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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators took over two banks on Friday and sold them to Mutual of Omaha Bank, the sixth and seventh bank failures this year as financial institutions struggle with a housing bust and credit crunch.

WASHINGTON - Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.'s $3.3 billion buyout of rival XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. will mean millions of subscribers will be able to receive programming from both services, while executives say it will create huge cost savings for the industry.

MADISON, Wis. - Wisconsin Democrats on Friday ousted a delegate to their national convention for saying she would vote for Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain in November.

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - The bride and groom grasped one another's dart launcher-clad wrists and stared into each other's starry eyes.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A group of Aboriginal elders on Saturday left Australia for the United States to bring home the remains of 33 ancestors from the Smithsonian Institute, the first Aboriginal remains to be returned from the United States.

MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee man was accused of shooting his lawn mower because it wouldn't start. Keith Walendowski, 56, was charged with felony possession of a short-barreled shotgun or rifle and misdemeanor disorderly conduct while armed.

CARSON CITY, Nev. - The 28 branches of 1st National Bank of Nevada and First Heritage Bank, operating in Nevada, Arizona and California, were closed Friday by federal regulators.

PITTSBURGH - Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist whose "last lecture" about facing terminal cancer became an Internet sensation and a best-selling book, died Friday. He was 47.

MANILA, Philippines - Australian investigators on Saturday began examining a Qantas jumbo jet which had to make an emergency landing after a large hole opened on its fuselage, a Philippine aviation official said.

WASHINGTON - The total cost of the Iraq war is approaching the Vietnam War's expense, a congressional report estimates, while spending for military operations after 9/11 has exceeded it.

MANILA, Philippines - Australian investigators on Saturday began examining a Qantas jumbo jet which had to make an emergency landing after a large hole opened on its fuselage, a Philippine aviation official said.

PARIS - An aide to Sen. Barack Obama said Friday the Democratic presidential contender believed he could visit wounded troops at a military hospital in Germany without involving them in a campaign controversy and scrapped his plans after the Pentagon raised concerns.

MADISON, Wis. - Wisconsin Democrats on Friday ousted a delegate to their national convention for saying she would vote for Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain in November.

CARSON CITY, Nev. - The 28 branches of 1st National Bank of Nevada and First Heritage Bank, operating in Nevada, Arizona and California, were closed Friday by federal regulators.

DAKAR, Senegal - To compete in the Francophone World Scrabble Championship, 32-year-old Elisee Poka spent five days in a bus traversing Africa's potholed roads. His competitors from France arrived by plane.

Barack Obama spoke in front of 200,000 Germans in Berlin on Thursday at the start of a European tour, while John McCain talked to small business leaders at a fourth-generation German restaurant in Columbus, Ohio. But regardless of the audience, people undoubtedly paid as much attention to the nonverbal performance as they did to what each presidential candidate said.

07/25/2008 - DEAR MARGO: About four and a half years ago I had a one-night stand with a friend of a friend who was leaving in a few weeks for the Army.

PARIS -- This was one of four Obama headlines last Friday in Le Figaro, the conservative newspaper whose favorite conservative is President Nicolas Sarkozy:

WASHINGTON - Homeowners struggling to make their house payments could get government mortgage relief under a rescue plan that seeks to revive the chaotic housing market and help reverse the economic downturn.

Los Angeles (E! Online) - The most buzzed-about movie at this year's San Diego Comic-Con is, without a doubt, the brainy, violent superhero flick Watchmen. So director Zack Snyder (300) brought plenty of ammo to today's panel, including his cast, some dark philosophy and very crowd-pleasing visuals.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The dramatic collapse of energy trader SemGroup LP shocked the privately held firm's backers who until last week had little idea of the extent of the oil trading losses that sank it, sources said this week.

BEIJING (AFP) - Beijing was swathed in smog on Friday just two weeks ahead of the Olympics as its notorious pollution defied aggressive steps aimed at clearing the air for next month's Games.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. regulators filed insider trading charges on Friday against unknown individuals accused of making suspiciously well-timed purchases of call options in two companies before they announced multibillion-dollar

ORLANDO, Fla. - The mother of a missing 2-year-old Orlando girl told family that she didn't know the whereabouts of her child in a contentious telephone call from jail released Friday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators took over two banks on Friday and sold them to Mutual of Omaha Bank, the sixth and seventh bank failures this year as financial institutions struggle with a housing bust and credit crunch.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US home foreclosures leapt nearly 14 percent in the second quarter from the previous quarter, research group RealtyTrac said Friday in a sign of deepening housing woes.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Mississippi River reopened to limited traffic on Friday, two days after a barge collided with a tanker spilling hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel oil, the US Coast Guard said.

WASHINGTON - Strolling beside the Reflecting Pool with the Lincoln Memorial in the distance, it's easy to overlook a gentle rise in the landscape a few yards to the north.

DAKAR, Senegal - To compete in the Francophone World Scrabble Championship, 32-year-old Elisee Poka spent five days in a bus traversing Africa's potholed roads. His competitors from France arrived by plane.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - New US home sales ticked down in June, government data showed Friday, but the better-than-expected figures sparked a glint of hope that the worst housing slump in decades may be scraping bottom.