ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan is reporting a major victory in its battle against militant forces near the Afghan border. Officials say Pakistan's army has captured the strategically located hometown of the country's Taliban chief. Elsewhere in northwest Pakistan, officials say a suspected U.S. missile strike has killed at least 14 people.

KABUL (AP) — In Afghanistan, the presidential runoff campaign officially gets under way today, two weeks before the Nov. 7 vote. At the same time, the Taliban is warning Afghans not to vote and threatening attacks on election day. A militant statement warns that those who cast ballots "will bear responsibility for their actions."

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of bank failures this year has now hit 106, the most since the end of the savings-and-loan crisis in 1992. The latest takeovers came yesterday, when regulators took control of seven banks: three in Florida and one each in Georgia, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — The FBI has now joined the search for a Virginia college student who vanished a week ago outside a Metallica concert. Morgan Dana Harrington was last seen near the University of Virginia concert arena. The 20-year-old became separated from her friends and was denied re-entry under arena policy.

DENVER (AP) — The mother of the boy once feared missing in a runaway helium balloon has allegedly confessed to a hoax. Court documents reveal that Mayumi Heene (HEE'-nee) told authorities that she and her husband thought of the scheme as a way of making them more marketable. Richard Heene had been apparently been pitching a reality show idea. Authorities are expected to bring felony charges against the couple, possibly next week.