said it had killed them to avenge the alleged rape of a woman last month.

Reuters - NASA astronaut Lisa Nowak, who stunned colleagues by driving from Houston to Orlando in diapers to confront a woman she thought was a love rival, was charged with attempted kidnapping but not with attempted murder, prosecutors said on Friday.

Reuters - The funeral for former Playboy pin-up Anna Nicole Smith finally got under way in the Bahamas on Friday after a three-week fight for her corpse and amid continuing legal skirmishing over her 5-month-old baby.

Reuters - Scrambling to answer an outcry over shoddy health care for U.S. soldiers wounded in Iraq, the White House announced on Friday that President George W. Bush will appoint a bipartisan commission to review health care for military veterans.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Army Secretary Francis Harvey has resigned after reports that troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan were being poorly treated at the Army's top hospital, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The 15-member U.N. Security Council expects to have a draft resolution next week on additional sanctions to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions, barring last minute snags, the council's president said.

DUBAI (Reuters) - A senior Taliban commander said in remarks broadcast on Friday that the Afghan Islamist group was sending fighters to Iraq to support anti-U.S. insurgents.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States must put aside speculation over whether North Korea can be trusted and work to convince Pyongyang it will be more secure without nuclear arms, South Korea's foreign minister said on Friday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. health regulators are taking a new look at the safety of children's over-the-counter cough and cold medications, especially for those under age 2, a Food and Drug Administration official said on Friday.

AP - Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey abruptly stepped down Friday as the Bush administration struggled to cope with the fallout from a scandal over substandard conditions for wounded Iraq soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

AP - A small college in Ohio was thrown into mourning Friday after a bus carrying the baseball team tumbled over the side of a highway overpass and slammed onto the pavement 30 feet below, killing four students, the driver and his wife.

AP - The bodies of 14 policemen were found Friday northeast of Baghdad after an al-Qaida-affilated Sunni group said it abducted members of a government security force in retaliation for the rape of a Sunni woman by members of the Shiite-dominated police.

AP - Administrators at a high school where eight students died in a tornado were warned about severe weather nearly three hours before the twister struck, raising questions Friday about whether classes should have been dismissed earlier.

Reuters - A senior Taliban commander said in remarks broadcast on Friday that the Afghan Islamist group was sending fighters to Iraq to support anti-U.S. insurgents.

AP - Archaeologists have discovered extensive remains of what is believed to be an ancient marketplace with shops and a religious center at the southern edge of Athens, the Culture Ministry said Friday. The finds, in the coastal neighborhood of Voula, date from the 4th or 5th century B.C.

AP - Stocks stumbled in the final session of a tumultuous week Friday as the yen rallied against the dollar and concerns about the U.S. economy still dogged investors after Tuesday's huge drop.

AP - Clem Labine, a relief pitcher who threw two of baseball's most significant shutouts in his role as a part-time starter and pitched for two Dodgers World Series championship teams in the 1950s, died Friday. He was 80.

Reuters - U.S. Army Secretary Francis Harvey has resigned after reports that troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan were being poorly treated at the Army's top hospital, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday.

Reuters - The 15-member U.N. Security Council expects to have a draft resolution next week on additional sanctions to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions, barring last minute snags, the council's president said.

Reuters - The United States must put aside speculation over whether North Korea can be trusted and work to convince Pyongyang it will be more secure without nuclear arms, South Korea's foreign minister said on Friday.

Reuters - Astronaut Lisa Nowak, who stunned colleagues by driving from Houston to Orlando in a diaper to confront a woman she thought was a love rival, was charged with attempted kidnapping but not with attempted murder on Friday, prosecutors said.

AFP - Five Europeans and 13 Ethiopians have been kidnapped by an unidentified group in northeastern Ethiopia, police announced here Friday, after conflicting reports that up to 20 foreigners had been abducted.

AFP - Senior US and European officials indicated Friday that new UN sanctions being drawn up against Iran to curb its nuclear program will involve only a relatively minor tightening of measures imposed by the world body in December.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates fired Army Secretary Francis Harvey on Friday as the Bush administration scrambled to respond to an outcry over poor treatment for veterans at the Army's top hospital.

NASSAU (Reuters) - Former Playboy pinup Anna Nicole Smith was laid to rest in the Bahamas on Friday as a flock of doves flew skyward, following a three-week battle for her corpse and amid legal wrangling over her 5-month-old baby.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Health regulators are taking a new look at the safety of children's over-the-counter cough and cold medications, especially for those under age 2, a Food and Drug Administration official said on Friday.

Reuters - Defense Secretary Robert Gates fired Army Secretary Francis Harvey on Friday as the Bush administration scrambled to respond to an outcry over poor treatment for veterans at the Army's top hospital.

Reuters - Former Playboy pinup Anna Nicole Smith was laid to rest in the Bahamas on Friday as a flock of doves flew skyward, following a three-week battle for her corpse and amid legal wrangling over her 5-month-old baby.

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (Reuters) - President George W. Bush kept up the pressure on the Democratic-controlled U.S. Congress on Friday to set aside misgivings about his troop buildup and fully fund U.S. forces in Iraq.

AP - A small college in Ohio was thrown into mourning Friday after a bus carrying the baseball team tumbled over the side of a highway overpass and slammed onto the pavement 30 feet below, killing four students, the driver and his wife.

AP - Administrators at a high school where eight students died in a tornado were warned about severe weather nearly three hours before the twister struck, raising questions Friday about whether classes should have been dismissed earlier.

AP - Daisuke Matsuzaka's spring training debut with the Boston Red Sox began when he gave up a leadoff double to a college junior. Then the Japanese star retired the next six batters he faced Friday night.

Reuters - President George W. Bush kept up the pressure on the Democratic-controlled U.S. Congress on Friday to set aside misgivings about his troop buildup and fully fund U.S. forces in Iraq.

AFP - US Defense Secretary Robert Gates sacked the civilian chief of the US Army Friday, saying he was "disappointed" with the service's defensive response to a scandal over the care of wounded troops at a top military hospital.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates fired Army Secretary Francis Harvey on Friday as the Bush administration scrambled to respond to an outcry over poor treatment for veterans at the Army's top hospital.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan successfully test-fired a short-range nuclear-capable, surface-to-surface Haft-II Abdali ballistic missile on Saturday with a range of 200 km (125 miles), the military said.

AP - Oscar winners Forest Whitaker and Jennifer Hudson kept their winning streaks alive, while 'Grey's Anatomy' star Isaiah Washington claimed a best actor prize at the 38th annual NAACP Image Awards Friday.

AP - Baseball commissioner Bud Selig isn't about to guess whether Barry Bonds will cooperate with George Mitchell's steroids investigation. 'I don't know that,' Selig said Friday. 'I'm going to see how the Mitchell investigation plays out.'

Reuters - Defense Secretary Robert Gates fired Army Secretary Francis Harvey on Friday as the Bush administration scrambled to respond to an outcry over poor treatment for veterans at the Army's top hospital.

Reuters - Pakistan successfully test-fired a short-range nuclear-capable, surface-to-surface Haft-II Abdali ballistic missile on Saturday with a range of 200 km (125 miles), the military said.

AFP - US and Pakistani agents were interrogating the Taliban's former defence minister Saturday in the hope that he can help them hunt down other key militant leaders, security officials said.

AFP - A manhunt was on in Ethiopia Saturday after an unidentified group kidnapped five Europeans and 13 Ethiopians in the country's northeast, after conflicting reports that up to 20 foreigners had been abducted.