AP - Mike Piazza is retiring from baseball following a 16-season career in which he became one of the top-hitting catchers in history.

AFP - Barack Obama Tuesday aimed to take a big stride toward the Democrats' White House nomination as Kentucky and Oregon voted, but Hillary Clinton's camp insisted she was the best general election bet.

Reuters - Barack Obama will take a major step toward the Democratic presidential nomination when Oregon and Kentucky vote on Tuesday, but rival Hillary Clinton still hopes to spoil the party.

Reuters - A big fire in a commercial building in Brazil's financial capital of Sao Paulo on Tuesday prompted reports of a plane crash that were swiftly denied.

Reuters - Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, the brother of assassinated President John F. Kennedy and the elder statesman of American liberal politics, has a malignant brain tumor, his doctors said on Tuesday.

Reuters - Efforts to explore ways of closing the military-run prison at Guantanamo Bay have reached a standstill due to legal and practical problems, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Tuesday.

Reuters - The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation on Tuesday allowing the Justice Department to sue OPEC members for limiting oil supplies and working together to set crude prices, but the White House threatened to veto the measure.

AFP - A woman who survived on rainwater and a man fed via a straw were Tuesday pulled out of the rubble eight days after China's earthquake but hopes faded for others as the death toll topped 40,000.

Reuters - President George W. Bush has apologized to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and promised prosecution of a U.S. soldier accused of using a copy of the Koran for target practice, Iraq said on Tuesday.

Reuters - China raised the number of dead or missing from a devastating earthquake to more than 70,000 on Tuesday, as rescuers found more survivors eight days after the huge tremor hit.

AP - A government warning of a major aftershock sent thousands of panicked survivors running into the darkened streets Monday night following an unprecedented display of mourning for more than 34,000 people killed in a powerful earthquake one week ago.

AP - The Pentagon on Monday announced upcoming deployments of more than 42,000 troops, including 25,000 active duty Army soldiers who would be sent to Iraq beginning in the fall to replace troops scheduled to come home by year's end.

AP - Republican John McCain accused Democrat Barack Obama of inexperience and reckless judgment for saying Iran does not pose the same serious threat to the United States as the Soviet Union did in its day. McCain made the attack Monday in Chicago, Obama's home turf.

AP - Tiger Woods intends to play in the Buick Open and will host a golf clinic at Comerica Park in Detroit on June 24, two days before the tournament begins. Buick golf marketing manager Larry Peck announced Woods' participation during a news conference Monday.

AP - Philadelphia's police commissioner said Monday that four officers will be fired and four others disciplined for their roles in the beatings of three shooting suspects, an encounter that was captured on videotape and drew widespread outrage.

AP - The Supreme Court ruled Monday that leading someone to believe you have child pornography to show or exchange is a federal crime, brushing aside concerns that the law could apply to mainstream movies that depict adolescent sex, classic literature or even innocent e-mails that describe pictures of grandchildren.

AP - Barack Obama will reach a significant milestone Tuesday as he marches toward the Democratic nomination for president — a majority of pledged delegates at stake in all the primaries and caucuses.

AP - Stop the marriage clock: Kiefer Sutherland is officially divorced. A divorce judgment was filed Friday for the "24" actor and wife Elizabeth Kelly Winn, according to court documents. Sutherland, 41, filed for divorce from his wife of nearly eight years in 2004, citing irreconcilable differences. The couple have no children together.

Reuters - Tens of thousands of panicked residents rushed into the streets of Chengdu in southwest China early on Tuesday, alarmed by a television report that predicted another powerful earthquake would hit the region.

Reuters - U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Chris Hill said on Monday North Korea was near the point where it would produce an overdue declaration of its nuclear programs but he declined to predict when this might happen.

AP - More than two-thirds of young drivers and passengers killed in nighttime car crashes aren't wearing seat belts — deadly proof of what can happen when young people don't heed parents' pleas and authorities' threats to "click it."

Reuters - Hillary Clinton had a warning on Monday for rival Barack Obama, who is on the verge of claiming the U.S. Democratic presidential nomination: Not so fast.

AP - A newspaper photographer got a little too close to the action at the state high school track championships — and was speared through the leg by a javelin.

AFP - Myanmar on Monday declared three days of mourning for cyclone victims after agreeing to an international aid effort led by its Southeast Asian neighbours to help two million survivors in dire need.

Reuters - Microsoft Corp has proposed an alternative deal to Yahoo Inc , a complex transaction that would include just buying Yahoo's search business, rather than a full-blown buyout, a person familiar with the discussions said on Monday.

Reuters - Southeast Asian nations will take the lead in an international aid effort for cyclone-hit Myanmar, but the military junta will not give Western relief workers unfettered access to disaster areas, Singapore said on Monday.

Reuters - Mobs armed with knives, clubs and jugs of petrol torched shacks and beat migrant workers on Monday in escalating anti-foreigner violence in Johannesburg squatter camps.

Reuters - President George W. Bush said on Monday the U.S. economy was working through "tough times," and credited Congress with making some progress on a new law aimed at helping the troubled housing market.