Britain called for consideration of a global tax on financial transactions to insure against another crisis and urged world finance officials meeting Saturday in Scotland to agree on bearing the cost of fighting climate change.

Regulators on Friday shut banks in Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, and California, bringing the number of bank failures this year to 120 amid the struggling economy and a cascade of defaults on loans.

President Barack Obama is traveling to Capitol Hill on Saturday to try to close the sale on his signature health care overhaul, facing a make-or-break vote in the House certain to be seen as a test of his presidency.

For months he had warned it was coming but that didn't ease the political shockwaves for President Barack Obama when unemployment topped 10 percent.

China is offering to abolish import duties on some commodities from Africa and make sure Chinese exports to the continent are safe as part of a package to boost already thriving economic ties, China's commerce minister said in an article published Saturday.

Members of Philadelphia's largest transit union and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority are set to vote on a contract to end the strike that has idled buses, subways and trolleys for five days.

Tens of thousands of South Korean workers rallied Saturday to protest the government's plan to begin implementing contentious labor laws.

Paper gains on derivative contracts helped Berkshire Hathaway Inc. triple its third-quarter profit as its insurance businesses did well, but Warren Buffett's company said Friday that many of its other operating businesses struggled.

Freddie Mac's losses narrowed to $6.3 billion in the third quarter, but the government-controlled mortgage finance company didn't need a federal cash infusion.

Investors undaunted by a surprisingly weak jobs report found enough positive news to nudge stocks higher Friday.

Entertainment  (top)

Investigators cracked a youthful burglary ring that preyed on Hollywood's rich and famous, often brazenly walking into their unlocked homes to make off with cash, jewels and family heirlooms, authorities said.

Some women strode the catwalk in vicious spiked bracelets and body armor. Others had their heads covered, burqa-style, but with shoulders _ and tattoos _ exposed. Male models wore long, Islamic robes as well as shorts and sequined T-shirts.

Michael Jackson's father is seeking an allowance from his son's estate to help cover expenses that exceed $15,000 a month, according to court documents filed Friday. The request seeking an unspecified amount for Joe Jackson was filed by lawyer Brian Oxman, who said there was no apparent reason for the administrators of the estate to not seek an allowance for the Jackson family patriarch.

The Honolulu Symphony said Friday it's canceling concerts for the rest of the year and filing for bankruptcy, citing a big drop in donations.

A reality show miniseries about the Jackson family will premiere Dec. 13 on A&E, the network says. Back-to-back hour episodes will air that night at 9 p.m. EST.

Broadway has found its Spider-Man _ rock singer Reeve Carney.

A judge sentenced "Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis on Friday to 301 days already served and a year of probation for filing false income tax returns and bribing Nevada jail workers.

Rihanna on Friday described the horror she felt as her ex-boyfriend Chris Brown was biting and punching her during a violent argument in February, saying she saw "no soul in his eyes."

Whenever Latin pop sensation Alejandro Sanz writes music, he sets off on a "long mental journey" to find inspiration. But when Alicia Keys surprised the singer at a party in New York by joining him in an impromptu jam session, Sanz knew then that he'd found his muse.

It's not uncommon for people to say that their holidays don't live up to a Norman Rockwell painting, but Augusten Burroughs says his holidays have been "hideous."

Headlines  (top)

A chaplain exhorted hundreds of mourners gathered at a candlelight vigil to not give up hope as Fort Hood and its surrounding community looked to each other for comfort after an Army psychiatrist allegedly went on a deadly shooting spree at the military base.

President Barack Obama is traveling to Capitol Hill on Saturday to try to close the sale on his signature health care overhaul, facing a make-or-break vote in the House certain to be seen as a test of his presidency.

Senior Iranian lawmakers rejected on Saturday any possibility of Tehran shipping uranium abroad for further enrichment, intensifying pressures on the government to reject the U.N.-backed plan altogether.

As word spread that a gunman had opened fire at Fort Hood leaving a trail of carnage, a chilling realization swept across the U.S. Muslim community: He has an Islamic name.

Pushing back against international criticism, Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry said Saturday that the top U.N. official in the country overstepped his authority by giving instructions on how to rid the government of corruption and warlords.

Employees at an engineering firm recognized their former co-worker when he drew a handgun from under his shirt, police said, and shot his first victim dead in the reception area. He then walked into the office and unloaded several more rounds, wounding five other employees at the company that fired him two years ago.

Britain called for consideration of a global tax on financial transactions to insure against another crisis and urged world finance officials meeting Saturday in Scotland to agree on bearing the cost of fighting climate change.

Investigators cracked a youthful burglary ring that preyed on Hollywood's rich and famous, often brazenly walking into their unlocked homes to make off with cash, jewels and family heirlooms, authorities said.

Some women strode the catwalk in vicious spiked bracelets and body armor. Others had their heads covered, burqa-style, but with shoulders _ and tattoos _ exposed. Male models wore long, Islamic robes as well as shorts and sequined T-shirts.

Tiger Woods stalled with pars. Phil Mickelson poured it on with birdies.

Health  (top)

Suspected swine flu is sweeping a traditional Eskimo whaling village on a remote Alaska island _ prompting an urgent medical mission to deliver help.

In Britain, there are no long lines of people seeking swine flu vaccine. Doctor's offices aren't swamped with desperate calls. And there are no cries of injustice that the vaccine is going to wealthy corporations or healthy people who don't really need it.

Only about a third of adults who have tried to get a swine flu vaccine have been able to get it, according to a new national poll released Friday.

The Food and Drug Administration said Friday that it has warned several companies to stop selling banned flavored cigarettes to U.S. consumers online.

President Barack Obama is traveling to Capitol Hill on Saturday to try to close the sale on his signature health care overhaul, facing a make-or-break vote in the House certain to be seen as a test of his presidency.

Some of New York's biggest companies, including Wall Street giants Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, received doses of swine flu vaccine for at-risk employees, drawing criticism that the hard-to-find vaccine is going first to the privileged.

French scientists mixed gene therapy and bone marrow transplants in two boys to seemingly halt a brain disease that can kill by adolescence. The surprise ingredient: They disabled the HIV virus so it couldn't cause AIDS, and then used it to carry in the healthy new gene.

The World Health Organization's flu chief said the swine flu virus has now become the predominant flu strain worldwide.

It seemed like a great idea _ doing bypass surgery while the heart is still beating, sparing patients the complications that can come from going on a heart-lung machine. Now the first big test of this method has produced a surprise: Bypass has fewer problems and is more successful done the old way.

The global recession and pressure to divert funds to other health crises are hurting the fight against AIDS, a medical group warned Thursday, with one health worker saying he feared a return to the days when the AIDS virus was a death sentence in Africa.

Hitech  (top)

This holiday season's biggest entertainment blockbuster likely will be a sequel to a popular franchise, with jarring depictions of war and an intricate story of good versus evil. It could easily rake in more than last year's record $155 million opening weekend for "The Dark Knight."

First it was books. Now it's DVDs.

EBay Inc. has settled a legal skirmish with the founders of Skype that threatened to complicate eBay's plans to sell most of the Internet phone service to a group of investors for $2 billion.

Since its debut in 2007, millions of people have gravitated toward Apple's iPhone, wooed by its sleek hardware, simple user interface and abundance of applications.

It's been a rough year for the video game industry, but Activision Blizzard Inc. reported a profit for its third quarter because of lower costs and a good response for games such as "Guitar Hero 5" and "World of Warcraft."

No Doubt has sued video game maker Activision for putting words in band members' mouths.

EU lawmakers and governments agreed on new rights for Internet users Thursday, aiming to protect them from arbitrary crackdowns on those who illegally download music and movies on the Internet.

Microsoft Corp. says it is cutting 800 more jobs. That's in addition to the 5,000 layoffs it announced in January.

Most people know eBay Inc. for its online marketplace, where deals abound on everything from gadgets to antique furniture. But soon, eBay's biggest business will likely be PayPal, the online payments service that has been growing steadily even as the economy has stumbled.

International  (top)

Afghanistan's Defense Ministry said Saturday that a NATO airstrike in the western province of Badghis mistakenly hit a joint base housing coalition troops and Afghan security forces, killing four Afghan soldiers and three policemen.

Britain called for consideration of a global tax on financial transactions to insure against another crisis and urged world finance officials meeting Saturday in Scotland to agree on bearing the cost of fighting climate change.

Senior Iranian lawmakers rejected on Saturday any possibility of Tehran shipping uranium abroad for further enrichment, intensifying pressures on the government to reject the U.N.-backed plan altogether.

Pushing back against international criticism, Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry said Saturday that the top U.N. official in the country overstepped his authority by giving instructions on how to rid the government of corruption and warlords.

Some women strode the catwalk in vicious spiked bracelets and body armor. Others had their heads covered, burqa-style, but with shoulders _ and tattoos _ exposed. Male models wore long, Islamic robes as well as shorts and sequined T-shirts.

Mexican police caught a prison official who spent a year on the run from charges of killing a 19-year-old inmate, whose beating death sparked riots that left nearly two dozen dead, including two American prisoners.

On the day his side lost the Vietnam War, Hung Ba Le fled his homeland at the age of 5 in a fishing trawler crammed with 400 refugees. Thirty-four years later, he made an unlikely homecoming _ as the commander of a U.S. Navy destroyer.

Pakistani soldiers killed 12 militants in gunbattles over the past day, officials said Saturday, as government forces pressed on with their offensive in the mountainous Taliban sanctuary of South Waziristan.

A Chinese scholar persecuted during the Cultural Revolution for smuggling a rare collection of mushrooms out of China before World War II was honored Saturday when the collection was returned more than 70 years later.

A British auction house says it's selling a strand of Elvis Presley's hair preserved for decades by a fan.

Politics  (top)

President Barack Obama, seeking to reassure a nation shaken by the mass shooting on an Army post in Texas, said Saturday that the training designed to keep U.S. forces safe abroad prevented further deaths and ended a rampage at Fort Hood.

President Barack Obama is traveling to Capitol Hill on Saturday to try to close the sale on his signature health care overhaul, facing a make-or-break vote in the House certain to be seen as a test of his presidency.

President Barack Obama will meet leaders of Southeast Asian nations, including Myanmar, in a high-level affirmation of Washington's new policy of engaging the military-ruled country despite its dismal human rights record.

For months he had warned it was coming but that didn't ease the political shockwaves for President Barack Obama when unemployment topped 10 percent.

A chaplain exhorted hundreds of mourners gathered at a candlelight vigil to not give up hope as Fort Hood and its surrounding community looked to each other for comfort after an Army psychiatrist allegedly went on a deadly shooting spree at the military base.

President Barack Obama spent nearly two hours visiting wounded U.S. soldiers Friday afternoon.

President Barack Obama signed a $24 billion economic stimulus bill into law Friday, giving tax incentives to prospective homebuyers and additional jobless benefits to those idled by the business slump.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will lead a U.S. delegation to Germany for next week's 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the White House said Friday.

A former top NASA official was sentenced Friday to three years probation, six months of electronic monitoring and a $2,500 fine for steering contract money to a private client.

A classmate of the Fort Hood shooting suspect says Maj. Nidal Hasan was an outspoken opponent of the U.S. war on terror and called it a "war against Islam."

Religion  (top)

As word spread that a gunman had opened fire at Fort Hood leaving a trail of carnage, a chilling realization swept across the U.S. Muslim community: He has an Islamic name.

In a Nov. 4 story about the end of a publishing partnership between pastor Rick Warren and Reader's Digest, The Associated Press erroneously reported that subscriptions to the Purpose Driven Connection totaled 2,500 to 5,000 per month. Subscriptions were growing by 2,500 to 5,000 per month, a project editor said. A Reader's Digest spokesman declined to release figures but said subscriptions "fell far short of expectations."

U.S. mosques fearful of a backlash after the shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas are stepping up security.

A joint publishing venture between influential pastor Rick Warren and Reader's Digest magazine has collapsed less than a year after it was announced with great fanfare.

An Ohio village's Christmas parade has been canceled amid concerns over possible lawsuits, expected protests and logistical problems.

When the Rev. Tom Eggebeen took over as interim pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church three years ago, he looked around and knew it needed a jump start.

Church volunteers greet visitors entering the lobby. The worship band begins its set and a pastor offers to pray privately with anyone during the service.

The Church of Scientology is going through a difficult season.

Science  (top)

A Seattle teams has collected a $900,000 prize in a NASA-backed competition to develop the concept of an elevator to space _ an idea spurred by science fiction novels.

A Chinese scholar persecuted during the Cultural Revolution for smuggling a rare collection of mushrooms out of China before World War II was honored Saturday when the collection was returned more than 70 years later.

Killing or removing 25 California sea lions over the past two years has not reduced the toll on salmon at the base of Bonneville Dam in the Columbia River.

Britain is using genetic tests on some African asylum seekers in an effort to catch those who are lying about their nationality, drawing criticism from scientists and provoking outrage from rights groups.

After two years of tough U.N. climate talks often pitting the world's rich against the poor, negotiators said Friday a new global agreement now rides on industrial nations pledging profound emissions cuts next month in Copenhagen.

Lower-than-feared sea temperatures this summer gave a break to fragile coral reefs across the Caribbean and the central Gulf of Mexico that were damaged in recent years, scientists said Thursday.

French scientists mixed gene therapy and bone marrow transplants in two boys to seemingly halt a brain disease that can kill by adolescence. The surprise ingredient: They disabled the HIV virus so it couldn't cause AIDS, and then used it to carry in the healthy new gene.

The nightly attacks by two man-eating lions terrified railway workers and brought construction to a halt in one of east Africa's most notorious onslaughts more than a hundred years ago. But the death toll, scientists now say, wasn't as high as previously thought.

The snows of Kilimanjaro may soon be gone. The African mountain's white peak _ made famous by writer Ernest Hemingway _ is rapidly melting, researchers report.

French police conducted a nationwide search Friday for a security driver who vanished with euro11 million ($7.4 million) in cash from a bank in the central city of Lyon, authorities said.

Sports  (top)

Tiger Woods stalled with pars. Phil Mickelson poured it on with birdies.

Bring on the boys.

Kobe Bryant scored 41 points while becoming the youngest player to reach 24,000, leading the short-handed Los Angeles Lakers to a 114-98 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night.

Just when Boise State looked vulnerable, Kellen Moore and the Broncos quickly reminded a national television audience why they've been unbeatable.

LeBron James celebrated with the Yankees and toyed with the Knicks.

Dwyane Wade scored 22 points, Jermaine O'Neal added 18 and the Miami Heat dealt the Denver Nuggets their first loss of the season, 96-88 on Friday night.

The injury bug is still haunting the Indianapolis Colts.

The Milwaukee Brewers finally gave J.J. Hardy the change of scenery he had been expecting and reunited the unhappy shortstop with an old friend in the process.

LeBron James thinks his present is too good to spend time worrying about his future.

Flavia Pennetta beat Alexa Glatch 6-3, 6-1 on Saturday to give Italy a 1-0 lead over the United States in the Fed Cup final.

Strange  (top)

The California Highway Patrol say a man stole a car to make a court appearance on a previous auto theft charge.

A woman in South Korea who tried to pass the written exam for a driver's license with near-daily attempts since April 2005 has finally succeeded on her 950th time. The aspiring driver spent more than 5 million won ($4,200) in application fees, but until now had failed to score the minimum 60 out of a possible 100 points needed to get behind the wheel for a driving test.

Oregon police have charged a man with drunken driving after he called 911 to report his marijuana as stolen but the dispatcher couldn't understand him because he was vomiting while on the road.

A sculpture of a New Zealand government minister crafted from cow manure sold for New Zealand dollars 3,080 ($2,220) on an auction Web site. The bust of New Zealand Environment Minister Nick Smith, sculpted as a protest by artist Sam Mahon, attracted 112 bids before being picked up by an anonymous buyer on Friday.

An appeals court has ruled Pennsylvania State Police botched a prostitution investigation in which troopers gave an informant money to pay for sex four times at a massage parlor, along with a total of $180 for the man's trouble.

Charges have been filed against three men accused of beating a man who sleepwalks after they found him asleep in one of the men's apartment. Iowa City Police Sgt. Troy Kelsay said the 21-year-old victim who was not identified, suffered injuries over most of his body. Kelsay said the man's injuries did not appear to require hospitalization, but the victim was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

A wind-power company says a western Maine site it's been looking at is too windy for turbines. First Wind's Matthew Kearns told a public meeting in Rumford on Thursday that its proposed Longfellow wind farm on Black Mountain and North and South Twin mountains may not be viable.

Retired orthopedic surgeon Chris Smith thought his hunt was over when he bagged a white tail deer with a bow and arrow near Sheridan. Because the light was fading, he decided to return the next day to recover the deer. But when he returned Wednesday morning, the carcass had been covered by grass and bush _ which is what mountain lions typically do.

A single hole-in-one is a big enough dream for most golfers. But two in one round? That's some luck. Reeves Barbour, the 30-year-old son of Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, had two aces in a single round Oct. 25 on a Robert Trent Jones course in Gainesville, Va.

A Volkswagen van stolen 35 years ago in Washington state has been found in a shipping container at the Los Angeles/Long Beach seaport.

Today-in-history  (top)

Today is Saturday, Nov. 7, the 311th day of 2009. There are 54 days left in the year.

Today is Wednesday, Nov. 4, the 308th day of 2009. There are 57 days left in the year.

Us  (top)

A chaplain exhorted hundreds of mourners gathered at a candlelight vigil to not give up hope as Fort Hood and its surrounding community looked to each other for comfort after an Army psychiatrist allegedly went on a deadly shooting spree at the military base.

President Barack Obama is traveling to Capitol Hill on Saturday to try to close the sale on his signature health care overhaul, facing a make-or-break vote in the House certain to be seen as a test of his presidency.

Investigators cracked a youthful burglary ring that preyed on Hollywood's rich and famous, often brazenly walking into their unlocked homes to make off with cash, jewels and family heirlooms, authorities said.

Employees at an engineering firm recognized their former co-worker when he drew a handgun from under his shirt, police said, and shot his first victim dead in the reception area. He then walked into the office and unloaded several more rounds, wounding five other employees at the company that fired him two years ago.

Baltimore mayor Sheila Dixon is about to put her political future in the hands of a jury.

The high school buddies who trolled the streets looking for Hispanics to attack called it "beaner hopping."

As word spread that a gunman had opened fire at Fort Hood leaving a trail of carnage, a chilling realization swept across the U.S. Muslim community: He has an Islamic name.

A tropical storm warning has been issued for Grand Cayman Island as Ida gains strength over Caribbean waters.

Members of Philadelphia's largest transit union and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority are set to vote on a contract to end the strike that has idled buses, subways and trolleys for five days.

The Navy is commissioning its newest battleship with a bow forged from steel that once held up the World Trade Center.