AP - The Federal Reserve will issue new rules next week aimed at protecting future homebuyers from dubious lending practices, its most sweeping response to a housing crisis that has propelled foreclosures to record highs.

AP - Oil tumbled more than $5 a barrel Tuesday in its second big drop this week, hurling crude back to levels not seen since June 26 as traders wary about the health of the global economy cashed in gains from oil's recent rally.

AP - Iraq's national security adviser said Tuesday his country will not accept any security deal with the United States unless it contains specific dates for the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces.

AP - Pressured by desperate parents, government researchers are pushing to test an unproven treatment on autistic children, a move some scientists see as an unethical experiment in voodoo medicine.

Reuters - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Tuesday the U.S. central bank may keep an emergency lending facility for big Wall Street firms open longer than it initially intended, a signal the Fed is fearful of shutting down a vital backstop.

AP - Firefighters pushed back a blaze threatening this small coastal community just enough to allow hundreds of people to check on their homes Tuesday as a separate fire 300 miles north forced residents of another town to evacuate.

AP - Imprisoned quarterback Michael Vick filed for bankruptcy protection while serving time for federal dogfighting charges, saying he owes between $10 million and $50 million to creditors.

Reuters - The United States signed a pact on Tuesday to build part of a U.S. missile defense shield in the Czech Republic, prompting neighboring Russia to warn it will react with military means if the shield is deployed.

AP - Nuclear weapons? No way. But there are plenty of items on Iran's shopping list the United States is more than happy to supply: cigarettes, brassieres, bull semen and more.

AP - The next time the president goes to war, Congress should be consulted and vote on whether it agrees, according to a bipartisan study group chaired by former secretaries of state James Baker III and Warren Christopher.

Reuters - Iraq will not accept any security agreement with the United States unless it includes dates for the withdrawal of foreign forces, the government's national security adviser said on Tuesday.

AP - Asked by a voter about accusations of flip-flopping, Democrat Barack Obama dismissed the notion Tuesday that he has shifted stances on Iraq, guns and the death penalty to break with his party's liberal wing and court a wider swath of voters.

AFP - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signed Tuesday what she called a landmark missile defence deal with the Czech Republic that drew immediate threats of a military response from Russia.

Reuters - Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama rejected charges on Tuesday that he has shifted positions on Iraq and other issues as part of a move to the center now that he is his party's nominee.

Reuters - A coalition of unions, think tanks and other groups launched an advertising campaign on Tuesday saying they want to ensure that health-care reform tops the U.S. political agenda after the November elections.

Reuters - Iran will hit Tel Aviv, U.S. shipping in the Gulf and American interests around the world if it is attacked over its disputed nuclear activities, an aide to Iran's Supreme Leader was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

Reuters - The president should be forced by law to consult Congress before going to war, a bipartisan panel including several prominent former U.S. officials said on Tuesday.

Reuters - Big emerging economies will come under pressure on Wednesday to respond in kind to an initiative by rich countries to work towards a target of at least halving their global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

AFP - The Group of Eight major powers agreed Tuesday to at least halve global carbon emissions by 2050 in what leaders hailed as a step forward, but developing nations rejected as an "empty slogan".

AP - Microsoft Corp. threw its weight behind investor Carl Icahn's effort to dump Yahoo Inc.'s board, saying Monday that a successful shareholder rebellion would encourage the software maker to renew its bid to buy Yahoo's Internet search engine or possibly the entire company.

Reuters - The U.S. Senate moved closer on Monday to passing election-year legislation aimed at saving hundreds of thousands of troubled American homeowners from foreclosure.

Reuters - In his first public remarks since he and two other American hostages were freed in Colombia, a U.S. defense contractor on Monday branded their captors as terrorists and praised the Colombian army for a daring rescue.

Reuters - Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards began military maneuvers on Monday, news agencies said, the same day the U.S. Navy said it was carrying out an exercise in the Gulf.

AP - In a break with tradition, Barack Obama will accept the Democratic presidential nomination at Invesco Field at Mile High, a 76,000-seat stadium, rather than at the site of the party's national convention across town.

AFP - The first hurricane of the 2008 season formed in the center of the Atlantic Ocean and quickly gained strength Monday, but it was too early to forecast if it will make landfall, the National Hurricane Center said.

AP - A bomb ripped through the gates of the Indian Embassy on Monday, killing 41 people and scattering bodies and pools of blood across some of Kabul's most protected Streets. Afghanistan quickly blamed Pakistan, India's archrival.

AP - Hurricane Bertha has strengthened to a Category 3 storm.

Reuters - A U.S. judge on Monday dismissed a case brought by families of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks who said the city denied proper burials by sending debris containing possible human remains to a garbage dump.

Reuters - Presidential rivals Barack Obama and John McCain clashed over how to boost the ailing U.S. economy on Monday, with Obama pushing for a new stimulus package to help homeowners and McCain pressing for low income taxes and incentives for small business.