HOBOKEN, N.J. — Divers pulled a helicopter and four more bodies out of the murky Hudson River yesterday in their search for victims, wreckage and explanations from a midair collision of a sightseeing helicopter and a small plane that killed nine people.

The dead from Saturday's crash include three fathers and their three teenage sons. The private plane carried a Pennsylvania family, and the helicopter held five Italian tourists celebrating a couple's 25th wedding anniversary.

Divers suspended their search last night and will resume this morning, National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Keith Holloway said.

QUAKE, DEADLY TYPHOON STRIKE JAPAN

TOKYO — At least 12 people were killed and 10 others missing in western Japan today after Typhoon Etau slammed into the country, bringing heavy rain that triggered floods and landslides.

Most of the casualties occurred in Hyogo prefecture, in the western part of Japan's main island, police said. About 2,200 people were evacuated.

Yesterday, a strong earthquake shook the nation's capital and surrounding areas, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

There was no threat of a tsunami from the magnitude 7.1 quake, which was centered at a depth of 188 miles in the Izu islands off the eastern coast of Japan, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

OBAMA, CALDERON CHAT BEFORE SUMMIT

GUADALAJARA, Mexico — President Obama pressed for a new tone in the United States' relationship with Mexico but found no immediate progress yesterday on the divisions between him and Mexican President Felipe Calderon over the pace of U.S. drug-fighting aid and a ban on Mexican trucks north of the border.

In a friendly 45-minute meeting, Obama and Calderon discussed their nations' trade relationship, cooperation on swine flu and the Mexican gangs dominating the drug trade on both sides of the border.

Their meeting came before the start of a lightning-quick three-way summit between the United States, Mexico and Canada. Formal talks among Obama, Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper take place today.

WAVE OF IRAQ BOMBINGS KILL AT LEAST 40

BAGHDAD — A double truck bombing tore through a Shiite minority community near the northern city of Mosul, while a series of blasts struck Baghdad today in a wave of pre-dawn violence that killed at least 40 people, according to Iraqi officials.

U.S. military warnings had said that insurgents are expected to step up efforts to derail security gains as the Americans scale back their presence.

The deadliest blast was a double truck bombing in Khazna, just east of Mosul, as the members of the Shiite Shabak ethnic group who live there were still sleeping.

Two explosives-laden trucks exploded nearly simultaneously and less than 500 yards apart, killing at least 23 people and wounding 138, officials said.

U.S. READY FOR DIRECT TALKS WITH N. KOREA

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration said yesterday it is willing to hold direct talks with North Korea over its nuclear weapons if it first resumes international negotiations.

Despite reports of his declining health, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il seems fully in charge of the reclusive communist country, White House national security adviser James Jones said.

Jones said North Korea has said it wants better relations and long has sought one-on-one talks with the United States, as opposed to the six-nation negotiations involving the U.S., South Korea, Japan, China and Russia. Both Jones and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice said the U.S. is ready to resume the kind of direct talks held in the latter years of the Bush administration.

DELEGATES ALLOWED TO VISIT HONDURAS

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduras' interim government has said it will accept a visit by foreign delegates aimed at resolving the country's political crisis as long as one controversial delegate attends only as an observer.

The Foreign Relations Ministry said Organization of American States chief Jose Miguel Insulza would have to attend as an observer. Insulza has insisted on the reinstatement of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya.

Yesterday's statement came just hours after the interim government had postponed the visit originally planned for tomorrow, objecting to Insulza's participation.