ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan believes Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who has a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head, was probably killed with his wife and bodyguards in a missile attack two days ago, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Friday.

AP - Pakistan's Taliban chief has been killed in a CIA missile strike and his body buried, three Pakistani intelligence officials said Friday. But one of the three said no intelligence agent had actually seen the remains.

Reuters - Pakistan believes Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who has a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head, was probably killed with his wife and bodyguards in a missile attack two days ago, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Friday.

AFP - Pakistan has 'information' that the country's most-wanted militant, Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud, is dead but official confirmation is still pending, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said Friday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Border security, the drug war and arms smuggling will join trade and the recession on the agenda of President Barack Obama's first 'three amigos' summit with the leaders of Mexico and Canada this weekend in Mexico.

(Reuters) - A leading Democrat in the House of Representatives who has rebuffed Republican efforts to subpoena records of a mortgage program for favored borrowers at Countrywide Financial Corp got home loans from that lender, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

KABUL (Reuters) - A roadside bomb killed four U.S. troops in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, where thousands of Marines are conducting the biggest operation of the war, the military said on Friday.

AP - Pakistan's foreign minister says he has received intelligence information that Pakistan's Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a missile strike, but that authorities were heading to the area for verification.

AP - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday urged South Africa to press for political and economic reforms in neighboring Zimbabwe.

AP - Car shoppers caught up in the frenzy of the 'cash-for-clunkers' program will have more time now and a $2 billion reason to trade in their old gas guzzlers.

Reuters - The U.S. Senate approved and sent to the White House on Thursday a $2 billion extension of the 'cash for clunkers' autos sales incentive program.

Reuters - Border security, the drug war and arms smuggling will join trade and the recession on the agenda of President Barack Obama's first 'three amigos' summit with the leaders of Mexico and Canada this weekend in Mexico.

Reuters - A leading Democrat in the House of Representatives who has rebuffed Republican efforts to subpoena records of a mortgage program for favored borrowers at Countrywide Financial Corp got home loans from that lender, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

Reuters - Judge Sonia Sotomayor won approval on Thursday to become the first Hispanic on the U.S. Supreme Court in a Senate vote that President Barack Obama said broke another social barrier.

AFP - Pakistan said Friday it believed that the nation's Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone attack, which if confirmed would score a coup in the US-led fight against Islamist militants.

AFP - Georgia and Russia on Friday mark a year since the outbreak of their war amid enduring tensions and international concern over instability in the volatile Caucasus region.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan believes Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who has a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head, was probably killed with his wife and bodyguards in a missile attack two days ago, the interior minister said on Friday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate approved and sent to the White House on Thursday a $2 billion extension of the 'cash for clunkers' autos sales incentive program.

PRETORIA (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton encouraged South Africa on Friday to use its influence to bolster reforms in Zimbabwe and said closer ties would be built with Pretoria after strains under the Bush administration.

LONDON (Reuters) - NATO's new secretary-general made a direct call for more troops in Afghanistan on Friday and said training of Afghan forces also needed to be escalated.

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - A U.S.-based university professor is among 13 men convicted in absentia by Ethiopia for plotting to overthrow the government, the state news agency said on Friday.

TBILISI, Georgia (Reuters) - Bonfires blazed in Georgia to mark the first anniversary on Friday of the former Soviet republic's five-day war with Russia over breakaway South Ossetia, where the risk of renewed hostilities remains.

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexican drug gangs are killing rivals in record numbers in a major setback for the government, which will seek more support from U.S. President Barack Obama when he visits the country this weekend.

AP - Pakistan's Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who led a violent campaign of suicide attacks and assassinations against the Pakistani government, has been killed in a U.S. missile strike, a militant commander and aide to Mehsud said Friday.

AP - When Sonia Sotomayor is sworn in Saturday to the Supreme Court, she'll be able to claim two firsts: first Hispanic justice and first high court member to have her oath-taking made available to TV cameras.

AP - A series of bomb attacks targeting Shiite pilgrims and worshippers struck Iraq on Friday, killing at least 27 people and seriously damaging a mosque, police and medical officials said.

AP - The man who went on a deadly shooting rampage at a Pittsburgh-area health club shares a chilling trait with other mass killers, an expert says: the desire to make their woes understood through multiple deaths.

Reuters - Pakistan believes Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who has a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head, was probably killed with his wife and bodyguards in a missile attack two days ago, the interior minister said on Friday.

Reuters - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton encouraged South Africa on Friday to use its influence to bolster reforms in Zimbabwe and said closer ties would be built with Pretoria after strains under the Bush administration.

Reuters - NATO's new secretary-general made a direct call for more troops in Afghanistan on Friday and said training of Afghan forces also needed to be escalated.

Reuters - A U.S.-based university professor is among 13 men convicted in absentia by Ethiopia for plotting to overthrow the government, the state news agency said on Friday.

Reuters - Bonfires blazed in Georgia to mark the first anniversary on Friday of the former Soviet republic's five-day war with Russia over breakaway South Ossetia, where the risk of renewed hostilities remains.

Reuters - Mexican drug gangs are killing rivals in record numbers in a major setback for the government, which will seek more support from U.S. President Barack Obama when he visits the country this weekend.

AFP - Pakistan said Friday it believed that wanted Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone attack, which if confirmed would score a coup in the US-led fight against Islamist militants.

AFP - Georgia and Russia traded fierce accusations Friday on the first anniversary of their war that shook the Caucasus region and re-ignited Cold War-era tensions that persist to this day.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. employers cut 247,000 jobs in July, far less than expected and the least in any month since last August, according to data on Friday that provided the clearest evidence yet that the economy was turning around.

PRETORIA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton encouraged South Africa on Friday to use its clout to bolster reforms in Zimbabwe and said closer ties would be built with Pretoria after strains under the Bush administration.

KABUL (Reuters) - NATO's new chief called Friday for additional reinforcements in Afghanistan, and the alliance announced the deaths of eight more U.S. and British troops as violence worsens in the eight-year-old war's deadliest phase.

AP - It's official: Car shoppers are getting more time to trade in their clunkers for cash.

AP - The federal government is advising schools they don't need to close their doors this fall just because a few students come down with swine flu.

AP - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday called on South Africa to take a leading role in driving slumping economies across the world's poorest continent during the worldwide financial crisis.

AP - Investors finally got some good news about unemployment.

AP - The gunman who killed three women and wounded nine others at a Pittsburgh-area health club bought accessories for a handgun from the same Wisconsin-based dealer that sold a gun to the Virginia Tech shooter.

Reuters - U.S. employers cut 247,000 jobs in July, far less than expected and the least in any month since last August, according to data on Friday that provided the clearest evidence yet that the economy was turning around.

Reuters - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton encouraged South Africa on Friday to use its clout to bolster reforms in Zimbabwe and said closer ties would be built with Pretoria after strains under the Bush administration.

Reuters - NATO's new chief called Friday for additional reinforcements in Afghanistan, and the alliance announced the deaths of eight more U.S. and British troops as violence worsens in the eight-year-old war's deadliest phase.

AFP - A powerful car bomb killed at least 30 Shiite Muslims in Iraq's main northern city of Mosul on Friday as a wave of attacks targeting Shiite pilgrims left four people dead in the capital Baghdad.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. unemployment rate fell in July for the first time in 15 months as employers cut far fewer jobs than expected, providing the clearest sign yet that the economy was turning around.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress will consider extending unemployment benefits after it returns in September to help 1.5 million Americans who risk exhausting them, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Friday.

MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - A suicide car bomber killed 38 people as they left a Shi'ite Muslim mosque just outside the volatile northern Iraqi city of Mosul, officials said Friday, while a series of bombs in Baghdad killed six Shi'ite pilgrims.

LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal will accept two Syrian nationals for resettlement from the U.S. detention camp of Guantanamo Bay in Cuba on a special visa, the foreign ministry said on Friday, lauding the forthcoming closure of the camp.

TBILISI/TSKHINVALI, Georgia (Reuters) - Silent tribute and bitter accusation marked the first anniversary on Friday of Georgia's war with Russia over breakaway South Ossetia, where unresolved tensions threaten new hostilities.

AP - Employers sharply scaled back layoffs in July, and the unemployment rate dipped for the first time in 15 months, sending a strong signal that the worst recession since World War II is finally ending.

AP - Republican Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida said Friday he will resign from the Senate as soon as a replacement can be appointed, leaving the seat more than a year before his term ends.

AP - Pakistan's Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, who unleashed a fearsome campaign of suicide attacks and assassinations that made him the country's most-wanted man, was killed in a U.S. missile strike, an aide said Friday.

AP - Hours before Michael Jackson's death, his doctor administered multiple sedatives along with a powerful anesthetic the pop star used to sleep, according to a law enforcement official. It's a safe combination if done properly; potentially lethal if not.

AP - A luxury resort in San Diego is offering rooms for $19 a night — if you don't mind sleeping in a tent.

AP - Roger Federer is showing off his new doubles team.

Reuters - The U.S. unemployment rate fell in July for the first time in 15 months as employers cut far fewer jobs than expected, providing the clearest sign yet that the economy was turning around.

Reuters - The U.S. Congress will consider extending unemployment benefits after it returns in September to help 1.5 million Americans who risk exhausting them, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Friday.

Reuters - A suicide car bomber killed 38 people as they left a Shi'ite Muslim mosque just outside the volatile northern Iraqi city of Mosul, officials said Friday, while a series of bombs in Baghdad killed six Shi'ite pilgrims.

Reuters - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton encouraged South Africa on Friday to press for reform in Zimbabwe and said Washington would build closer ties with Pretoria after strains under the Bush administration.

Reuters - Portugal will accept two Syrian nationals for resettlement from the U.S. detention camp of Guantanamo Bay in Cuba on a special visa, the foreign ministry said on Friday, lauding the forthcoming closure of the camp.

AFP - A powerful car bomb killed at least 30 Shiite Muslims in Iraq's main northern city of Mosul on Friday in a wave of attacks targeting Shiites that also left four dead in the capital Baghdad.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan is 'pretty certain' Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who has a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head, was killed with his wife and guards in a missile attack two days ago, the foreign minister said on Friday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New York Times does not have the right to gain access to sealed applications for wiretaps in the investigation of the prostitution ring once patronized by former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday.

PRETORIA (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton encouraged South Africa on Friday to press for reform in Zimbabwe and said Washington would build closer ties with Pretoria after strains under the Bush administration.

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's anti-terrorism unit has been involved in a shootout in Central Java during a raid targeting suspected militants behind deadly bomb attacks in Jakarta last month, police said Friday.

AP - Republican Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida said Friday he will step down from the Senate as soon as possible — more than a year before his term ends — adding fresh intrigue over who will fill the seat. Martinez, the only Hispanic Republican in the Senate, revealed his plans in a statement to supporters and was expected to publicly announce the decision Friday afternoon in Florida.

AP - The Senate ethics committee cleared Sens. Chris Dodd and Kent Conrad of breaking rules by accepting VIP mortgages, even as it scolded them Friday for not being more careful to avoid the appearance of sweetheart deals.

AP - Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry said Friday he doesn't know if the band will keep its current tour going because of injuries lead singer Steven Tyler suffered when he fell off a stage.

AP - The giant catamaran built by America's Cup champion Alinghi to defend the trophy was hoisted off Lake Geneva on Friday and flown over the Alps to the sea.

Reuters - Pakistan is 'pretty certain' Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who has a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head, was killed with his wife and guards in a missile attack two days ago, the foreign minister said on Friday.

Reuters - The New York Times does not have the right to gain access to sealed applications for wiretaps in the investigation of the prostitution ring once patronized by former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday.

Reuters - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton encouraged South Africa on Friday to press for reform in Zimbabwe and said Washington would build closer ties with Pretoria after strains under the Bush administration.

Reuters - Indonesia's anti-terrorism unit has been involved in a shootout in Central Java during a raid targeting suspected militants behind deadly bomb attacks in Jakarta last month, police said Friday.

Reuters - Silent tribute and bitter accusation marked the first anniversary on Friday of Georgia's war with Russia over breakaway South Ossetia, where unresolved tensions threaten new hostilities.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senator Mel Martinez, a native Cuban and a former chairman of the Republican Party, stunned supporters on Friday by informing them that he plans to resign from Congress, party aides said.

AP - Pakistan's Taliban chief was killed by a CIA missile strike, a militant commander confirmed Friday — a severe blow to extremists threatening the stability of this nuclear-armed nation and a possible boost to U.S.-Pakistani cooperation in fighting insurgents who wreak havoc along the Afghan border.

AP - The wife of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford moved out of the official governor's residence with their four sons Friday, a little more than a month after he admitted to a yearlong affair with an Argentine woman he called his 'soul mate.'

AP - Congress' longest-serving member and a fierce health care advocate vowed Friday to push ahead with Democratic-led efforts to extend coverage to all, saying he won't be intimidated by protesters who disrupted his town-hall meetings.

AP - Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the sister of President John F. Kennedy and a longtime champion for the disabled, was in critical condition Friday at a Massachusetts hospital.

AP - Florida investigators say a man accused of downloading child pornography is blaming his cat. Keith Griffin of Jensen Beach is charged with 10 counts of possession of child pornography after detectives found more than 1,000 images on his home computer.

AP - Craving help for their starting rotation, the Minnesota Twins have turned to Carl Pavano. The Twins agreed Friday to send the Cleveland Indians a player to be identified later in exchange for Pavano, a one-time All-Star whose career derailed in New York during four injury-ruined seasons with the Yankees.

Reuters - Charges are being prepared against Frank DiPascali, a longtime right-hand man to imprisoned swindler Bernard Madoff, a court document showed on Friday.

Reuters - Senator Mel Martinez, a native Cuban and a former chairman of the Republican Party, stunned supporters on Friday by informing them that he plans to resign from Congress, party aides said.

AFP - A powerful car bomb killed at least 37 Shiite Muslims in Iraq's main northern city of Mosul on Friday in a wave of attacks that also killed 10 people in the capital Baghdad.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc posted its best quarter in nearly two years, as recovering stock markets boosted the value of its equity investments and derivatives bets.

BOILING SPRINGS, S.C./OCONTO FALLS, Wisc. (Reuters) - At scattered events across the United States, protesters are confronting members of Congress whose summer 'town hall' meetings aim to get a sense of how Americans feel about overhauling healthcare.

BOSTON (Reuters) - Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the sister of assassinated President John F. Kennedy and a champion of the rights of the mentally impaired, is hospitalized in critical but stable condition, a hospital official said on Friday.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - At least 21 people in Colorado and 10 other U.S. states have been sickened by a salmonella outbreak that prompted the recall of more than 800,000 pounds of ground beef, federal and state officials said on Friday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One of the youngest detainees held at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay moved a step closer to freedom when the Obama administration notified Congress of his upcoming release, a Justice Department official said on Friday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. unemployment rate fell in July for the first time in 15 months as employers cut far fewer jobs than expected, giving the clearest indication yet that the economy was turning around from a deep recession.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Charges are being prepared against Frank DiPascali, a longtime right-hand man to imprisoned swindler Bernard Madoff, according to a court document filed by U.S. prosecutors on Friday.

AP - Republican Sen. Mel Martinez's decision Friday to step down 16 months early gave Gov. Charlie Crist the perfect gift: his pick of who should watch over the office while Crist tries to win it for himself.

AP - An autopsy report shows that cocaine use contributed to the heart disease that suddenly killed TV pitchman Billy Mays in June, officials announced Friday.

AP - New Jersey police said a shotgun was brandished after two brothers argued about a sandwich for their mother. The argument began in Anthony Pilla's Bridgewater house, where the mother lives. Police said Pilla's brother threw his cap and glasses at the 49-year-old old.

AP - John Smoltz may have thrown the last pitch of his storied career. The Boston Red Sox cut the struggling Smoltz on Friday, a day after the New York Yankees sent the 42-year-old righty to yet another early exit.

Reuters - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc posted its best quarter in nearly two years, as recovering stock markets boosted the value of its equity investments and derivatives bets.

Reuters - At scattered events across the United States, protesters are confronting members of Congress whose summer 'town hall' meetings aim to get a sense of how Americans feel about overhauling healthcare.

Reuters - Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the sister of assassinated President John F. Kennedy and a champion of the rights of the mentally impaired, is hospitalized in critical but stable condition, a hospital official said on Friday.

Reuters - At least 21 people in Colorado and 10 other U.S. states have been sickened by a salmonella outbreak that prompted the recall of more than 800,000 pounds of ground beef, federal and state officials said on Friday.

Reuters - One of the youngest detainees held at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay moved a step closer to freedom when the Obama administration notified Congress of his upcoming release, a Justice Department official said on Friday.

AFP - Pakistan said Friday it believed Baitullah Mehsud, the charismatic commander of the Pakistani Taliban, had been killed in a US drone attack in a major blow for the Islamist militants.

BEKASI, Indonesia (Reuters) - Indonesian police have shot dead a man suspected to be leading Islamic militant Noordin Mohammad Top during raids in Central Java and were trying to identify his body, a police source said on Saturday.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - At least 27 people, most of them in Colorado, have fallen ill from a salmonella outbreak that prompted the recall of more than 800,000 pounds (360,000 kg) of ground beef in 12 states, federal and state officials said on Friday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Frank DiPascali, a longtime right-hand man to epic swindler Bernard Madoff, will plead guilty to criminal charges for his role in the disgraced financier's $65 billion fraud, a court document said on Friday.

AP - In her first communication since leaving office, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin described in an Internet posting Friday that President Obama's plan to overhaul the health care system was evil.

AP - The mother of three young children who drowned after she drove into a central Arkansas lake had been drinking before the crash, authorities said Friday, the second recent case in which a mom is accused of consuming alcohol before getting behind the wheel with her kids.

Reuters - Indonesian police have shot dead a man suspected to be leading Islamic militant Noordin Mohammad Top during raids in Central Java and were trying to identify his body, a police source said on Saturday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner formally requested that Congress raise the $12.1 trillion statutory debt limit on Friday, saying that it could be breached as early as mid-October.

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian police have shot dead a man suspected to be leading Islamic militant Noordin Mohammad Top during raids in Central Java and were trying to identify his body, police sources said on Saturday.

AP - On at least a dozen recent flights by U.S. jetliners, malfunctioning equipment made it impossible for pilots to know how fast they were flying, federal investigators have discovered. A similar breakdown is believed to have played a role in the Air France crash into the Atlantic that killed all 228 people aboard in June.

AP - Indonesian police hunting the terrorists behind last month's attacks on hotels in the capital raided one house and besieged another Saturday, killing two suspected militants, arresting five and seizing explosives and a car bomb, a senior officer said.

AP - A mouse found inside an automatic teller machine — along with a nest it had built with chewed-up $20 bills — gave an Oregon gas station employee the surprise of her life. The mouse, discovered Thursday, had thoroughly torn up two bills and damaged another 14 to line his nest. Employee Millie Taylor said she screamed and slammed the machine's door shut.

Reuters - U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner formally requested that Congress raise the $12.1 trillion statutory debt limit on Friday, saying that it could be breached as early as mid-October.

Reuters - Indonesian police have shot dead a man suspected to be leading Islamic militant Noordin Mohammad Top during raids in Central Java and were trying to identify his body, police sources said on Saturday.

AFP - Explosions and gunfire rocked a suspected hideout of alleged Asian terror mastermind Noordin Mohammed Top in Indonesia early Saturday, after a 12-hour siege by police, witnesses said.

AP - Indonesian police stormed a house Saturday where the regional militant leader suspected in last month's attacks on hotels in the capital was believed hiding out with several followers, witnesses and police said.

AP - Canadian divers have stumbled upon what they believe is the wreckage of a U.S. Army air force amphibious plane that went down in the St. Lawrence River in 1942.

AP - LeBron James is going to make the Cleveland Cavaliers wait — and sweat.

Reuters - At scattered events across the United States, protesters are confronting members of Congress whose summer 'town hall' meetings aim to get a sense of how Americans feel about overhauling healthcare.

AFP - Asian terror suspect Noordin Mohammed Top was killed during a raid on his hideout by heavily armed counter-terrorism police in Indonesia Saturday, local television reported.

AFP - Fatah members were set to hold Saturday their first leadership election for 20 years, hoping to breathe new life into the secular Palestinian party weakened by infighting, mismanagement and a trouncing by the Islamist Hamas movement.