Yahoo! News: Top Stories
Updated : Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:33:18 GMT

Downturn dating: Hearts flutter as markets stutter (AP)

Lisa Lilly, left, and Victor Tirumalai joke as they play board games at the Holiday Club during a singles event, Nerds at Heart, in Chicago, Thursday, July 2, 2009. Attendance at the monthly gatherings, where mostly young professionals pay $25 for a drink and a chance to spend the evening clustered around trivia and board games, was more than double expectations in April and has stayed high since. (AP Photo/Stacie Freudenberg)

AP - Credit the recession for staycations and bringing us more game-night parties at home. But also give it a shout for spurring more first dates.
Publ.Date : Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:04:27 GMT
Palin resignation leaves questions on 2012 run (AP)

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announces that she is stepping down from her position as Governor in Wasilla, Alaska on Friday July 3, 2009. The former Republican vice presidential candidate made the surprise announcement, saying she would step down July 26 but didn't announce her plans. (AP Photo/The Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, Robert DeBerry)

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.
Publ.Date : Sat, 04 Jul 2009 11:51:37 GMT
Tour de France starts in Monaco (AP)

American seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, right, listens to his team director Johan Bruyneel of Belgium, left, as he warms up prior to taking the start of the first stage of the Tour de France cycling race, an individual time trial of 15.5 kilometers (9.63 miles) with start and finish in Moncao, Saturday July 4, 2009. (AP Photo/Laurent Rebours)

AP - Seven-time champion Lance Armstrong began his comeback at the Tour de France on Saturday by briefly taking the lead in the first-stage time trial in Monaco.
Publ.Date : Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:55:32 GMT
SKorea says North fires 7 missiles off east coast (AP)

A North Korean mock Scud-B missile, center, and other South Korean mock missiles are displayed at the Korea War Memorial Museum in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, July 4, 2009. North Korea fired five 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 Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

AP - North Korea fired seven 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.
Publ.Date : Sat, 04 Jul 2009 13:49:36 GMT
Hard-line Iran editor calls for Mousavi to face trial (Reuters)

Two women walk past a reflection of a mural with pictures of Iran's late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and a member of the Basij militia with a quote from Iran's Supreme Leader that reads,

Reuters - An editor seen as close to Iran's leadership said on Saturday opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi should go on trial and a lawyer said other reformists had already been accused of acting against national security.
Publ.Date : Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:33:18 GMT
Palin resigning as Alaska governor in surprise move (Reuters)

U.S. Republican vice- presidential nominee Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin waves to the crowd after U.S. Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain delivered his concession speech in Phoenix, November 4, 2008. REUTERS/Mike Blake

Reuters - Sarah Palin, the brash, deeply conservative governor of Alaska who crashed onto the U.S. national political scene last year as the Republican candidate for U.S. vice president, announced abruptly on Friday she was resigning as governor.
Publ.Date : Sat, 04 Jul 2009 04:01:33 GMT
Iraq declines offer of U.S. help with reconciliation (Reuters)

U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden leaves the U.S. military headquarters (a former Saddam-era palace) followed by U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill (C) and General Ray Odierno (R) in Baghdad July 3, 2009. Biden made a previously unannounced visit to Baghdad on Thursday to meet Iraqi leaders and U.S. military commanders just days after American troops withdrew from Iraqi towns and city centers. REUTERS/Andrew Quinn

Reuters - Iraq on Saturday ruled out foreign involvement in its efforts to reconcile rival factions, just after visiting U.S. Vice President Joe Biden urged Iraqis to do more to bury grievances and stave off renewed conflict.
Publ.Date : Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:08:51 GMT
Two US soldiers, seven Afghan police die in blasts (AFP)

Interactive graphic on Afghanistan where 4,000 US Marines poured into the Taliban heartlands in Helmand Province.(AFP iactiv)

AFP - Two US soldiers and seven Afghan policemen were killed in separate explosions Saturday, highlighting the level of violence faced by Marines pressing one of the biggest assaults in eight years.
Publ.Date : Sat, 04 Jul 2009 14:40:44 GMT
Marines march in grueling Afghan sun for July 4 (AP)

U.S. Marine Cpl. Brian Knight, of Cincinnati, Ohio, with the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, 1st Battalion 5th Marines, pauses briefly in the heat to rest with his heavy pack filled with mortar equipment, ammunition, food, and water in the Nawa district in Afghanistan's Helmand province Saturday, July 4, 2009. Taliban militants attacked a U.S. coalition base in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday with an explosives-laden truck that blew up outside the gates, sparking a two-hour gunbattle and killing two American troops, officials said.(AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

AP - Taliban militants were nowhere in sight as the columns of U.S. Marines walked a third straight day across southern Afghanistan. But the desert heat proved an enemy in its own right, with several troops falling victim Saturday to temperatures topping 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Publ.Date : Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:21:43 GMT
Rescuers find debris of Yemenia aircraft: government (Reuters)
Reuters - Search crews have located a large piece of debris from a Yemeni jet that crashed into the Indian Ocean off the Comoros islands last week and are working to retrieve it, the Yemeni transport ministry said Saturday.
Publ.Date : Sat, 04 Jul 2009 14:23:42 GMT