::
Below are the latest top news stories from around the globe
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama picked up support for healthcare reform on Wednesday from a prominent liberal and a group of Catholic nuns, who broke with bishops on the issue of abortion and urged passage of the overhaul.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. drone strike in Pakistan last week appears to have killed a top al Qaeda planner who Washington believes helped organize December's deadly suicide bombing at a CIA base in Afghanistan, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A package of tax breaks and highway spending cleared Congress on Wednesday, the first of what Democrats hope will be several efforts to bring down the 9.7 percent unemployment rate.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A California Highway Patrol report released on Wednesday in a sensational "runaway" Toyota Prius incident appears to support the version of events given by the driver, which the automaker has called into question.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Wednesday Israeli plans to build more homes near East Jerusalem were not helpful for the Middle East peace process, but he said the issue had not led to a crisis with one of the United States' closest allies.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Would U.S. forces kill or capture al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, if they ever found him? The goal is to capture him, the Pentagon insists, but the leading U.S. law enforcement official says that's not likely.
DETROIT (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp has told U.S. safety regulators that it is considering how to fix nearly 1.2 million Corolla and Matrix models at risk of stalling out because of flaws in an electronic system.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Russia on Thursday hoping to clear obstacles to a new treaty cutting arsenals of nuclear weapons and to win Moscow's backing for tougher sanctions against Iran.
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki reclaimed the lead on Wednesday over secularist challenger Iyad Allawi in results from a March 7 parliamentary election that has been dogged by fraud allegations.
BOSTON (Reuters) - Hackers have flooded the Internet with virus-tainted spam that targets Facebook's estimated 400 million users in an effort to steal banking passwords and gather other sensitive information.