AP - Even for a nonconformist, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has defied political logic with her sudden, stunning announcement to leave office more than a year early.

AP - North Korea fired six ballistic missiles off its eastern coast Saturday, South Korea said, a violation of U.N. resolutions and an apparent message of defiance to the United States on its Independence Day.

AP - Militants exploded a vehicle outside the gates of a U.S. coalition base in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, sparking a two-hour gunbattle that ended when American troops called in airstrikes, officials said. Two U.S. troops were killed and four were wounded.

AP - Questions about Michael Jackson's use of prescription drugs are intensifying after a powerful sedative was found inside his home.

AP - A top aide of Iran's supreme leader called the country's main opposition figure a U.S. agent and accused him of committing crimes against the nation in an editorial Saturday.

AP - A terrified rural South Carolina community hunkered down over the Fourth of July after the sheriff said a serial killer was on the loose, and longtime residents were reminded of a murderer who terrorized the town in the 1960s.

AP - Michelle Obama brings her superstar glamor to Moscow this weekend as she accompanies her husband on his summit with the Russian president.