MINGORA (Reuters) - A suicide bombing attack on security forces in Pakistan's Swat Valley on Saturday killed at least seven people and wounded 13, police said.

AP - A Colorado woman says her 31-year-old daughter is one of seven Muslims arrested this week in Ireland in an alleged plot to assassinate Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks.

AP - Under White House pressure to act swiftly, House and Senate Democratic leaders reached for agreement Friday on President Barack Obama's health care bill, sweetened suddenly by fresh billions for student aid and a sense that breakthroughs are at hand.

AP - A suicide attacker struck a security checkpoint in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least seven people and injuring 26.

Reuters - A suicide bombing attack on security forces in Pakistan's Swat Valley on Saturday killed at least seven people and wounded 13, police said.

AFP - At least eight people were killed in a suicide attack in Pakistan's Swat valley on Saturday, a day after a series of bombings brought chaos and bloodshed to the city of Lahore, police said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's political standing is 'perilous' because of divisions within his coalition over efforts to pursue peace with the Palestinians, a senior U.S. official said on Friday.

MINGORA (Reuters) - A suicide bomber targeting security forces in Pakistan on Saturday killed at least 11 people, police said, part of a renewed Taliban push against the government after one of the biggest security crackdowns in years.

AP - A suicide attacker set off a bomb at a security checkpoint in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least 10 people and injuring 52, officials and a doctor said, underscoring the relentless security threat to this Islamic nation.

AP - Thousands of red-shirted, anti-government demonstrators converged on the Thai capital from the north and northeast Saturday, vowing to oust the government in a mass, do-or-die display of muscle.

AP - A U.N. meeting to assess progress in advancing the fight for women's equality that ended Friday had a dramatically different slant than a similar session held five years ago: This time, the United States was not trying to make an anti-abortion declaration a crucial theme.

AP - Da'Sean Butler, West Virginia's last-second hero in the quarterfinals, scored 24 points to lead the seventh-ranked Mountaineers to a 53-51 victory over Notre Dame on Friday night in the Big East tournament semifinals.

Reuters - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's political standing is 'perilous' because of divisions within his coalition over efforts to pursue peace with the Palestinians, a senior U.S. official said on Friday.

Reuters - A suicide bomber targeting security forces in Pakistan on Saturday killed at least 11 people, police said, part of a renewed Taliban push against the government after one of the biggest security crackdowns in years.

AFP - At least ten people were killed in a suicide attack in Pakistan's Swat valley on Saturday, a day after a series of bombings brought chaos and bloodshed to the city of Lahore, police said.

AP - President Barack Obama says he wants projects helping specific states yanked from the health care bill Congress is writing. Democratic senators, being senators, beg to differ.

AP - A suicide bomber driving a motorized rickshaw blew himself up at a security checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday, officials said, killing at least 13 people, injuring 52 and underscoring the nation's relentless security threat.

AP - Thousands of red-shirted anti-government protesters converged on the Thai capital Saturday, giving the government an ultimatum to dissolve Parliament or face mass marches on key spots in the city.

AP - Students have wrapped ribbons around 8,000 sunflowers to hand out at a memorial service for Chelsea King, the 17-year-old girl whose murder has shaken her community and spurred calls for legal changes in how child sex offenders are treated.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A list led by Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had a wide lead in Baghdad, a key prize in Iraq's parliamentary election, preliminary results posted by Iraq's electoral commission showed on Saturday.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Talks with China over censorship have reached an apparent impasse and Google, the world's largest search engine, is now '99.9 percent' certain to shut its Chinese search engine, the Financial Times said on Saturday.

AP - A coalition led by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was winning in the all-important capital, according to a partial tally of results released Saturday.

AP - President Barack Obama on Saturday promised to rewrite the nation's sweeping and controversial education law known as No Child Left Behind with a plan to prepare students for life after high school and to place better teachers at the blackboards.

AP - Now that West Virginia is in the Big East tournament final, coach Bob Huggins and his Mountaineers have a large problem on their hands.

Reuters - A list led by Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had a wide lead in Baghdad, a key prize in Iraq's parliamentary election, preliminary results posted by Iraq's electoral commission showed on Saturday.

Reuters - Talks with China over censorship have reached an apparent impasse and Google, the world's largest search engine, is now '99.9 percent' certain to shut its Chinese search engine, the Financial Times said on Saturday.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki held a wide lead on Saturday in early results from Baghdad, the major prize in parliamentary elections Iraqis hope will stabilize a nation riven by years of sectarian warfare.

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Irish police have released three of the seven people arrested on Tuesday in connection with an alleged plot to murder a Swedish cartoonist over a drawing depicting the Prophet Mohammad with the body of a dog.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican rallied around Pope Benedict on Saturday, dismissing suggestions he had tried to cover up priestly child abuse in Germany.

SAARISELKA, Finland (Reuters) - The foreign ministers of Turkey and Sweden condemned on Saturday a vote in the Swedish parliament that defined the early 20th-century killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide.

BOSSASO, Somalia (Reuters) - French navy officers handed over 22 suspected Somali pirates to semi-autonomous Puntland's authorities and they will be arraigned in local courts, officials said on Saturday.

AP - Afghanistan's president has agreed to reverse an earlier decision and allow two foreigners on a commission monitoring upcoming parliamentary elections, his spokesman said Saturday.

Reuters - Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki held a wide lead on Saturday in early results from Baghdad, the major prize in parliamentary elections Iraqis hope will stabilize a nation riven by years of sectarian warfare.

Reuters - Irish police have released three of the seven people arrested on Tuesday in connection with an alleged plot to murder a Swedish cartoonist over a drawing depicting the Prophet Mohammad with the body of a dog.

Reuters - The Vatican rallied around Pope Benedict on Saturday, dismissing suggestions he had tried to cover up priestly child abuse in Germany.

AFP - At least 10 people were killed in a suicide attack in Pakistan's Swat valley on Saturday, a day after a series of bombings brought chaos and bloodshed to the city of Lahore, police said.

AFP - Iraqi premier Nuri al-Maliki's bid to retain his job gained steam on Saturday, as early results crucially put him ahead in Baghdad, while rival blocs began jostling over the formation of a government.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The coalition of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki held a wide lead on Saturday in early results from Baghdad, the major prize in elections Iraqis hope will stabilize a nation riven by years of sectarian warfare.

BOSSASO, Somalia (Reuters) - French navy officers handed over 22 suspected Somali pirates to semi-autonomous Puntland's authorities and they will be arraigned in local courts, officials said on Saturday.

AP - President Barack Obama says he wants projects helping specific states yanked from the health care bill Congress is writing. Democratic senators, being senators, beg to differ.

AP - A U.S. official says a Colorado woman has been detained in Ireland in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate a Swedish cartoonist whose sketch offended many Muslims.

AP - It often starts as a voice in the wilderness, but can swell into an entire nation's demand for truth. From Ireland to Germany, Europe's many victims of child abuse in the Roman Catholic church are finally breaking social taboos and confronting the clergy to face its demons.

AP - America is springing forward.

AP - President Barack Obama is promising parents and their kids that with his administration's help they will have better teachers in improved schools so U.S. students can make up for academic ground lost against youngsters in other countries.

AP - Mike Leach sat across from his accuser Saturday as Craig James gave sworn testimony in the former coach's lawsuit against Texas Tech.

Reuters - The coalition of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki held a wide lead on Saturday in early results from Baghdad, the major prize in elections Iraqis hope will stabilize a nation riven by years of sectarian warfare.

AFP - The Vatican on Saturday fought attempts to link Pope Benedict XVI to child sex abuse in a counteroffensive against the widening paedophilia scandals.

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan rowed back on Saturday from a total ban on media broadcasts of 'disturbing' images from insurgent attacks or live pictures of security operations.

AP - The Afghan president's half-brother says at least 30 people have died and dozens more hurt in four suicide attacks in the southern city of Kandahar.

AP - Iran says it has dismantled several U.S.-backed cyber warfare networks that were gathering information on nuclear scientists and provoking unrest in the country.

AP - The Obama administration unveiled its plan Saturday to radically change his predecessor's No Child Left Behind law in hopes of replacing an accountability system that in the last decade has tagged more than a third of schools as failing and created a hodgepodge of sometimes weak academic standards among states.

Reuters - Afghanistan rowed back on Saturday from a total ban on media broadcasts of 'disturbing' images from insurgent attacks or live pictures of security operations.

Reuters - The foreign ministers of Turkey and Sweden condemned on Saturday a vote in the Swedish parliament that defined the early 20th-century killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide.

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela on Saturday tested six training and light attack jets bought from China for defense and anti-drugs flights in a deal that dodges an embargo banning sales of U.S. weapons parts to oil exporter Venezuela.

AP - A suicide squad detonated bombs at a newly fortified prison, police headquarters and two other locations late Saturday, killing at least 30 people in the largest city of the southern Taliban heartland.

AP - Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's political coalition took an early vote lead Saturday in the election's all-important battleground of Baghdad, pulling away from its two closest rivals in the latest indication that Iraqis want a moderate government instead of Shiite religious hard-liners leading the postwar nation.

AP - Jene Newsome played by the rules as an Air Force sergeant: She never told anyone in the military she was a lesbian. The 28-year-old's honorable discharge under the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy came only after police officers in Rapid City, S.D., saw an Iowa marriage certificate in her home and told the nearby Ellsworth Air Force Base.

AP - Utah's House majority leader resigned from the Legislature Saturday, two days after his confession about sitting nude in a hot tub with a teenage girl 25 years ago stunned this conservative state.

Reuters - Venezuela on Saturday tested six training and light attack jets bought from China for defense and anti-drugs flights in a deal that dodges an embargo banning sales of U.S. weapons parts to oil exporter Venezuela.

AFP - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's bid to retain his job gained steam on Saturday as early results put him ahead in the capital, while rival blocs began jostling over the formation of a government.

AFP - A series of suicide attacks in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar killed at least 27 people on Saturday, a senior official said, in the country's deadliest assault so far this year.

SAARISELKA, Finland (Reuters) - The foreign ministers of Turkey and Sweden condemned on Saturday a vote in the Swedish parliament that defined the early 20th-century killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide.

AP - Evan Turner rescued No. 6 Ohio State for the second straight day in the Big Ten tournament.

Reuters - The foreign ministers of Turkey and Sweden condemned on Saturday a vote in the Swedish parliament that defined the early 20th-century killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide.

AP - Newly arrived Republican Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts accused President Barack Obama and Democrats on Saturday of a 'bitter, destructive and endless' drive to pass health overhaul legislation that Brown warned would be disastrous.

AP - Thousands of teachers, classmates and neighbors filled a high school football stadium Saturday to honor a 17-year-old girl whose body was discovered in a shallow, lakeside grave, allegedly killed by a registered sex offender.

AP - Strong winds and heavy rain pounded parts of the Northeast on Saturday, leaving more than 100,000 without power in New Jersey, where a boom crane at an Atlantic City casino construction site tipped over, scattering debris over a six-block area and injuring a police officer. Father north, international flights bound for New York were diverted to Boston due to the high winds, causing numerous delays.

AFP - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered an inquiry Saturday into why a contested settlement plan was announced during a landmark visit by US Vice President Joe Biden, a spokesman said.

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thousands of protesters gathered in Bangkok on Sunday and planned to give Thailand's military-backed government an ultimatum: either call elections or face more pro-democracy demonstrations over the coming week.

AP - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Saturday she's confident the House will pass health care legislation and dismissed Republican criticism that she did not have enough votes for the measure.

AP - Before her daughter disappeared last fall, Christina Mott recalls that the 31-year-old who had been held in connection with an alleged assassination plot announced she had converted to Islam and told them they'd go to hell if they didn't follow in her steps.

AP - Strong winds and heavy rain pounded parts of the Northeast on Saturday, knocking out power to more than 450,000 customers, diverting international flights and toppling a boom crane at an Atlantic City casino construction site, injuring one police officer.

AP - A fraud bust, indeed: Spokane County sheriff's deputies said a woman was hiding nearly $26,000 in her bra when she was booked into jail for investigation of theft. Lukeisha A. Harris was one of three Seattle-area residents arrested Friday as part of an alleged fraud ring. Deputies said they used phony Oregon driver's licenses and counterfeit credit cards to obtain cash advances from Spokane banks.

AP - Marcus Morris had 18 points, Tyrel Reed added 15 and No. 1 Kansas held off No. 9 Kansas State down the stretch for a 72-64 victory and its seventh Big 12 tournament title Saturday night.

Reuters - Thousands of protesters gathered in Bangkok on Sunday and planned to give Thailand's military-backed government an ultimatum: either call elections or face more pro-democracy demonstrations over the coming week.

AFP - Tens of thousands of red-shirted supporters of deposed Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra were to rally in Bangkok on Sunday to demand the government step down, sparking a major security operation.

DENVER (Reuters) - A Colorado woman who converted to Islam last year and was lured to Europe by online extremists was among seven people arrested in Ireland in connection with a suspected plot to murder a Swedish cartoonist, her parents said on Saturday.

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, who is criticized by media freedom groups, called on Saturday for regulation of the Internet and singled out a website that he said falsely reported the murder of one of his ministers.

AP - Transit officials say 500 passengers have been stranded on a New Jersey Transit northbound train for more than five hours because of flooding on the tracks from a powerful storm.

Reuters - A Colorado woman who converted to Islam last year and was lured to Europe by online extremists was among seven people arrested in Ireland in connection with a suspected plot to murder a Swedish cartoonist, her parents said on Saturday.