AP - Hurricane Marie formed off western Mexico and drifted through the Pacific Ocean on a path that forecasters said would keep it well away from land.

AP - As violence in Iraq recedes, neighboring states are pondering how to deal with an unwieldy country that could re-emerge as a key player along with Saudi Arabia and Iran in one of the world's most strategic regions.

Reuters - European leaders meet on Saturday for a summit French President Nicolas Sarkozy hopes will shore up confidence in a banking system hit by the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.

AP - Suspected U.S. missiles hit buildings in two Pakistani villages close to the Afghan border, killing 20 people, most of them alleged militants, officials said Saturday.

AP - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in the Indian capital Saturday to commemorate — but not put her signature to — a historic deal that opens up U.S. nuclear trade with the Asia giant.

AP - The top U.S. nuclear envoy held talks with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing on Saturday, an embassy spokesman said, after a trip to North Korea failed to stop the communist regime from restoring its atomic facilities.

AP - The U.S. military says it has killed a senior al-Qaida in Iraq leader suspected of masterminding deadly bombings in Baghdad.

AP - A 7-year-old boy broke into a popular Outback zoo, fed a string of animals to the resident crocodile and bashed several lizards to death with a rock, the zoo's director said Friday.

AFP - Around 5,000 people demonstrated in the flood-riven southern Algerian town of Ghardaia on Friday to demand urgent aid after flash floods killed 31 residents, witnesses said.

AP - Pages from an Israeli astronaut's diary that survived the explosion of the space shuttle Columbia and a 37-mile fall to earth are going on display this weekend for the first time in Jerusalem.

Reuters - The Dutch government nationalized the banking and insurance activities of Fortis in the Netherlands on Friday after the troubled financial services company hit an acute cash crunch.

AP - Six U.S. warships circled a hijacked ship off Somalia and a Russian frigate headed toward the standoff Friday, while Russia called for naval forces gathering in the area to coordinate their efforts against piracy.