WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama launched a sharp attack on health insurers on Monday and called on his fellow Democrats to rise above politics and pass a healthcare overhaul in the next few weeks.

DETROIT (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp on Monday sought to discredit an outside study critical of its electronic safety systems and said it had found no flaw with its throttle controls.

Toyota rejects claims that faulty electronics could be behind its worldwide recall of more than eight million cars.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new poll on Monday found signs of trouble ahead for President Barack Obama and his Democrats on national security issues such as the handling of terrorism suspects.

DOGO NAHAWA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Villagers in central Nigeria buried dozens of bodies, including those of women and children, in a mass grave on Monday after attacks in which several hundred people were feared to have been killed.

A Swedish court sentences a Uighur refugee to 16 months in prison for spying for China on Uighur expatriates.

LISBON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Portugal became the latest euro zone country to announce austerity measures to rein in a ballooning budget deficit on Monday as debt-stricken Greece urged global action to curb speculation in credit default swaps.

KABUL (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates, on a visit to Afghanistan on Monday, cautioned against over-optimism, warning of "dark days" ahead despite grounds for hope on the battlefield.

Burma's military rulers pass five key election laws, paving the way for polls expected to be held later this year.

North Korea says its army is on full alert, as the US and South Korean begin annual joint military exercises.

A film about the annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan, wins the best documentary Oscar - angering the town's mayor.

Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina launch a joint takeover bid for Australian liquefied natural gas group Arrow Energy.

Shares in Fujitsu fall 2.7% due to a dispute with its former president over the reason for his resignation last year.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Greece will not need foreign help to deal with its debt problems, central bank governor George Provopoulos said in a German newspaper interview released Monday.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Vice President Joe Biden began a visit to Israel and the West Bank on Monday, assuring Israelis in a newspaper interview that Washington would close ranks with them against any threat from a nuclear-armed Iran.

KABUL (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Kabul on Monday to press for details from his generals on upcoming plans to broaden the fight against the Taliban and warned of "very hard days" ahead.

Two herdsmen are jailed for up to 10 years for killing a rare snow leopard in Xinjiang, China's state news agency reports.

LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - A suicide car bomb attack on a police intelligence unit in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore killed at least 11 people and wounded about 60 on Monday during the morning rush hour, officials said.

A North Korean colonel tells how he shopped in Europe for his country's dictators' lavish lifestyles, in a new book.

An Australian court rejects a mother's request to ban the use of the term "mummy D" in reference to her daughter's step-mother.