2 U.S. troops die in attack in Afghanistan

KABUL -- 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.

The multi-pronged attack in eastern Paktika province -- where an American soldier was captured this week -- included a truck bombing near the camp's gates. The battle ended only after U.S. forces called in airstrikes on militants.

The battle near the Pakistan border is hundreds of miles from the massive Marine assault in southern Helmand province. It underscores the militants' ability to inflict casualties on the over-stretched U.S. forces as they widen their battle against the Taliban, who have made a violent comeback following their initial defeat in the American-led 2001 invasion.

Honduran president vows to return Sunday

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- 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.

Honduras rebuffed demands by the international community to reinstate Zelaya in the name of constitutional order, thrusting the poor Central American nation deeper into political crisis and isolation.

The Organization of American States met in Washington to consider suspending Honduras's membership because of the coup -- though even before the emergency session, the interim government decided to pull out of the OAS rather than meet its ultimatum to restore Zelaya.

Zelaya called on supporters to prepare to greet him at the airport on Sunday, and on Saturday more than 10,000 of them gathered near the heavily guarded presidential palace and pledged they would be ready if he returned.

"We are going to show up at the Honduras International Airport in Tegucigalpa ... and on Sunday we will be in Tegucigalpa," Zelaya said in a taped statement posted on the Web sites of the Telesur and Cubadebate media outlets.

In comments to a local radio station, Zelaya said Argentine President Cristina Fernandez and Ecuador's Rafael Correa, several foreign ministers and 300 journalists would accompany him.

Biden spends July 4 with son, other troops in Iraq

BAGHDAD -- 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.

Biden took a break from politics and presided over a naturalization ceremony for 237 U.S. troops from 59 countries in a marble rotunda at one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces at what is now Camp Victory, the U.S. military headquarters on the western outskirts of Baghdad.

He then had lunch with the 261st Theater Tactical Signal Brigade from Delaware, to which his son, Beau, belongs. Beau Biden stood in the back as his father greeted the troops. In telling the brigade about the naturalization ceremony, the vice president used some of his characteristic colorful language.

"We did it in Saddam's palace, and I can think of nothing better," he said. "That S.O.B. is rolling over in his grave right now."

Biden's unusually long three-day trip to Baghdad, which began late Thursday, was aimed at fostering political reconciliation after U.S. combat troops withdrew from Iraqi cities as part of a security pact that calls for a full withdrawal by the end of 2011.