Nation and World

Rescuers working in frigid cold and darkness tried to reach 66 people believed trapped a third of a mile underground after a huge gas explosion Saturday ripped through a coal mine in northern China, killing at least 42 people.

Democratic senators pressed ahead Saturday toward a crucial first vote on President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, a test of party unity in the face of solid Republican opposition.

WASHINGTON – Suitably opaque, Section 2006 takes up only a few dozen lines in a sweeping health care bill that runs to 2,074 pages and mentions neither Sen. Mary Landrieu nor her state of Louisiana.

NEW YORK – Is it too soon to begin missing Oprah?

More states add jobs, but many for temporary staff

NIKISKI, Alaska – Norm Olson’s genial tone belies his reputation as a radical militiaman, yet here he is, at 63, an affable grandfather explaining why Americans should arm themselves against their government.

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – A 5-year-old North Carolina girl was raped and killed the same day she was taken from her home, according to an arrest warrant released Friday.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Atlantis’ astronauts anxiously awaited word Friday on the birth of a crewman’s daughter as they moved more supplies into the International Space Station and geared up for another spacewalk.

BRUSSELS – Representatives of six world powers urged Iran on Friday to accept a U.N. plan aimed at delaying its ability to build a nuclear weapon, as the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency warned Tehran not to miss the opportunity to resolve the dispute.

FORT HOOD, Texas – Sarah Palin’s tour to promote her new memoir will include a stop at Fort Hood to benefit the victims of the shooting rampage and their families.

NEW YORK – Whether he’s planning another run for the White House or a bid for senator or governor, or he just misses the spotlight, Rudy Giuliani suddenly is back and talking about the topic that made him a national star – Sept. 11.

BEIJING – A gas explosion tore through a coal mine in northern China today, killing 11 people and trapping another 128, central government authorities said.

NEW YORK – The U.S. finally is becoming a nation of savers. Now if only we could get something for our money.

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina lawmakers plan to formally consider impeaching Gov. Mark Sanford for the first time next week, the chairman of the committee beginning that work said Friday.

ATLANTA – Health officials say four people in North Carolina have tested positive for a type of swine flu that’s resistant to the drug Tamiflu.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – An explosion struck the office of an aid organization in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border on Saturday, wounding a security guard, police said.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – As the nation’s military academies try to recruit more minorities, they aren’t getting much help from members of Congress from big-city districts with large numbers of blacks, Hispanics and Asians.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is on a collision course with Catholic bishops in an intractable dispute over abortion that could blow up the fragile political coalition behind President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

ATLANTA – For the second time in a little more than a year, a glitch at one of the two centers that handle flight plans for the nation’s air travel system set off delays and cancellations for passengers around the country.

WASHINGTON – They call it the “Botax.”

WASHINGTON – Digging in for a long struggle, Republican senators and governors assailed the Democrats’ newly minted health care legislation Thursday as a collection of tax increases, Medicare cuts and heavy new burdens for deficit-ridden states.

CHICAGO (AP) – Oprah Winfrey's iconic television talk show will end in 2011 after 25 seasons on the air, her production company said Thursday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Air travelers nationwide scrambled to revise their plans Thursday after an FAA computer glitch caused widespread cancellations and delays for the second time in 15 months.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Power-hungry TVs will be banned from store shelves in California after state regulators Wednesday adopted a first-in-the-nation mandate to reduce electricity demand.

WASHINGTON – Wo­men should continue getting regular mammograms starting at age 40, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebeli­us said Wed­nesday, moving to douse confusion caused by a task-force recommendation two days earlier.

Weak home building a drag on recovery

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – College students ditched class, employees skipped work and some huddled in the cold overnight just to make sure they get an orange wristband Wednesday that would let them meet Sarah Palin.

ATLANTA – Dear Kellogg: Leggo my Eggo!

ORLANDO, Fla. – A CT scan – a kind of super X-ray – provides a faster, cheaper way to diagnose a heart attack when someone goes to the emergency room with chest pains, a new study suggests.

KABUL – Under intense pressure to fix his corrupt government, Afghan President Hamid Karzai sought to strike a balance in his second inaugural speech Thursday: answer international demands for reform while appeasing his political allies who returned him to power.

Iraq vote faces

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran will not ship its low-enriched uranium out of the country for processing, its foreign minister said Wednesday, once again rejecting a U.N. plan aimed at thwarting any attempt by Tehran to make nuclear weapons.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Space shuttle Atlantis arrived at the International Space Station on Wednesday for a weeklong stay, and the astronauts unloaded a platform full of spare parts needed to keep the outpost running for another decade.

WASHINGTON – More Americans support creation of a new government-run health insurance plan to compete with the private insurance market, a new Associated Press poll finds, but the level of enthusiasm depends on how the question is asked.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Congressional budget crunchers said Thursday the Democrats' latest health care plan would hold down federal red ink for at least 20 years, an assessment that gave supporters hope as the Senate moved gingerly toward a historic debate.

WASHINGTON – From opposite ends of the globe, President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder firmly rejected criticism Wednesday of the planned New York trial of the professed Sept. 11 mastermind and predicted Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would be exposed as a murderous coward, convicted and executed.

SEOUL, South Korea – President Obama said Thursday the U.S. has begun talking with allies about fresh punishment against Iran for defying efforts to halt its nuclear weapons pursuits.

WASHINGTON – Americans don’t want to shoulder the cost of President Obama’s health care overhaul themselves. They think the rich should pay for it.

SALT LAKE CITY – Seven years after she was abducted at knifepoint, Elizabeth Smart finally has an apology – and a guilty plea – from one of her kidnappers.

MIAMI – More than 14,700 U.S. taxpayers came forward to disclose billions in offshore bank accounts in 70 countries under a voluntary Internal Revenue Service program allowing most to avoid criminal prosecution as long as they pay what they owe, IRS officials said Tuesday.

ROME – Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, blamed for plunging his people into starvation, used his platform as Tuesday’s opening speaker at the U.N. anti-hunger summit to decry what he called his neocolonialist foes.

ORLANDO, Fla. – For the first time, a miniature heart pump shows the potential to become a widely used, permanent treatment for many older people with severe heart failure. But can we afford it?

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Zacarias Moussaoui was a clown who could not keep his mouth shut, his old al-Qaida boss said, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. But Moussaoui was surprisingly tame when tried for the 9/11 attacks – never turning the courtroom into the circus of anti-U.S. tirades that some fear Mohammed will create at his trial in New York.

WASHINGTON – Worried that the Army might have missed red flags about the alleged shooter in the Fort Hood massacre, the Pentagon likely will launch an inquiry into how all the military services keep watch on other volatile soldiers hidden in their ranks, officials said Tuesday.

WASHINGTON – Eight years after the 9/11 attacks brought a new focus on security at airplane maintenance facilities, and six years after Congress first required action, the government hasn’t tightened its vigilance.

WASHINGTON – The Senate is a resolutely superlative place, so it was resolved that the august body today will open its session by saluting Sen. Robert C. Byrd, Congress’ longest-serving member.

WASHINGTON – Democrats on Tuesday crushed a Senate filibuster against a controversial appeals court nominee, demonstrating to Republicans they can’t stop President Obama from turning the federal judiciary to the left.

BAGHDAD – Iraq’s Kurds threatened Tuesday to boycott national elections, days after the country’s Sunni vice president threatened to veto the newly passed election law needed to hold the January vote.

BEIJING – President Obama, with China’s leader at his side, lifted his sights Tuesday for a broad accord at next month’s climate conference that he said would lead to immediate action and “rally the world” toward a solution on global warming.

DALLAS (AP) – It could cost you even more to travel next spring and summer.