Aaron's Daily WWW Newspaper

KHAR, Pakistan - Pakistan's army captured a militant stronghold near the Afghan border, the military said Saturday, a breakthrough in an offensive against the Taliban and al-Qaida that has sent nearly 200,000 civilians fleeing for safety.

CROWN POINT, Ind. - An Indiana county still recovering from a primary night black eye is embroiled in a new election-year drama that could determine whether Democrats win Indiana's presidential contest for the first time in more than four decades.

SEATTLE - Seven Puget Sound killer whales are missing and presumed dead in what could be the biggest decline among the sound's orcas in nearly a decade, say scientists who carefully track the endangered animals.

ATLANTA - Minneapolis business manager Roque Rossetti plans to make his annual trip home to Sao Paulo, Brazil, for Christmas. The 35-year-old said the sagging economy gave him no second thoughts about shelling out $1,200 for the ticket.

NEW YORK - Authorities were called to the home of former New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas, where police said a 47-year-old man was taken to the hospital and treated for an accidental overdose of sleeping pills early Friday morning.

BEIJING/LONDON (Reuters) - Asian and European leaders closed ranks on Saturday to try to bolster confidence among investors who fear that a global credit crunch has ushered in a deep and damaging world recession.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama's lead over Republican rival John McCain fell slightly to 9 points, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released Saturday, the second consecutive day the race has narrowed.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks dropped on Friday in a worldwide sell-off with investors cashing out of stocks as signs mounted that the global economic slowdown could be deeper than feared and the corporate profit outlook darkened.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Many Americans may be deeply upset over the financial crisis, worrying about their personal losses and the cost of government bailouts, but they appear a long way away from taking to the streets in anger.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sales of previously owned U.S. homes rose 5.5 percent last month, the biggest gain since July 2003, and the inventory of unsold homes fell, a hopeful sign for a housing market mired in a long slump.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force said on Friday it would create a separate command for nuclear missiles and bombers after blunders undermined confidence in its nuclear mission and led to the dismissal of top officials.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, has met a senior military official in Turkey to discuss Kurdish rebels launching attacks into Turkey from northern Iraq, the U.S. military said.

SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) - The United States pledged an additional $320 million to the global fight against bird flu and warned on Saturday against complacency in combating the virus, which could mutate and cause a deadly pandemic.

BEIJING (AFP) - World leaders called for an urgent overhaul of international financial systems and China demanded stricter regulations in the face of dramatic losses on the markets and a sliding world economy.

RENO, Nevada (AFP) - Barack Obama and John McCain will fight a weekend duel over states won in 2004 by President George W. Bush, a sure sign of the Democrat's edge heading into the last week of the White House race.

CHICAGO (AFP) - The mother and brother of Oscar-winning actress and chart-topping singer Jennifer Hudson has been found shot dead at the family's Chicago home, according to Hudson 's publicist and authorities.

KABUL (AFP) - Two foreign nationals, believed to be Westerners, and an Afghan were killed in a shoot-out outside the offices of international courier company DHL in Kabul on Saturday, police said.

SANAA (AFP) - Rescue operations swung into higher gear in Yemen on Saturday after floods killed at least 41 people and six more died after being struck by lightning in two days of fierce storms, officials said.

VIENNA (AFP) - OPEC could meet regularly over the coming months to announce further cuts in oil output as a worldwide recession weighs on energy demand and crude prices, analysts said.

LONDON (AFP) - The 2012 London Olympics will help boost the British economy as it battles through current global economic chaos, the minister in charge of the games said in an interview on Saturday.