KABUL (Reuters) - A Taliban rocket struck the grounds of Afghanistan's presidential palace on Tuesday, just two days before incumbent Hamid Karzai seeks re-election in tense polls that could go to a second round.

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea is counting down to its first space launch on Wednesday that will likely open the door to its nascent rocket program and rile neighbor North Korea, hit by U.N. sanctions after its own rocket launch in April.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, looking to kickstart the stalled Middle East peace process, will hold talks on Tuesday with Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, who Washington hopes can help to get things moving.

YANGON (Reuters) - State media in army-ruled Myanmar on Tuesday hailed the visit by a United States senator as a success and said it allowed the authorities to show their friendliness and respect for human rights.

OSAKA, Japan (Reuters) - Voters in Japan flocked to rallies on Tuesday as official campaigning began in an election that is expected to see Prime Minister Taro Aso's party ousted for only the second time in its 54-year history.

SEOUL (Reuters) - Former President Kim Dae-jung, a towering figure in South Korea's struggle for democracy who won the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize for seeking rapprochement with the communist North, died on Tuesday at the age of 85.

Reuters - A Taliban rocket struck the grounds of Afghanistan's presidential palace on Tuesday, just two days before incumbent Hamid Karzai seeks re-election in tense polls that could go to a second round.

Reuters - South Korea is counting down to its first space launch on Wednesday that will likely open the door to its nascent rocket program and rile neighbor North Korea, hit by U.N. sanctions after its own rocket launch in April.

Reuters - President Barack Obama, looking to kickstart the stalled Middle East peace process, will hold talks on Tuesday with Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, who Washington hopes can help to get things moving.

Reuters - Voters in Japan flocked to rallies on Tuesday as official campaigning began in an election that is expected to see Prime Minister Taro Aso's party ousted for only the second time in its 54-year history.

Reuters - Former President Kim Dae-jung, a towering figure in South Korea's struggle for democracy who won the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize for seeking rapprochement with the communist North, died on Tuesday at the age of 85.

AFP - A US-based rights group raised concern Tuesday that elections in Afghanistan this week could be compromised by low turnout, violence, fraud and intimidation.

AFP - Kim Dae-Jung, who spearheaded South Korea's struggle for democracy and went on to win the presidency and the Nobel peace prize, died on Tuesday aged 83.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - A senior Iranian official said Tehran was ready for talks with the West on its disputed nuclear program based on mutual respect and without preconditions, state television reported on Tuesday.

AP - President Barack Obama is trying to restore Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak as the U.S. ace-in-the-hole in its decades-long effort to forge an elusive peace among Israel and the Arabs.

AP - Security forces captured the Pakistani Taliban's top spokesman in an operation near the Afghan border, a government official said Tuesday, dealing another blow to the militants following the reported killing of their leader earlier this month.

AP - Former President Kim Dae-jung, who survived assassination attempts during his years as a dissident and won the Nobel Peace Prize for his reconciliation efforts with communist North Korea, died Tuesday. He was 85.

AP - The NATO-led force in Afghanistan said Tuesday it will halt offensive operations during this week's presidential election, and the country's fragile security was underscored when two mortar rounds struck near the presidential palace in Kabul.

AP - The triggerman in an Ohio murder-for-hire scheme that killed a 66-year-old woman and critically wounded her son was awaiting execution Tuesday after the U.S. Supreme Court denied his final appeal.

AP - The Washington Nationals knew they needed to sign No. 1 overall draft pick Stephen Strasburg, and they did.

Reuters - A senior Iranian official said Tehran was ready for talks with the West on its disputed nuclear program based on mutual respect and without preconditions, state television reported on Tuesday.

Reuters - State media in army-ruled Myanmar on Tuesday hailed the visit by a United States senator as a success and said it allowed the authorities to show their friendliness and respect for human rights.

AFP - Russia has arrested eight nationals of the Baltic states and Russia suspected of hijacking the Arctic Sea cargo ship on July 24, Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said Tuesday.

AFP - The Taliban renewed threats Tuesday to disrupt this week's Afghan elections as a US-based rights group charged that vote-buying and fraud could compromise the landmark ballot.

KABUL (Reuters) - A suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into a Western military convoy in the Afghan capital on Tuesday and a Taliban rocket hit the presidential palace grounds just two days before incumbent Hamid Karzai seeks re-election.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - A senior Iranian official said Tehran was ready for negotiations with the West on its disputed nuclear program based on mutual respect and without preconditions, state television reported on Tuesday.

KUWAIT (Reuters) - U.S. authorities warned on Tuesday that American citizens in Kuwait remained at risk from terrorist attacks, following the arrest of an al Qaeda-linked network in the Gulf Arab state last week.

AP - A suicide car bomb exploded Tuesday on the outskirts of Kabul, killing at least three civilians and setting several vehicles on fire, including one belonging to the U.N., officials said. A U.N. spokesman said three U.N. staff were wounded.

AP - A 53-year-old man charged with attempting to stalk Miley Cyrus is scheduled to head back to court on Tybee Island, where the teen superstar just finished shooting a movie on the Georgia coast.

Reuters - A suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into a Western military convoy in the Afghan capital on Tuesday and a Taliban rocket hit the presidential palace grounds just two days before incumbent Hamid Karzai seeks re-election.

Reuters - A senior Iranian official said Tehran was ready for negotiations with the West on its disputed nuclear program based on mutual respect and without preconditions, state television reported on Tuesday.

Reuters - U.S. authorities warned on Tuesday that American citizens in Kuwait remained at risk from terrorist attacks, following the arrest of an al Qaeda-linked network in the Gulf Arab state last week.

AFP - Russia said Tuesday it had arrested eight men suspected of hijacking the Arctic Sea cargo ship whose sudden disappearance in July sparked an international mystery and a dramatic high seas chase.

AFP - Kabul was battered by attacks Tuesday as a bomb killed five people and a rocket slammed into the presidential compound two days before elections that the Taliban have threatened to disrupt.

AP - Security forces captured the Pakistani Taliban's top spokesman, and he acknowledged the death of the group's leader in a recent U.S. missile strike, officials said Tuesday — further signs the militants are in disarray since the American attack.

AP - The owner of Russia's largest hydroelectric plant says there is little chance that any of the 64 workers missing after an accident could be found alive.

AP - A Taliban spokesman is claiming responsibility for a suicide car bomb attack in Kabul which killed at least seven people.

AP - Russia's navy arrested eight men accused of hijacking the Arctic Sea freighter near Sweden and forcing the crew to sail to West Africa, the defense minister said Tuesday.

AP - Former President Kim Dae-jung, who spent years as a dissident under South Korea's military dictatorship and later won the Nobel Peace Prize for seeking reconciliation with communist North Korea, has died. He was 85.

AFP - Taliban attacks rocked Afghanistan Tuesday two days before elections as suicide bombers killed more than 12 people, including UN staff and NATO troops, and a rocket slammed into the presidential compound.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - A senior Iranian official said Tehran was ready for negotiations with the West on its disputed nuclear program based on mutual respect and without preconditions, state television reported on Tuesday.

MIAMI (Reuters) - Hurricane Bill, the first hurricane of the 2009 Atlantic season, headed west-northwest over the open ocean on Tuesday, but it was uncertain whether it could threaten the northeast U.S. coast by Sunday.

AP - Wholesale prices dropped sharply in July, and over the past 12 months fell by the largest amount in more than six decades of record-keeping.

AP - Security forces captured the Pakistani Taliban's top spokesman, and he acknowledged the death of the group's leader in a recent U.S. missile strike, officials said Tuesday — further signs the militants are in disarray since the American attack.

AP - A Taliban suicide bomber attacked a NATO convoy Tuesday on the outskirts of Kabul, killing at least seven people and wounding more than 50, officials said, just days before the presidential election that the militant group has vowed to disrupt.

Reuters - A senior Iranian official said Tehran was ready for negotiations with the West on its disputed nuclear program based on mutual respect and without preconditions, state television reported on Tuesday.

Reuters - Hurricane Bill, the first hurricane of the 2009 Atlantic season, headed west-northwest over the open ocean on Tuesday, but it was uncertain whether it could threaten the northeast U.S. coast by Sunday.

KABUL (Reuters) - A suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into a NATO convoy in the Afghan capital on Tuesday, killing at least eight people in a wave of violence two days before an election the Taliban has vowed to disrupt.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi accused 'establishment agents' of raping and abusing detainees imprisoned after Iran's June presidential vote and urged the powerful clerics to do their duty and speak out.

AP - Political columnist Robert Novak, who was a central figure in the Valerie Plame CIA leak case, has died after a battle with brain cancer.

AP - A Taliban suicide bomber attacked a NATO convoy outside Kabul, killing at least eight people Tuesday, hours after mortar rounds struck near the presidential palace, as militants made good on their promise to sow mayhem in the run-up to Afghanistan's presidential election.

AP - Higher sales from the government's Cash for Clunkers program have prompted General Motors Co. to boost production at several of its factories, according to company and union officials.

AP - Authorities are looking for the last few wild dogs they believe were part of a pack that killed an elderly couple in northeast Georgia.

AP - The King of Pop will be buried on what would have been his 51st birthday, a spokesman for Michael Jackson's family said Tuesday.

AP - Brett Favre is on his way to Minnesota to meet with the Vikings. Coach Brad Childress confirmed in an e-mail to The Associated Press Tuesday morning that the veteran quarterback was traveling from Mississippi to meet with the team.

Reuters - A suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into a NATO convoy in the Afghan capital on Tuesday, killing at least eight people in a wave of violence two days before an election the Taliban has vowed to disrupt.

Reuters - Opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi accused 'establishment agents' of raping and abusing detainees imprisoned after Iran's June presidential vote and urged the powerful clerics to do their duty and speak out.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ground breaking for new U.S. homes fell in July, but a fifth straight monthly rise in single-family home construction kept hopes alive the economy was poised to recover from recession.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Robert Novak, a conservative political columnist known as the 'Prince of Darkness' and who unleashed a political firestorm by publishing the name of an undercover CIA operative, died on Tuesday. He was 78.

MIAMI (Reuters) - The United States is building criminal cases against more than 150 American clients of Swiss bank UBS as part of a crackdown on tax evasion now made easier by a deal over access to secret account information.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama, said Tuesday he saw encouraging signs of a softening of Israel's resistance to his call for a freeze on settlement-building in the occupied West Bank.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi accused 'establishment agents' of raping and abusing detainees imprisoned after Iran's June presidential vote and urged the powerful clerics to do their duty and speak out.

AP - Insurgents struck twice in the Afghan capital Tuesday, two days before national elections, firing rockets or mortars at the presidential palace and unleashing a suicide car bomber on a NATO convoy. Eight people died and 55 were wounded, Afghan authorities said.

AP - President Barack Obama said Tuesday he is encouraged by progress in U.S. efforts to bring Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table, thanking his Egyptian counterpart for help in working for a breakthrough.

AP - In 2005, a rebellious and sporadically employed Israeli man flew to New York to give up a kidney to save an American businessman. For that, he says he was paid $20,000, which appeared in a brown envelope on his hospital bed after the operation.

AP - An elderly woman killed by a pack of wild dogs had been out for a walk when she was attacked, and her husband died trying to fight off the mauling animals when he discovered the bloody scene near their rural Georgia home, authorities said Tuesday.

AP - Brett Favre looks ready to unretire again.

Reuters - Ground breaking for new U.S. homes fell in July, but a fifth straight monthly rise in single-family home construction kept hopes alive the economy was poised to recover from recession.

Reuters - Robert Novak, a conservative political columnist known as the 'Prince of Darkness' and who unleashed a political firestorm by publishing the name of an undercover CIA operative, died on Tuesday. He was 78.

Reuters - The United States is building criminal cases against more than 150 American clients of Swiss bank UBS as part of a crackdown on tax evasion now made easier by a deal over access to secret account information.

Reuters - Opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi accused 'establishment agents' of raping and abusing detainees imprisoned after Iran's June presidential vote and urged the powerful clerics to do their duty and speak out.

AFP - Taliban attacks rocked Afghanistan Tuesday two days before elections, with suicide blasts killing 15 people including UN staff and a NATO soldier and a rocket slamming into the presidential compound.

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co said on Tuesday it is increasing production for the second half of 2009 after a surge in sales ignited by the U.S. government's 'Cash for Clunkers' incentives program.

MIAMI (Reuters) - The United States is building criminal cases against more than 150 American clients of Swiss bank UBS as part of a crackdown on tax evasion now made easier by a deal over access to secret account information.

AP - California investigators are looking for up to six marijuana growers suspected of starting a large wildfire north of Santa Barbara with cooking gear.

AP - While U.S. Sen. Jim Webb's high-profile visit to Myanmar offers an opportunity to turn around America's policy toward the military-ruled nation, any real warming of relations is likely to be a slow and uncertain process.

AP - The only person who could have been charged in a wrong-way crash that killed eight people was the drunken and stoned woman who caused the wreck and died in it, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

AP - Michael Jackson's personal physician has posted a short video thanking his supporters.

AP - Brett Favre's latest retirement lasted all of three weeks.

Reuters - General Motors Co said on Tuesday it is increasing production for the second half of 2009 after a surge in sales ignited by the U.S. government's 'Cash for Clunkers' incentives program.

Reuters - The United States is building criminal cases against more than 150 American clients of Swiss bank UBS as part of a crackdown on tax evasion now made easier by a deal over access to secret account information.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ground-breaking for new U.S. single-family homes rose for a fifth straight month in July and producer prices tumbled, keeping hopes for an economic recovery alive.

BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Consumers and companies are vulnerable to hackers and identity thieves even after U.S. authorities arrested a man they said was a master hacker who stole 170 million credit and debit card numbers.

AP - Hurricane Bill strengthened far out in the Atlantic on Tuesday and forecasters said it could become a major hurricane within a day or two.

AP - Investigators said Tuesday they believe marijuana growers with possible ties to Mexican drug cartels caused an 88,650-acre wildfire in northern Santa Barbara County, and there are many more pot farms hidden in remote areas around the nation.

Reuters - Ground-breaking for new U.S. single-family homes rose for a fifth straight month in July and producer prices tumbled, keeping hopes for an economic recovery alive.

Reuters - Consumers and companies are vulnerable to hackers and identity thieves even after U.S. authorities arrested a man they said was a master hacker who stole 170 million credit and debit card numbers.

Reuters - U.S. President Barack Obama said Tuesday he saw encouraging signs that Israel's resistance to his call to freeze settlement-building in the occupied West Bank was weakening.

AFP - Taliban attacks rocked Afghanistan Tuesday two days before landmark presidential elections, claiming at least 21 lives as a rocket slammed into the presidential compound in Kabul.

AFP - Kim Dae-Jung, a tireless democracy campaigner who survived assassination attempts and a death sentence to win South Korea's presidency and the Nobel peace prize, died on Tuesday aged 85.

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Wednesday leader Kim Jong-il had sent condolences on the death of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, the latest sign of a possible easing in the chill between the rival Koreas.

AP - Frustrated liberals have a question for President Barack Obama and Democratic lawmakers: Isn't it time the other guys gave a little ground on health care? What's the point of a bipartisan bill, they ask, if we're making all the concessions?

AP - A shredded piece of shirt, some strands of hair and bloodstained dirt are all that remain along the rural stretch of road where authorities believe a pack of wild dogs fatally mauled an elderly couple.

AP - The government is giving cash for clunkers. It isn't sending flowers.

AP - A California judge ordered some memorabilia returned to O.J. Simpson Tuesday, even as the football Hall of Famer sits in a Nevada prison for stealing it during a hotel room heist.

Reuters - Americans remain skeptical of President Barack Obama's healthcare reform drive, but their views have not changed much after weeks of sometimes angry protests at public meetings, according to an NBC poll released on Tuesday.

Reuters - North Korea said on Wednesday leader Kim Jong-il had sent condolences on the death of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, the latest sign of a possible easing in the chill between the rival Koreas.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans remain skeptical of President Barack Obama's healthcare reform drive, but their views have not changed much after weeks of sometimes angry protests at public meetings, according to an NBC poll released on Tuesday.

SANTA BARBARA, California (Reuters) - Some 30,000 marijuana plants were seized from a pot farm run for a Mexican drug cartel in a remote corner of a national forest charred by an 88,000-acre (35.6 hectare) wildfire, California officials said on Tuesday.

AP - Bill became a major hurricane far out in the Atlantic on Tuesday, with winds whipping near 125 mph.

AP - An American man imprisoned in Myanmar for sneaking into the opposition leader's compound but released with the help of a visiting U.S. senator headed home on a flight Tuesday after two days of health checks in Thailand.

Reuters - Some 30,000 marijuana plants were seized from a pot farm run for a Mexican drug cartel in a remote corner of a national forest charred by an 88,000-acre (35.6 hectare) wildfire, California officials said on Tuesday.

AFP - North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il sent condolences Wednesday for the death of South Korea's Kim Dae-Jung, praising the former president's efforts to improve ties between the two nations.

Reuters - North Korea said on Wednesday leader Kim Jong-il had sent condolences on the death of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, the latest sign of a possible easing in the chill between the rival Koreas.

AFP - Afghanistan's 17 million voters were set to choose a president for only the second time in history with security forces on high alert Wednesday against a threatened Taliban onslaught.