AP - It is a politician's dream: Handing out cold, hard cash to people on the street as they plead for help. Iraq's prime minister has been doing just that in recent weeks, doling out Iraqi dinars as an aide trails behind, keeping a tally.

AP - Hurricane Bertha was spinning over open water and headed toward Bermuda, but tourists didn't expect it to wreck their weekend on the idyllic Atlantic island.

AP - U.S. forces may be close to unlocking the mystery of who is behind a deadly innovation in Iraqi insurgents' weapons, a "lob bomb" now being used in Baghdad to target U.S. and Iraqi combat outposts, a senior American general said Friday in an Associated Press interview.

AP - A packed running of the bulls left one daredevil gored and two others slightly injured Saturday at Pamplona's annual San Fermin festival, officials said.

AP - Russia and China vetoed U.S.-proposed sanctions on Zimbabwe's leaders Friday, the global community's latest attempt to take action against an authoritarian regime widely criticized for a violent and one-sided presidential election.

AP - Violence in Iraq is at its lowest level in four years, but ask Capt. Mike Forbes, and he will tell you his job as a troop commander in Baghdad has gotten harder, not easier.

AP - North Korea has shown no willingness to cooperate with South Korea's investigation into the death of a South Korean tourist at a mountain resort in the communist nation, a Seoul official said Saturday.

AP - In the rural outskirts of Baghdad, where the war seems distant in Iraq's new period of relative calm, a prominent Sunni tribal chief makes no bones about what is lacking in the drive to turn security improvements into lasting economic and political change.

AP - Negotiators from six nations agreed have agreed on steps to verify North Korea's nuclear disarmament, opening the final phase in tortuous efforts to rid the North of nuclear weapons.

AP - Pope Benedict XVI departs Saturday on a 10-day trip to Australia, the longest pilgrimage of his papacy and a test of the 81-year-old pontiff's stamina.

AFP - China's UN ambassador said Friday he was concerned at reports that Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir might be arrested over crimes against humanity in Darfur, warning such a move would put peace prospects "in jeopardy."