AP - Invoking the memory of Edward M. Kennedy, Democrats united Saturday night to push historic health care legislation past a key Senate hurdle over the opposition of Republicans eager to inflict a punishing defeat on President Barack Obama. There was not a vote to spare.

AP - An Indonesian passenger ferry with almost 250 people aboard sank in rough waters off Sumatra island Sunday, killing at least one, police said, while a second ferry ran aground in nearby waters.

AP - Officials in Saipan have identified the gunman involved in a deadly rampage as 42-year-old Li Zhongren of China.

AP - The number of Americans traveling away from home for Thanksgiving will be up only slightly this year from 2008, according to a report from the AAA auto club.

AP - The Army psychiatrist charged with killing 13 people at Fort Hood will be confined until his military trial, initially staying in a hospital where he is recovering from gunshot wounds, his attorney said Saturday.

AP - Black ties and gowns filled a ballroom Saturday in a big-bucks salute to Detroit-style royalty — the King of Motown, the Queen of Soul and the Kid of Rock.

AP - Kate Hudson, Pierce Brosnan, Neil Patrick Harris and other stars who are used to getting applause were giving it gladly at a ceremony honoring people who make a difference in the lives of others.

AP - A spacewalking astronaut put aside the impending birth of his daughter and blazed through his first-ever venture outside the International Space Station on Saturday.

AP - Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli watched as red-clad Arizona students ringed the sidelines as time ticked down, ready to rush the field.

Reuters - A sweeping healthcare overhaul narrowly cleared its first hurdle in the Senate on Saturday, with Democrats casting 60 party-line votes to open debate on the biggest healthcare changes in decades.

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.

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.

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.

Reuters - The death toll from China's latest coal mine disaster reached 87 as hopes dimmed on Sunday that more survivors would be found a day after a gas blast at a colliery in the country's far northeast.

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.

Reuters - Iran's military said it will begin large-scale air defense drills on Sunday, and a cleric in the Revolutionary Guards warned that the Islamic Republic would fire missiles at "the heart of Tel Aviv" if attacked.

AFP - A ferry carrying up to 269 people sank in bad weather off the Indonesian island of Sumatra island Sunday, triggering a desperate search for survivors, police and transport officials said.

AFP - The death toll from a coal mine blast in northeast China climbed to 87 on Sunday as rescuers hunted for 21 workers still trapped deep underground in the nation's deadliest mine disaster in two years.