KABUL (Reuters) - The Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb in front of the heavily fortified headquarters of U.S. and NATO troops in Kabul on Saturday, saying the target was the U.S. embassy nearby.

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan leaders already under fire for a perceived slow response to a typhoon that likely killed hundreds have begun accepting foreign aid after earlier refusing those offers, officials said on Saturday.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Nineteen people died and at least another 20 were hurt in a prison fight on Friday in the northern Mexican state of Durango, a security official said.

AP - A suicide car bomb exploded near the main gate of the NATO-led international military mission Saturday, killing three Afghans and wounding 70, officials said. The Taliban claimed responsibility.

AP - A fight among inmates Friday at a prison in northern Mexico killed 19 inmates and left more than 20 injured, Durango state officials said. The battle apparently involved inmates jailed on drug or organized crime charges.

AP - South Korea's president renewed his offer of aid Saturday for impoverished North Korea if it abandons its nuclear weapons on the 64th anniversary of the divided peninsula's liberation from Japanese colonial rule.

Reuters - The Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb in front of the heavily fortified headquarters of U.S. and NATO troops in Kabul on Saturday, saying the target was the U.S. embassy nearby.

Reuters - Taiwan leaders already under fire for a perceived slow response to a typhoon that likely killed hundreds have begun accepting foreign aid after earlier refusing those offers, officials said on Saturday.

Reuters - Nineteen people died and at least another 20 were hurt in a prison fight on Friday in the northern Mexican state of Durango, a security official said.

AFP - A suicide car bomb exploded outside the NATO military headquarters in the Afghan capital Kabul Saturday, killing three people and wounding at least 14, the defence ministry said.

AFP - US Senator Jim Webb began historic talks with Myanmar junta leader Than Shwe Saturday, becoming the first senior Washington official to meet the head of the military regime, officials said.

KABUL (Reuters) - The Taliban claimed responsibility for a large suicide car bomb that detonated on Saturday in the heart of the Afghan capital's most secure neighborhood just five days before an election the Islamist group has vowed to disrupt.

YANGON (Reuters) - U.S. senator Jim Webb met Myanmar top military leader Than Shwe in the country's remote new capital of Naypyidaw on Saturday, a state official said without disclosing details of the meeting.

AP - A suicide car bomb exploded Saturday outside the main gate of NATO's headquarters less than a week before presidential elections, killing seven and wounding 91 in the biggest attack in the Afghan capital in six months.

AP - Real estate lender Colonial BancGroup Inc. has been shut down by federal officials in the biggest U.S. bank failure this year.

AP - The president's Friday town hall in a conservative suburb of Bozeman allowed him to speak directly to Baucus' constituents — the same people who are already giving the senator an angry earful during the congressional August recess.

AP - A fight among inmates Friday at a prison in northern Mexico killed 19 inmates and left more than 20 injured, Durango state officials said. The battle apparently involved inmates jailed on drug or organized crime charges.

AP - South Korea's president renewed his offer of aid for impoverished North Korea if it abandons its nuclear weapons and called Saturday for talks on the reduction of conventional weapons along their heavily fortified border.

AP - The air traffic controller handling the small plane involved in a deadly crash with a helicopter over the Hudson River was chatting on the telephone about a dead cat at the airport and initially failed to warn the pilot of other aircraft in his path, officials say.

AP - Strong winds are spreading multiple wildfires across parched parts of California as officials worry the gusts could ignite more blazes and force more evacuations in areas already under a state of emergency.

AP - Families and friends paid homage Saturday to victims buried alive under mud and rock after the worst storm in more than 50 years pounded southern Taiwan unleashing flash flooding and massive landslides.

Reuters - The Taliban claimed responsibility for a large suicide car bomb that detonated on Saturday in the heart of the Afghan capital's most secure neighborhood just five days before an election the Islamist group has vowed to disrupt.

Reuters - U.S. senator Jim Webb met Myanmar top military leader Than Shwe in the country's remote new capital of Naypyidaw on Saturday, a state official said without disclosing details of the meeting.

AFP - A suicide car bomb exploded outside the NATO military headquarters in the Afghan capital Saturday and killed three people, the defence ministry said, in a brazen attack days before elections.

BIG SKY, Montana (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Saturday U.S. healthcare worked better for insurance companies than for patients, as he pressed his case for a major overhaul that critics say is too expensive.

KABUL (Reuters) - The Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb that killed seven people on Saturday in the heart of the Afghan capital's most secure district five days before an election the Islamist group has vowed to disrupt.

GAZA (Reuters) - The Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers said Saturday the leader of an Islamist pan-Arab group was among 22 people killed in clashes with police.

AP - Fighting for control of the health care debate, President Barack Obama is using political tactics and rhetorical devices honed in his White House campaign to regain the upper hand over increasingly vocal critics.

AP - Family members holding photos of the dead picked their way through the ruins of a landslide-flattened village Saturday where hundreds were killed in Taiwan's worst typhoon in a half-century.

AP - South Korea's president renewed his offer of aid for impoverished North Korea if it abandons its nuclear weapons and called Saturday for talks on the reduction of conventional weapons along their heavily fortified border.

AP - Victor Martinez hasn't had any trouble fitting in with his Boston teammates.

Reuters - President Barack Obama said on Saturday U.S. healthcare worked better for insurance companies than for patients, as he pressed his case for a major overhaul that critics say is too expensive.

Reuters - The Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb that killed seven people on Saturday in the heart of the Afghan capital's most secure district five days before an election the Islamist group has vowed to disrupt.

Reuters - The Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers said Saturday the leader of an Islamist pan-Arab group was among 22 people killed in clashes with police.

AFP - A suicide car bomb exploded outside the NATO military headquarters in the Afghan capital on Saturday and killed seven Afghans, the defence ministry said, in a brazen attack just days before elections.

AFP - A radical Islamist sheikh was among 22 people killed and 120 wounded after Hamas police stormed a Gaza mosque when he defiantly declared an Islamic emirate in the Palestinian enclave, medics said on Saturday.

YANGON (Reuters) - U.S. senator Jim Webb met both Myanmar top military leader Than Shwe and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Saturday but it was unclear what he discussed during his separate meetings with them.

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's president on Saturday called on North Korea to reach a deal to cut conventional arms amassed on their heavily fortified border and renewed a pledge to provide aid if the impoverished North ends its atomic ambitions.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader appointed Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani as the new head of the country's judiciary on Saturday, state television reported.

AP - President Barack Obama heads to Grand Junction, Colo., Saturday in his drive to overhaul the health care system.

AP - A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a security checkpoint in Pakistan's northwestern Swat Valley on Saturday, killing at least three soldiers, police said.

AP - The leader of an al-Qaida-inspired group in the Gaza Strip blew himself up during a shootout Saturday with security forces that killed 24 people. The jihadis have posed one of the biggest challenges to Hamas since the militant group seized power in Gaza two years ago.

AP - The crews of two Egyptian fishing vessels that overpowered pirates off the Somali coast are sailing back home with eight captive pirates on board, said the owner of one of the boats Saturday.

AP - Motola, a female elephant who stepped on a land mine 10 years ago and endured painful operations, was fitted Saturday in Thailand for a permanent artificial leg.

Reuters - U.S. senator Jim Webb met both Myanmar top military leader Than Shwe and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Saturday but it was unclear what he discussed during his separate meetings with them.

Reuters - The leader of a Palestinian Islamist splinter group allied to al Qaeda was among 22 people killed when forces from the Gaza Strip's ruling Hamas movement stormed its strongholds around a mosque, Hamas said on Saturday.

Reuters - South Korea's president on Saturday called on North Korea to reach a deal to cut conventional arms amassed on their heavily fortified border and renewed a pledge to provide aid if the impoverished North ends its atomic ambitions.

GAZA (Reuters) - The leader of a Palestinian Islamist splinter group allied to al Qaeda was among 22 people killed when forces from the Gaza Strip's ruling Hamas movement stormed its strongholds around a mosque, Hamas said on Saturday.

AP - U.S. Sen. Jim Webb won the release Saturday of an American prisoner convicted in Myanmar and sentenced to seven years in prison for swimming secretly to the residence of detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the senator's office said.

AP - President Barack Obama is using political tactics and rhetorical devices honed in his White House campaign to regain the upper hand in the health care debate over increasingly vocal and organized critics.

AP - A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into a checkpoint in Pakistan's northwestern Swat Valley, killing at least five people Saturday in a reminder that extremists can still strike despite the military's retaking of the area, police said.

AP - The leader of an al-Qaida-inspired group in the Gaza Strip blew himself up during a shootout Saturday with Hamas security forces, ending hours of violence sparked by a rebellious sermon at a mosque near the Egyptian border.

AFP - US Senator Jim Webb will fly out of Myanmar on Sunday with an American convicted to seven years imprisonment after securing his release from the military regime, Webb's office said in a statement Saturday.

HELSINKI (Reuters) - A ransom demand has been made for the lost merchant ship Arctic Sea, Finnish media said on Saturday, but the whereabouts of the vessel were still unknown in a saga looking increasingly like the plot of a spy thriller.

GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian Islamists Hamas struck back at an al-Qaeda challenge to their grip on the Gaza Strip by storming a mosque in overnight battles that left the leader of the 'Warriors of God' splinter group among up to 28 dead.

AP - Thick, white smoke filled the air around Santa Cruz Saturday as firefighters battled a Northern California wildfire in steep, rugged terrain.

AP - A ransom demand has been received for the return of a Russian-manned freighter that went missing last month in the Atlantic, Finnish investigators said Saturday.

AP - Tiger Woods is exactly where he wants to be as he tries to win his first major of the season and 15th of his career. The world's number-one golfer has a four-shot lead after two rounds of the 91st PGA Championship at Hazeltine outside Minneapolis. Woods is 8-0 in his career when he has the lead in a major after 36 holes. He never has lost a pro tournament when entering the weekend with a four-shot advantage

Reuters - A ransom demand has been made for the lost merchant ship Arctic Sea, Finnish media said on Saturday, but the whereabouts of the vessel were still unknown in a saga looking increasingly like the plot of a spy thriller.

Reuters - Palestinian Islamists Hamas struck back at an al-Qaeda challenge to their grip on the Gaza Strip by storming a mosque in overnight battles that left the leader of the 'Warriors of God' splinter group among up to 28 dead.

AFP - US Senator Jim Webb met Myanmar military ruler Than Shwe and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi Saturday after securing the release of a US citizen jailed for visiting Suu Kyi's house in May.

AP - Stung by international outrage over the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's ruling generals agreed Saturday to hand an American prisoner involved in her case to a visiting U.S. senator.

AP - A suicide car bomber struck near the front gate of NATO headquarters in Kabul on Saturday, killing seven people and wounding nearly 100 in a brazen daylight attack less than a week before Afghanistan's landmark presidential election.

AP - Michael Vick was back on an NFL practice field for the first time since completing his prison sentence.

Reuters - Citigroup Inc says two of its traders are exempt from a government review of the bank's top executive pay packages, The New York Times reported on Saturday.

AP - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger urged residents to heed mandatory evacuation orders Saturday as 6,800 firefighters battled to control nearly a dozen blazes across the parched state.

AP - The Mormon church's vigorous, well-heeled support for Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in California last year, has turned the Utah-based faith into a lightning rod for gay rights activism, including a nationwide 'kiss-in' Saturday.

AP - The workaday cargo ship the Arctic Sea, which for decades plowed the world's waterways in obscurity, just had to disappear to be thrust into a swirling drama of rumors and intrigue. The plot thickened Saturday as a Russian maritime expert reported signals from the ship's tracking device and Finnish authorities said there was a ransom demand.

AP - Tiger Woods' ball dropped halfway into the cup and rolled around the rim. Instead of falling, though, it popped back out.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan has been shifting its forces by historic proportions from its Indian border to the Afghan frontier, gaining ground against militants and giving the United States room to focus more on economic problems threatening the nuclear-armed state, Washington's envoy said. Richard Holbrooke, President Barack Obama's special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan, told reporters traveling with him to Islamabad on Saturday his current focus on economic and social issues,

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Three Iraqis were killed and another wounded when they wandered near an artillery firing exercise held by Iraqi and U.S. troops Saturday, the U.S. military said in a statement.

AP - A British soldier wounded in an explosion in Afghanistan died Saturday, the defense ministry said, bringing the country's military death toll there to 200.

AP - In Rick Pitino's words, his equipment manager's wife was welcomed into Louisville's close-knit basketball family. Beneath the surface, however, was an explosive secret.

AP - Well, this has a familiar feel.

AP - Management of the San Francisco Bay area's commuter rail system and the union representing its train operators and station agents returned to the bargaining table Saturday, hoping to prevent a strike that threatened to clog bridges and maroon thousands of commuters when the workweek begins.

Reuters - Pakistan has been shifting its forces by historic proportions from its Indian border to the Afghan frontier, gaining ground against militants and giving the United States room to focus more on economic problems threatening the nuclear-armed state, Washington's envoy said.

Reuters - Three Iraqis were killed and another wounded when they wandered near an artillery firing exercise held by Iraqi and U.S. troops Saturday, the U.S. military said in a statement.

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama reignited his criticism of health insurance companies on Saturday, pledging his reforms would prevent firms from capping coverage or charging 'outrageous' fees.

AP - Tiger Woods is one round away from winning another major, with more company than he wanted.

Reuters - U.S. President Barack Obama reignited his criticism of health insurance companies on Saturday, pledging his reforms would prevent firms from capping coverage or charging 'outrageous' fees.

GRAND JUNCTION, Colorado (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama reignited his criticism of health insurance companies on Saturday, promising reforms that would prevent firms from capping coverage or charging 'outrageous' fees.

KUWAIT (Reuters) - A fire broke out in a women's tent at a Kuwaiti wedding party on Saturday killing at least 41 people, Kuwaiti media reported.

AP - Stung by international outrage over the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's ruling generals agreed Saturday to hand an American prisoner involved in her case to a visiting U.S. senator.

AP - A fire at a wedding tent Saturday has killed at least 41 women and children guests and injured 76 others, authorities said.

AP - The coronation of Tiger Woods turned into a contest Saturday at the PGA Championship.

Reuters - U.S. President Barack Obama reignited his criticism of health insurance companies on Saturday, promising reforms that would prevent firms from capping coverage or charging 'outrageous' fees.

Reuters - A fire broke out in a women's tent at a Kuwaiti wedding party on Saturday killing at least 41 people, Kuwaiti media reported.

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea denounced upcoming joint South Korean and U.S. military drills and said it would 'wipe out' the countries with nuclear weapons if they threatened the communist state, its KCNA news agency said on Sunday.

MIAMI (Reuters) - Tropical Storms Ana and Bill, the first named storms of the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season, were racing westward with gale force winds, and Bill was expected to develop into a hurricane in the next few days, the National Hurricane Center said.

Reuters - North Korea denounced upcoming joint South Korean and U.S. military drills and said it would 'wipe out' the countries with nuclear weapons if they threatened the communist state, its KCNA news agency said on Sunday.

Reuters - Tropical Storms Ana and Bill, the first named storms of the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season, were racing westward with gale force winds, and Bill was expected to develop into a hurricane in the next few days, the National Hurricane Center said.

AFP - A US citizen jailed for swimming to the house of Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi was set to fly out of the army-ruled nation Sunday with a visiting American senator who secured his release.