Facing overwhelming demand for tickets to Michael Jackson's memorial service, officials are warning those who do not win seats for Tuesday morning's Staples Center event to stay away as police plan a massive deployment around the downtown arena.

A total of 17,500 free tickets will be distributed to people selected at random from among those who register by 6 p.m. today at www.staplescenter.com.

FISHKILL, N.Y. - Ed Spaeth was researching his family tree when he discovered that an 18th-century ancestor was probably buried in the woods just down the hill from his Hudson Valley home.

Although he can't pinpoint Francois Martin-Pelland's grave, historical evidence has led Spaeth to the nearby grove believed to be the final resting place of hundreds of other Revolutionary War soldiers posted here when Fishkill was the main supply source for General George Washington's northern army.

Labour and the Tories were locked in a war of words yesterday as they battled for the pink vote.

Equalities minister Harriet Harman led Government accusations that David Cameron's party was anti-gay.

Referring to his apology earlier this week for Section 28, the Tory law banning the promotion of homosexuality in schools, Ms Harman told gay website Pink News: "The essential heart of the Tories is homophobic.

Black Watch soldiers were involved in the initial phase of the operation

British forces on a major operation in Afghanistan say they have encountered little resistance from the Taliban.

Troops are moving into a large swathe of territory in Helmand province that had been a stronghold for insurgents.

More than British 700 soldiers from the Light Dragoons and 2 Mercian are taking part in the third wave of Operation Panther's Claw.

The Honduran Supreme Court has rejected a call from the head of the Organization of American States to return deposed leader Manuel Zelaya to the presidency.

OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza flew Friday to Tegucigalpa for his first trip to the Central American nation since the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya this week. Insulza was barred from meeting with the new government because OAS nations have refused to acknowledge the leadership of interim President Roberto Micheletti.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (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.

In a rambling statement to the media, in which she took no questions, Palin, 45, indicated she wanted to extend her influence in U.S. politics and some analysts said she appeared to be laying the ground for a run at the presidency in 2012.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (CNN) -- The head of the Organization of American States said Friday he has found no willingness among leaders of Honduras' interim government to return President Jose Manuel Zelaya to power.

"They have, for the moment, no intention of reversing the situation," Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza told reporters.

He said he had reached that conclusion after speaking Friday with members of the Supreme Court, among others.

NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Saturday he was "deeply disappointed" that military-ruled Myanmar's top general had rejected his request to meet with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Ban, who was made to wait overnight for the decision, said junta supremo Than Shwe's reason for the denial was because Suu Kyi was on trial and he did not want to be seen to interfere with the judicial process.

NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Saturday his request to meet detained Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi had been denied by the ruling junta's top general Than Shwe.

"I'm deeply disappointed," Ban told reporters after his 30-minute meeting with the junta supremo. "I'm very sorry to report to you that this is not possible."

Detroit -- Police officers and city officials expressed shock to learn that Mayor Dave Bing had fired James Barren as police chief after less than a year on the job.

Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans will replace Barren effective Monday, Assistant Chief Ronald Fleming said.

"I talked to (Barren), and he told me that Evans would be replacing him Monday," Fleming said. "Don't ask me why. These things are always political."

South Korea's news agency says North Korea launched a third missile Saturday, just a few hours after test-firing two short-range missiles, following similar tests earlier this week.

The Yonhap news agency quoted military officials as saying the missiles appeared to be a type of Scud missile.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff released a statement saying the military is fully ready to counter any North Korean threats and provocations.

WASHINGTON—A civil rights group advised by Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor in the 1980s brought several discrimination lawsuits that sought to scrap the results of job tests because too few Hispanics scored well, according to new documents that are fueling GOP criticism of the judge.

The Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund represented Hispanic sanitation workers in New York City who wanted to stop white employees from getting promotions because, they argued, the qualifying exam unfairly disadvantaged minorities.

Gov. Mark Sanford heavily mixed business and pleasure during a three-day trip in 2008 to Argentina to visit his lover, records released by the South Carolina Department of Commerce show.

Sanford has reimbursed taxpayers about $3,300 for the trip — one of seven times he said he rendezvoused with Maria Belen Chapur. Sanford has said it is the only time he has met her while on state-funded business.

FISHKILL, N.Y.—Ed Spaeth was researching his family tree when he discovered an 18th-century ancestor likely was buried in the woods just down the hill from his Hudson Valley home.

Although he can't pinpoint Francois Martin-Pelland's grave, historical evidence has led Spaeth to the nearby grove believed to be the final resting place of hundreds of other Revolutionary War soldiers posted here when Fishkill was the main supply source for Gen. George Washington's northern army.

In Pictures: London tower blaze

Investigations are under way into the cause of a tower block fire that left six people dead, including a three-week-old baby and two children.

Fire bosses believe it will take "weeks if not months" to establish how the blaze, in south-east London, happened.

About 30 people were rescued from the fire at the 12-storey Lakanal House on the Sceaux Gardens Estate, Camberwell.

WASHINGTON - Sarah Palin, the Republican Alaska governor who captivated the nation with a combative brand of folksy politics, announced her resignation yesterday in characteristic fashion: She stood on her back lawn in Wasilla, speaking into a single microphone, surrounded by friends and neighbors in baseball hats and polo shirts. Noisy geese interrupted the speech.

Anti-British protests have been held outside the UK embassy in Tehran

British diplomats are trying to establish whether Iran intends to act on its threats to prosecute staff from the UK's embassy in Tehran.

On Friday, a top cleric said some staff members would be tried for inciting protests over Iran's disputed election.

Iran says the UK is trying to undermine the Islamic regime by fomenting discontent - a charge Britain denies.

Anyone who is in any way surprised by Sarah Palin's announcement today that she will not be seeking re-election, and, even more significantly, is stepping down as Governor of Alaska, has not been paying close attention. The signs have been everywhere.

Palin has absolutely zero interest in running the State of Alaska. She steadfastly refused to live in Juneau after her first year there, had the gall to charge the state for residing at her home in Wasilla 600 miles away, and she basically mailed in her performance as the state's top administrator during Alaska's most recent legislative session.

DETROIT – The mayor of Detroit is firing the city's police chief, a person familiar with the situation said Friday.

The person told the Associated Press that Mayor Dave Bing has told Police Chief James Barren that the chief is being relieved of his duties. The person talked with Barren on Friday, a day after a man arrested in the shooting of seven teenagers at a Detroit bus stop was released due to lack of evidence.

As anti-American protesters nearby burned a U.S. flag, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. vowed in Iraq on Friday that those seeking to destroy progress will fail but warned the United States would re-evaluate its role in Iraq if there is continued sectarian violence.

"President Obama asked me to return to Iraq with a very, very clear message: The United States is committed to Iraq's progress and Iraq's success," Mr. Biden told reporters while meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.