AP - Nervous Afghans pulled more deposits out of the nation's largest bank on Saturday, despite assurances from government leaders that their money was safe.

AP - Former rugby players from Uruguay who survived more than two months of isolation in the snow-covered Andes met on Saturday with some of the relatives of 33 trapped miners and urged them to stay strong.

AP - Paul Conrad used his pencil like a weapon. His long lines and jagged angles seemed to point directly at the leaders he deemed charlatans and fools in need of deflating.

AP - In a further step toward reconciling with insurgents, President Hamid Karzai said Saturday he will soon name the members of a council tasked with pursuing peace talks with rebels willing to break with al-Qaida and recognize the government in Kabul.

AFP - South Africa launched a challenge for African Nations Cup redemption by outplaying minnows Niger 2-0 Saturday in the north-east city of Nelspruit.

AP - Craigslist appears to have surrendered in a legal fight over erotic ads posted on its website, shutting down its adult services section Saturday and replacing it with a black bar that simply says "censored."

AFP - The British newspaper whose allegations of a betting scam have rocked the world of cricket said Saturday that a fourth Pakistan player was being probed over the claims, but declined to name him.

AP - Icelike crystals had formed Saturday on the 300-ton blowout preventer that failed to stop oil from spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, forcing BP crews to wait before they could safely hoist the device to the surface.

AP - Earl's worst damage in New England was to seasonal businesses hoping to end their summer on a high note.

Reuters - President Barack Obama, previewing a big push on the U.S. economy next week, on Saturday defended policies that he said "have stopped the bleeding" and put the middle class on the road to recovery.

AP - Sarah Palin can take down the fence.

AP - A strong economy needs bustling Main Streets and a thriving middle class, not just a healthy stock market, President Barack Obama said in paying tribute to the American worker.

Reuters - President Barack Obama said on Friday he would outline new measures next week to boost the U.S. economy, but analysts were skeptical he would be able to deliver a big enough package to lift growth significantly.

AP - Protesters hurled shoes and eggs Saturday at Tony Blair who held the first public signing of his memoir amid high security in Ireland's capital. Hundreds more people lined up to have their books autographed — evidence that the divisions left by Blair's decade as British leader have yet to heal.

AFP - Wall Street heads into next week with strong tailwind from recent days' rally and brighter outlook as traders keenly await President Barack Obama to unveil new plans for boosting the shaky US economy.

AP - Abdul Rehman and his family live under a tree next to a pile of rubble on a newly created island where his house used to be.

AP - Chimneys and walls crumbled to the ground, roads cracked in half and residents were knocked off their feet as a powerful magnitude-7.1 earthquake rocked New Zealand's South Island early Saturday. The prime minister said it was a miracle no one was killed.

AP - Despite the smells of fried dough and roasted meat wafting from the Minnesota State Fair, Salim and Zuleyha Ozonder were focused on the people who were leaving, not the food or festivities beckoning from across the street.

AP - Kara DioGuardi is following Ellen DeGeneres and Simon Cowell out the door at "American Idol."

AP - A claim by Arizona's governor that rising violence along the U.S.-Mexico border has led to headless bodies turning up in the desert came back to haunt her during a stammering debate performance in which she failed to back it up.

AP - Authorities searched a Northern California landfill Friday for signs of a missing man authorities said might be a fifth murder victim linked to a suspect who was shot and killed by police after a high-speed chase.

AP - What now for the Gulf? News of another oil rig fire in the Gulf of Mexico, so soon after the BP oil spill, has set off a wave of anxiety along the Gulf Coast and prompted calls for the government to extend its six-month ban on deepwater drilling.

AP - One of the investors in a proposed Islamic center near ground zero is a Long Island medical clinic owner whose expressions of sympathy for Palestinians included a donation to a charity later shut down for links to Hamas.

AP - Unemployment is stuck at high levels even though some companies are hiring. The problem, government data show, is that too few jobs are being created for the growing number of people looking for work.

AP - Authorities say a wildfire burning in rural San Diego County was sparked by two illegal immigrants who set a signal fire after they got lost.