AP - North Korea launched seven ballistic missiles Saturday into waters off its east coast in a show of military firepower that defied U.N. resolutions and drew global expressions of condemnation and concern.

AP - Vice President Joe Biden spent the Fourth of July with his son and other American troops in Iraq on Saturday, while the Iraqi government spokesman publicly rejected the American's offer to help with national reconciliation, saying it's an internal affair.

AP - Taliban militants fired rockets and mortars at a U.S. base in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing two American troops in a fierce battle as thousands of Marines in the south continued with their massive anti-Taliban push.

AP - There's a new building in town, and it isn't a military barracks or a hospital. It's a Tourist Information Center.

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.

Time.com - North Korea has a tradition of marking July 4 with its own fireworks display -- this time by firing at least seven short-range SCUD missiles towards the Sea of Japan

AFP - Britain's David Millar has a reputation for being laid-back, but the Garmin team rider is hoping his new, relaxed attitude on the bike transforms to big results on this year's Tour de France.

AP - Ousted President Manuel Zelaya said Saturday that he would return to Honduras to try to retake office following last week's military-backed coup, despite warnings of a potentially bloody confrontation and the interim government's vow to arrest him and put him on trial.

Reuters - Andrew Heavens is a reporter and photographer who has worked with Reuters since 2005, from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and now Khartoum, Sudan. His African career followed 10 years of reporting for newspapers in Britain and the United States. In the following story, he recounts his experience of U.S. economic sanctions on the country whose president Omar Hassan al-Bashir is accused of masterminding human rights abuses in Darfur.

AFP - Australia has welcomed the first elephant ever born in the country with the arrival of a 100-kilogram (220.4-pound) male calf at a Sydney zoo, according to keepers.