AP - Wall Street steadied itself Thursday after two sessions of steep declines, rebounding moderately as oil prices stepped back from their frenetic upward run.

AP - A U.S. helicopter strike north of Baghdad killed eight people in a vehicle, including at least two children, Iraqi officials said Thursday, insisting all the dead were civilians. The U.S. military said six were al-Qaida militants but acknowledged children were killed.

AP - Brandon Inge and Matt Joyce homered, and the Detroit Tigers continued their offensive resurgence with a 9-2 victory over Seattle on Thursday to complete their first three-game home sweep of the Mariners since 1995.

AP - Americans getting an early start on the Memorial Day weekend found that gasoline prices again sprinted to a new record high overnight, reaching a national average above $3.83 a gallon. Some analysts predict gas will break past $4 as early as next week.

Reuters - Oil prices pulled back sharply from a record above $135 a barrel on Thursday as dealers took profits from a dazzling rally and a recovering U.S. dollar dampened commodities markets.

AFP - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday toured the Myanmar cyclone disaster area, as he began talks with the junta on opening up to a massive relief effort that could save countless lives.

Reuters - The Senate on Thursday approved an additional $165 billion to wage war in Iraq and Afghanistan for another year after lawmakers blocked proposed timetables for withdrawing American troops from Iraq.

Reuters - Flight delays could cost airlines more than $2 billion in wasted jet fuel this year, according to a congressional report released on Thursday.

Reuters - A protest over the shooting of the Koran by a U.S. soldier in Iraq turned violent in Afghanistan on Thursday, killing a Lithuanian soldier and at least two Afghan civilians.

Reuters - More than 80,000 people are dead or missing from China's worst earthquake in decades, the government said on Thursday, as concerns rose that disease, the rainy season and aftershocks could bring yet more pain.

Reuters - The souvenir vendors outside Hillary Clinton's campaign appearances have added a new button to their wares that reads "Chelsea in 2016" with a picture of the former first daughter.

AP - On a day oil prices leaped to unheard-of highs, senators lined up Big Oil's biggest executives and pummeled them with complaints that they're pretending to be "hapless victims" while raking in record profits.

AP - The Memorial Day weekend guest list at Sen. John McCain's Arizona retreat runs to at least three Republicans mentioned as potential vice presidential running mates, but a top aide said Wednesday that vetting possible veeps is not on the agenda.

AP - Barack Obama criticized likely general election rival John McCain on Wednesday where it could hurt most — the Arizona senator's reputation as a champion of ethics. Hillary Rodham Clinton, meanwhile, raised the possibility she might carry her fight to the Democratic convention floor.

Reuters - Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on Thursday claimed victory in a parliamentary election that the opposition says was rigged.

AP - New York Mets manager Willie Randolph issued an apology Wednesday to team ownership, the club's TV network and his players "for the unnecessary distraction" he created by suggesting he was portrayed in a different manner than white managers.

AP - After the Boston Red Sox's 86-year span without a World Series championship, perhaps the most familiar streak in Massachusetts is the half-century that a Kennedy has represented the state in the U.S. Senate.

AP - Former police Sgt. Drew Peterson turned himself in Wednesday on a weapons charge unrelated to the disappearance of his wife, a high-profile case in which he has been named as a suspect.

AP - Despite more than $22 million in repairs, a levee that broke with catastrophic effect during Hurricane Katrina is leaking again because of the mushy ground on which New Orleans was built, raising serious questions about the reliability of the city's flood defenses.

AP - The "Big One," as earthquake scientists imagine it in a detailed, first-of-its-kind script, unzips California's mighty San Andreas Fault north of the Mexican border. In less than two minutes, Los Angeles and its sprawling suburbs are shaking like a bowl of jelly.

Reuters - The Federal Reserve on Wednesday slashed its U.S. economic growth forecast for 2008 and signaled that mounting concerns over inflation would make further interest rate cuts unlikely.

AP - A childhood friend of the alleged victim in the R. Kelly child pornography case testified Wednesday that she recognizes her longtime friend as the one in the explicit video at the center of the trial.

AFP - Hillary Clinton Wednesday invoked Democratic nightmares of the 2000 Florida presidential recount to demand the revival of two voided primaries vital to her fast-fading White House hopes.

Reuters - Barack Obama sounded like the probable Democratic presidential nominee on a visit to the November election battleground of Florida on Wednesday, praising rival Hillary Clinton and focusing his criticism on Republican foe John McCain.