Top Stories - Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's U.S. healthcare overhaul plan has cleared an important Senate hurdle but lawmakers warned on Sunday of challenges ahead in winning support for passage, even among Obama's own Democrats.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's armed forces launched large-scale air defense war games on Sunday to show off the country's deterrence capabilities in the face of pressure from the West over its nuclear program.

HANGU, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani security forces backed by tanks and artillery attacked Taliban positions in the northwest of the country, killing 22 militants, a senior police official on Monday.

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Sixty-five world leaders have confirmed they will attend next month's U.N. climate conference in Copenhagen which Danish officials hope will bring strong political commitment for a new treaty to combat global warming.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Iraqi parliament on Sunday failed to resolve an impasse threatening to delay the country's election in January, which could affect the U.S. military's plans for a partial pullout next year.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Monday accused a U.S. congressional advisory panel of bias for a report in which it said the Chinese government appeared increasingly to be piercing U.S. computer networks to gather useful data for its military.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Country crossover star Taylor Swift overshadowed the late Michael Jackson at the American Music Awards on Sunday, winning five prizes including artist of the year.

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai could invite militants to attend a "Loya Jirga," or grand council meeting, aiming to seek peace and reconciliation with the Taliban, a spokesman said on Sunday.

JAKARTA (Reuters) - An overloaded ferry sank in bad weather off Indonesia's Riau islands on Sunday, killing 29 people, while 245 passengers survived the accident, officials said.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Israel's president said on Sunday expanding Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank was a "marginal" issue blocking resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians.

GENEVA (Reuters) - After a year's delay, scientists at the world's biggest accelerator have restarted an experiment to recreate "Big Bang" conditions that had sparked suggestions the earth would be sucked in by millions of black holes.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Michael Jackson's famous white glove sold for $350,000 at a memorabilia auction on Saturday, soaring far past pre-sale estimates, while a black jacket he wore during a 1989 world tour fetched $225,000.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Saturday urged Americans to show patience over the economy and argued that his just-concluded Asia trip was critical for U.S. exports, countering criticism he had returned empty-handed.

KABUL (Reuters) - NATO took command of the training of the Afghan army and police on Saturday to consolidate efforts on building an effective security force, a vital precondition for the withdrawal of foreign troops.

PERUGIA, Italy (Reuters) - Italian prosecutors on Saturday called for a life sentence for American university student Amanda Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito for the 2007 murder of Briton Meredith Kercher.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The pandemic of swine flu may be hitting a peak in the Northern Hemisphere, global health officials said on Friday, but they cautioned it was far from over.