AP - Strong winds and heavy rain pounded parts of the Northeast on Saturday, knocking out power to more than a half-million homes and businesses, delaying and diverting flights, and stranding about 500 passengers on a train for more than five hours.

AP - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Saturday she's confident the House will pass health care legislation and dismissed Republican criticism that she did not have enough votes for the measure.

AP - An American al-Qaida suspect detained in Yemen fooled his hospital guards into unshackling him by asking to join them for prayers, security officials said Saturday. He then killed a guard who laid down his weapon as he went ahead at prayer time.

AP - A suicide squad detonated bombs at a newly fortified prison, police headquarters and two other locations late Saturday, killing at least 30 people in the largest city of the southern Taliban heartland.

AP - Before her daughter disappeared last fall, Christine Mott recalls that the 31-year-old who had been held in connection with an alleged assassination plot announced she had converted to Islam and told her family they'd go to hell if they didn't follow in her steps.

AP - It often starts as a voice in the wilderness, but can swell into an entire nation's demand for truth. From Ireland to Germany, Europe's many victims of child abuse in the Roman Catholic church are finally breaking social taboos and confronting the clergy to face its demons.

AP - Newly arrived Republican Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts accused President Barack Obama and Democrats on Saturday of a "bitter, destructive and endless" drive to pass health overhaul legislation that Brown warned would be disastrous.

AP - Thousands of teachers, classmates and neighbors filled a high school stadium Saturday to honor a 17-year-old girl whose body was discovered in a shallow, lakeside grave as her parents vowed to dedicate themselves to protecting children from sex predators.

AP - Joy Behar, Cynthia Nixon and the ABC drama series "Brothers & Sisters" are among this year's recipients of media awards from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

AP - Da'Sean Butler's second game-winner in three days gave West Virginia its first Big East championship.

Reuters - The foreign ministers of Turkey and Sweden condemned on Saturday a vote in the Swedish parliament that defined the early 20th-century killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide.

Reuters - Afghanistan rowed back on Saturday from a total ban on media broadcasts of "disturbing" images from insurgent attacks or live pictures of security operations.

Reuters - A Taliban suicide bomber targeting security forces killed at least 11 people on Saturday, Pakistani police said, part of a renewed push against the state after one of the biggest security crackdowns in years.

Reuters - Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki held a wide lead on Saturday in early results from Baghdad, the major prize in a tight election race that Iraqis hope will bring stability after years of sectarian conflict.

Reuters - Tens of thousands of protesters converged in Bangkok on Sunday to give Thailand's military-backed government an ultimatum: either call elections or face more pro-democracy demonstrations over the coming week.

Reuters - A Colorado woman who converted to Islam last year and was lured to Europe by online extremists was among seven people arrested in Ireland in connection with a suspected plot to murder a Swedish cartoonist, her parents said on Saturday.

AFP - Tens of thousands of red-shirted supporters of deposed Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra were to rally in Bangkok on Sunday to demand the government step down, sparking a major security operation.

AFP - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered an inquiry Saturday into why a contested settlement plan was announced during a landmark visit by US Vice President Joe Biden, a spokesman said.