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President Obama again promoted a new package of Wall Street regulations in his Saturday radio address, telling listeners that "we are on the cusp of enacting the toughest financial reforms since the Great Depression."

Taping the address Friday just hours after House and Senate negotiators put together a final bill, Obama said the new plan would "empower our people with consumer protections" and prevent the kind of financial meltdown that gutted the economy in 2008.

Obama stresses no discord with Petraeus on board

No more discord in the Afghanistan war command, President Barack Obama vows. With Gen. David Petraeus in charge, the president said Thursday he's assembled the team that will take the U.S. through the months ahead — by all expectations the make-or-break stage of the conflict.

"I am going to be insisting on a unity of purpose on the part of all branches of the U.S. government," the president said. "Our team is going to be moving forward in synch."

Obama said he does not anticipate further firings beyond Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top war commander hired a year ago to turn around a war then sliding into quagmire. He was fired Wednesday for sniping at civilian war bosses in a magazine article.

G-20 Protesters Expand Rallies as Toronto Braces for Summit

Protesters and community groups aim to intensify their demonstrations in Toronto today as businesses in the downtown of Canada’s largest city start to close ahead of this weekend’s Group of 20 summit.

“There’s going to be a rally, a march, a block party and a tent city that’s going to go overnight,” Syed Hussan, spokesman for the Toronto Community Mobilization Network, said in an interview.

The network, which has been behind protests for the past week including yesterday’s downtown march of 1,200 people in support of indigenous groups’ rights, is planning a “feminist picnic” and a “Free the Streets” march this afternoon, a day before the start of the G-20 gathering.

G-20 leaders facing worries about rising deficits

World leaders who addressed a severe economic crisis with an unprecedented show of strength last year are finding it harder to maintain their solidarity in the face of new challenges.

Despite U.S. appeals to refrain from removing stimulus measures too quickly, country after country is rushing to slash spending and raise taxes to avoid suffering the same fate as Greece, which found itself on the brink of bankruptcy last month.

After maintaining remarkable unity at three previous summits, the leaders of the world's major economies will come to Canada facing a good deal of tension over the best approaches to take to make sure that the global economy continues to emerge from the worst recession in decades.

U.S. Predator Drones to Surveil Mexican Border

The Homeland Security Department will use unmanned surveillance aircraft and other technological upgrades in its ongoing effort to protect the southern border of the United States.

The department said Wednesday it has obtained Federal Aviation Administration permission to operate unmanned planes along the Texas border and throughout the Gulf Coast region. Customs and Border Protection will base a surveillance drone at the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station in Texas.

Australia PM Rudd ousted by deputy

Julia Gillard has become Australia's first female prime minister after the ruling Labor party dumped Kevin Rudd as leader.

Rudd won a landslide election victory less than three years ago but support for his government has plummeted in opinion polls since April over a series of unpopular policy moves, and his erstwhile deputy Gillard challenged him to hold a leadership ballot on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Rudd acknowledged that the party's factional power brokers had lost faith in him and did not contest the leadership at a party meeting, leaving Gillard to be elected unopposed.

Al Gore Accused of "Unwanted Sexual Contact" in 2006, Authorities Say

Former Vice President Al Gore was accused of "unwanted sexual contact" by an unidentified woman in Portland, Ore., in 2006, according to local law-enforcement officials, although no criminal charges were filed.

A lawyer representing the woman contacted Portland police in late 2006, according to the office of Multnomah County District Attorney Michael D. Schrunk. However, the woman refused to be interviewed by authorities and said she did not want to pursue a criminal case against Gore.

The woman declined to participate in a criminal investigation because she planned to pursue a civil case at the time, Portland Detective Cheryl Waddell told The Oregonian. There is no evidence a civil suit has ever been opened, according to the newspaper.

Al and Tipper Gore separate after 40 years of marriage

The district attorney's office did not specify the woman's accusations again Gore. However, she reported to the police in 2009 that she was repeatedly subjected to unwanted sexual touching while in his presence, according to The Oregonian.

BP CEO May be Trying to Get Fired, Really

Commentary: Hayward's compensation pales against those of American oil execs

Is BP PLC's Tony Hayward actually trying to get fired?

You might think so after his latest stunt. The hapless honcho, already slammed as "the most hated man in America," skipped out on the Gulf gusher over the weekend to participate a yacht race in England.

A yacht race? Are you kidding? Paging Thurston Howell III!

OK, maybe Hayward's critics are being hypocritical. After all, if his hour-by-hour presence in the Gulf of Mexico is absolutely essential, why was it appropriate to drag him away for that ridiculous circus up on Capitol Hill last week?

Nonetheless, from the point of view of spin — and we live now in the age of spin, to the point where almost nothing else seems to matter — the move seems crass, even for "Tone-Deaf Tony," the gaffe-prone chief executive.

Analysis: Obama couldn't give McChrystal a pass

President Barack Obama had little choice. Already weakened by the seemingly insolvable Gulf oil spill and his party's dicey prospects in the coming congressional election, Obama could not afford to give his Afghanistan commander a pass for his inflammatory public words.

In essence, Gen. Stanley McChrystal fired himself. It fell to Obama to make the announcement.

The real surprise Wednesday was that Obama persuaded four-star Gen. David Petraeus, who steered U.S. military fortunes in Iraq out of a dark place, to take over from McChrystal. Petraeus was instrumental in the naming of McChrystal 13 months ago to shoulder the burden of the lagging U.S. war effort in Afghanistan.

Anti-homelessness strategy expands programs to assist veterans, families

The Obama administration released a strategy Tuesday to end homelessness that would expand programs to secure housing for veterans and families with young children, and build on efforts to help chronically homeless Americans.

With the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq highlighting the needs of veterans and the economic crisis straining more families, the administration's plan widens the role envisioned for the federal government in curbing -- and ending -- homelessness. But it does not provide a significant infusion of federal money to combat the problem.

Bin Laden hunter to be released by Pakistan

A relative of an American on a solo mission to hunt down Osama bin Laden says the Colorado man is being released by the Pakistani government without charges.

Gary Faulkner, of Greeley, was detained June 13 in the woods of northern Pakistan after being found with a pistol, a sword and night-vision equipment. The 50-year-old told officials he was out to kill the al-Qaida leader. Faulkner was then moved to Islamabad, and a relative told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he was being released to American authorities there and would return to the U.S. "very soon."

The relative didn't want to be identified because a family-designated spokesman hadn't yet confirmed the release. The spokesman didn't immediately return calls from The Associated Press. Faulkner's brother, Scott Faulkner, told AP he'd heard the news of the release plans but wasn't ready to comment.

Gary Faulkner is an out-of-work construction worker who sold his tools to finance six trips on what relatives have called a Rambo-type mission to kill or capture bin Laden. He grew his hair and beard long to fit in better.

White House releases health law details

Most insurance plans will soon be prohibited from rejecting coverage of children because of pre-existing medical problems, under rules governing enforcement of the 'patients bill of rights' in the new health care law.

The White House later Tuesday will release details of how the patients' provision will be implemented.

The language involving coverage of children with pre-existing conditions will be enforced for most insurance plans renewing on or after Sept. 23.

Under the new federal rules, patients also can still pick their primary doctors or pediatricians, and prior approval requirements for emergency care will be prohibited.

Peter Orszag to resign as White House budget director

White House budget director Peter Orszag has decided to leave the Obama administration, likely in the next few weeks, a Democrat familiar with his plans said Monday night. His departure would make him the first member of President Obama's Cabinet to leave the White House.

As head of the Office of Management and Budget, Orszag has been one of Obama's top lieutenants on two of the president's signature legislative efforts: the stimulus bill, passed early in the administration, and the health care overhaul passed this year.

He also generated some headlines of his own, with the news that he had fathered a child with ex-girlfriend Claire Milonas, a Greek shipping heiress, and that he had become engaged to ABC News reporter Bianna Golodryga. Their wedding is planned for September.

South Korea: resolve ship, then consider nuclear talks

The March 26 sinking of the corvette Cheonan near the de facto maritime border between the two Koreas has raised tension in the region and further complicated already hamstrung diplomatic efforts to revive six-nation talks on the denuclearisation of North Korea.

"As North Korea was found to have sunk the warship Cheonan, the government will concentrate on the Cheonan incident at this stage," the South's Yonhap news quoted Yu as saying during a meeting of parliament.

The government "will consult related countries on resuming six-party talks after completing its response", he said.

Six-party talks involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia have been stalled for more than a year.

Bus carrying Turkish military bombed in Istanbul, kills 4

A remote-controlled roadside bomb ripped through a bus transporting Turkish military personnel and their families to a gendarmerie paramilitary base in Istanbul.

Turkish authorities say three gendarmerie sergeants and the 17-year-old daughter of a member of the security forces were killed in the attack.

"It was a remote-controlled, fragmentation bomb that was left on the side of the road," said Huseyin Avni Mutlu, the governor of Istanbul, in a televised appearance broadcast live from the scene of the explosion. "This is a terrorist act."

Times Square car bomb suspect pleads guilty in NYC

NEW YORK – Calling himself a "Muslim soldier," a defiant Pakistan-born U.S. citizen pleaded guilty Monday to carrying out the failed Times Square car bombing, saying his attack was the answer to "the U.S. terrorizing ... Muslim people."

Wearing a white skull cap, Faisal Shahzad entered the plea in U.S. District Court in Manhattan just days after a federal grand jury indicted him on 10 terrorism and weapons counts, some of which carried mandatory life prison sentences. He pleaded guilty to them all.

"One has to understand where I'm coming from," Shahzad calmly told U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum, who challenged him repeatedly with questions such as whether he worried about killing children in Times Square. "I consider myself ... a Muslim soldier."

Iran bans 2 UN nuclear inspectors from entering

TEHRAN, Iran – Tehran said Monday it had banned two U.N. nuclear inspectors from entering the country because they had leaked "false" information about Iran's disputed nuclear program

The ban is the latest twist in Iran's deepening tussle with the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency and the West over its nuclear program. The United States and its allies warn that Iran's program is geared toward making nuclear weapons.

Tehran denies the charge saying its nuclear activities are only for peaceful purposes like power generation.

Jerusalem revives plan to raze Palestinian homes

JERUSALEM – Jerusalem's mayor pressed ahead Monday with a plan to raze 22 Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem to make room for an Israeli tourist center, a decision that could stir new tensions in the divided city and put Israel in conflict with the Obama administration.

Back in March, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had pressured Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat to hold up the plan so authorities could consult with Palestinians who would lose their homes — a delay that appeared to be aimed at fending off criticism from the U.S.

"Now, after fine-tuning the plan and seeking more cooperation with the residents as far as their needs and improving the quality of their lives, the municipality is ready to submit the plans for the first stage of approval," Barkat's spokesman, Stephan Miller.

Ex-Minister Wins Election in Colombia

CARACAS, Venezuela — Colombian voters on Sunday overwhelmingly elected as their new president an American-educated former defense minister who oversaw a forceful counterinsurgency against the country’s rebel groups.

Juan Manuel Santos took 69 percent of the vote in the second and final round of elections, against 27.5 percent for his rival, a former Bogotá mayor, Antanas Mockus, Colombian electoral officials said Sunday night.

While Mr. Santos obtained a decisive majority, voting was marked by high levels of abstention and the killing by guerrillas over the weekend of at least 10 members of Colombia’s security forces, a reminder that the country’s four-decade war against leftist rebels is far from over.

The victory for Mr. Santos, an economist, points to continuity in Colombia’s ties with the United States, which provides the country with hundreds of millions of dollars in security aid each year. Mr. Santos, like the outgoing president, Álvaro Uribe, has said he wants to preserve Colombia’s position as Washington’s leading Latin American ally.

Organizers of Lebanon's Gaza flotilla make formal request to sail

Soon after Lebanese sources told Haaretz that preparations for a planned flotilla to break the Gaza blockade were not yet finalized, the country's transportation minister, Ghazi al-Aridi, said late Sunday that he received a formal request for one ship to set sail and denied the existence of a second ship thought to be part of the campaign.

According to Aridi, organizers of the ship known as the Julia formally requested permission to set sail, but he added the ship would sail toward Cyprus and not Gaza, as he cannot authorize actions that contradict Lebanese law.

Lebanese law requires every ship leaving the country's ports to obtain official permission. Lebanese law also forbids sailing to ports under Israeli control - including Gaza, which it categorizes as under Israeli occupation. Flotilla organizers are thus expected to ask permission to sail to another destination, such as Cyprus or Turkey, and then divert their route once at sea.

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