AP - With time and tempers short, everyone's playing hardball in the drive to pass — or stop — President Barack Obama's massive health care legislation by the weekend.

AP - Attorney General Eric Holder told Congress on Tuesday that Osama bin Laden will never face trial in the United States because he will not be captured alive.

AP - Suspected U.S. drones fired missiles at vehicles and hit a militant hide-out in a tribal region of northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing at least nine insurgents, two officials said.

AP - The United States and Israel stepped back Tuesday from their deepest rift in decades, a dispute over new Jewish homes in a traditionally Arab part of Jerusalem that quickly became a test of U.S. and Israeli commitment to peace talks and one another.

AP - A secular coalition challenging the Iraqi prime minister in the country's historic parliamentary elections has narrowly pulled ahead for the first time in the overall vote count, although it still trails in the crucial province-by-province count.

AP - Confused hit men may have gone to the wrong party, the FBI said Tuesday as it cast doubt on fears that the slaying of three people with ties to the U.S. consulate shows that Mexican drug cartels have launched an offensive against U.S. government employees.

AP - A woman championed as the Obama administration's emblem for health care reform does not have to choose between her home and her health, according to officials at the Ohio hospital where she is being treated.

AP - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke plans to wage a fresh battle against Senate efforts to scale back the Fed's role in supervising the nation's banks.

AP - Tim Urban couldn't get any satisfaction on "American Idol."

AP - For Tiger Woods, this figures to be a Masters like no other. Woods said Tuesday he will end more than four months of seclusion and play at Augusta National in three weeks, shielded by the most secure environment in golf as he competes for the first time since a sex scandal shattered his image.

Reuters - Under heavy Republican attack, Democrats in the House of Representatives on Tuesday defended plans to pass a healthcare overhaul without a direct vote as President Barack Obama's top domestic priority neared a make-or-break showdown.

Reuters - Palestinians clashed with Israeli forces in Jerusalem on Tuesday as the United States, which has slammed Israeli settlement plans as undermining peace efforts, played down strains in its alliance with the Jewish state.

Reuters - Thousands of anti-government protesters headed to the heavily guarded home of Thailand's prime minister on Wednesday in the fourth day of protests aimed at forcing him to call elections.

Reuters - Two missile strikes by pilotless U.S. drone aircraft on Wednesday killed at least six militants in Pakistan's North Waziristan, a major al Qaeda and Taliban sanctuary, intelligence officials and residents said.

Reuters - China said on Wednesday it "could not be any clearer" in its repeated commitment to a stable exchange rate after the U.S. Congress threatened to levy duties on some Chinese exports if it fails to revalue its currency.

AFP - Israel counted the cost Wednesday after hundreds of Palestinians clashed with security forces across east Jerusalem, amid the worst diplomatic spat in decades between Israel and its key US ally.

AFP - Red-shirted protesters on Wednesday decamped to the residence of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva but their four-day rally in support of their deposed political hero appeared to be petering out.