Reuters - One of three wavering U.S. Senate Democrats said on Friday he would vote to start the chamber's healthcare debate, bolstering the chances for a broad reform bill one day before its first crucial test.

SPACE.com - It may be the mother lode of all bad timing: Atlantis shuttle astronaut Randy Bresnik is stuck at the International Space Station, hundreds of miles from his pregnant wife Rebecca, who is expected to give birth to a baby girl as early as today.

AFP - A bruised but smiling Manny Pacquiao enjoyed a hero's welcome as he returned home to the Philippines on Friday, with masses of people taking to the streets and hailing him as the best boxer of all time.

AP - Suitably opaque, Section 2006 takes up only a few dozen lines in a sweeping health care bill that runs to 2,074 pages and mentions neither Sen. Mary Landrieu nor her state of Louisiana.

AP - The Obama administration is shifting the focus of its Iran policy from talk to sanctions, but the prospect of winning early international support for toughened new penalties appears dim.

AP - An attorney for the Army psychiatrist charged in the mass shooting at Fort Hood says his client will have his first court hearing in his hospital room on Saturday.

AP - The driver of a Miley Cyrus tour bus was killed Friday when the bus overturned, but the 16-year-old "Hannah Montana" star wasn't on board, Virginia State Police said.

AP - Sometime into his long detention by China's feared state security agents, American geologist Xue Feng had something to show U.S. consular officials on their monthly visit. He rolled up his sleeve, revealing the burns where his interrogators pressed lit cigarettes into his arm.

AP - For more than two decades, Oprah Winfrey has been the inspirational, change-your-life champion who reigned over daytime television much like Johnny Carson once ruled late night.

AP - The Senate ethics committee on Friday admonished Democratic Sen. Roland Burris for misleading investigators about his maneuvering to get Barack Obama's old Senate seat from the governor who was ousted for trying to sell it.

Reuters - India's prime minister and U.S. President Barack Obama meet next week to strengthen ties, with the emerging Asian power increasingly playing a bigger role on global issues such as climate change and trade.

Reuters - Manny Pacquiao's desire to take on Floyd Mayweather may not be enough to persuade the American to climb into the ring for a dream fight against the Filipino, promoter Bob Arum said on Thursday.

Reuters - As U.S. health officials struggle to vaccinate tens of millions of Americans against the pandemic of swine flu, some are looking regretfully at one easy way to instantly double or triple the number of doses available -- by using an immune booster called an adjuvant.

AP - The Salvation Army plans to serve 10,000 free dinners across the city this Thanksgiving — meals planned by a star chef, cooked by one of New York's ritziest caterers and cleaned up by employees of one of Wall Street's most vilified financial firms.

AP - After going on a shooting rampage that left a trail of victims on the Pacific resort island of Saipan, the gunman drove to a scenic, rocky cliff where untold numbers of Japanese men, women and children plunged to their deaths to avoid capture during World War II, according to police and witness accounts.

AP - A 20-year-old top South Korean model who was a fashion week regular in New York, Milan and Paris has been found hanged in her Paris apartment, a police official said Friday.