AFP - From the heart of Beijing to the devastated southwest, China came to a standstill Monday to mourn its earthquake victims as the number of dead, missing or buried soared past 71,000.

AP - Microsoft Corp. is once again trying to team up with Yahoo Inc. to challenge Internet search and advertising leader Google Inc., although at this point the renewed talks haven't escalated to another attempt to take over Yahoo.

Reuters - China began three days of national mourning on Monday for more than 30,000 victims of an earthquake that struck a week ago.

AP - Paul Pierce returned home and made sure the Celtics would play there again. Boston's captain scored 41 points, hit two clinching free throws with 7.9 seconds left and led the team with the NBA's best regular season record to a 97-92 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday in Game 7 and a spot in the Eastern Conference finals.

AP - An American sniper was removed from Iraq after he used a copy of the Quran for target practice, the military said Sunday, a day after a U.S. commander held a formal ceremony apologizing to Sunni tribal leaders.

AP - Democrat Barack Obama told seniors Sunday that Republican John McCain would threaten the Social Security that they and millions like them depend on because he supports privatizing the program.

AP - Osama bin Laden released a new message Sunday denouncing Arab leaders for sacrificing the Palestinians. He singled out the head of Shiite Hezbollah, saying he did not really have the strength to take on Israel.

Reuters - Microsoft Corp said on Sunday it has proposed an alternative deal to Yahoo Inc , rather than a full acquisition, in a move that could save the web pioneer from fighting a proxy battle with financier Carl Icahn.

AP - Kevin Federline's attorney can't complain about the intense interest in his client's child-custody battle with Britney Spears.

Reuters - The average retail price of a gallon of regular grade gasoline in the U.S. rose to a new record high as the cost of a barrel of crude oil price continued its ascent, an industry analyst said on Sunday.

AP - China will spend three days marking the moment when tens of thousands died in a devastating earthquake, while hope of finding more trapped survivors dwindled Sunday and preventing hunger and disease became more pressing.

AP - John McCain's national finance co-chairman has stepped down, the latest casualty of a presidential campaign eager to cauterize damage caused by its ties to lobbyists.

Reuters - President George W. Bush sought to reassure skeptical Arabs on Sunday he is committed to securing a deal on Palestinian statehood before he leaves office, despite his outspoken support for Israel.

Reuters - "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" seems to be more of a sequel to "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" than to the last film in the adventure series 19 years ago.

AP - President Bush lectured the Arab world Sunday about everything from political repression to the denial of women's rights but ran into Palestinian complaints he is favoring Israel in stalled Mideast peace talks. "Freedom and peace are within your grasp," Bush said despite scant signs of progress.

AP - Grave by mass grave, South Korea is unearthing the skeletons and buried truths of a cold-blooded slaughter from early in the Korean War, when this nation's U.S.-backed regime killed untold thousands of leftists and hapless peasants in a summer of terror in 1950.

Reuters - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon will travel to Myanmar this week to try to speed up troubled cyclone relief, his spokeswoman said on Sunday, as signs mounted of a breakthrough in getting aid to survivors.

AFP - China on Sunday declared three days of mourning and suspended the Olympic torch relay nearly a week after a massive quake struck the country's southwest, as the death toll continued to mount.

AFP - The UN's top disaster official John Holmes arrived in Myanmar on Sunday on a three-day visit to convince the reluctant regime to open the doors to a massive relief effort after Cyclone Nargis.

Reuters - U.S. military commanders have apologized to community leaders in Iraq after a U.S. soldier used a copy of the Koran for shooting practice, fearing an outburst of anger among U.S.-allied tribesmen.

Reuters - U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy remained in hospital in Boston on Sunday as doctors tried to determine what caused the patriarch of America's most prominent political dynasty to suffer a seizure on Saturday.

Reuters - Thousands of Chinese fled their homes on Saturday amid fears a lake could burst its banks, hampering rescue efforts after the deadliest earthquake in more than three decades killed about 29,000 people.

AP - Big Brown charged to the lead turning for home and then cruised down the stretch to win the Preakness on Saturday, still perfect and squarely pointed toward thoroughbred racing's first Triple Crown in 30 years.

AP - Six cars of a freight train derailed early Saturday, including one that began leaking hydrochloric acid, causing thousands of people to evacuate homes, businesses and two nursing homes within one mile of the wreck.

AP - Mike Tyson considers it a miracle that he lived to tell his tale. And he's telling it — in graphic detail — in a new documentary at the Cannes Film Festival.

AP - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the lone surviving son in a famed political family who helped define national Democratic Party politics, suffered at seizure at his Cape Cod home on Saturday and was recovering in good spirits at a Boston hospital.

AFP - China ramped up efforts on Saturday to stave off disease for millions of earthquake victims, as more miracle rescues amid the rubble offered hope in an increasingly desperate battle to save lives.

Reuters - Sen. Edward Kennedy, a leading Democrat, suffered a seizure on Saturday but hours later was talking with family at his side in a Boston hospital.

AP - The day of campaigning had barely begun and Hillary Rodham Clinton was already eyeing the whiskey.

AP - Two rivers blocked by landslides threatened to flood towns shattered by China's massive earthquake, sending thousands of survivors fleeing Saturday in a region still staggering from the country's worst disaster in 30 years.

AP - American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc. boosted its wage offer and increased the payments it will give workers to take a wage cut as part of a tentative agreement that could settle an 11-week strike by the United Auto Workers union, a person briefed on the deal said Saturday.

AP - A man with a semiautomatic rifle opened fire at a church festival Saturday, wounding his ex-wife and two bystanders before festival-goers grabbed him and held him for police, authorities and a church official said.

AP - President Bush said Saudi Arabia's small increase in oil production will not solve soaring U.S. fuel prices, but he defended the wealthy kingdom Saturday against American lawmakers "screaming the loudest" for Riyadh to open its spigots.

AP - Nearly 1,000 people have been detained in a sweep to break al-Qaida in Iraq's sway in Iraq's third largest city, Mosul, but many of the fighters have fled to nearby areas, where troops are hunting for them, Iraqi officials said Saturday.

AFP - World frustration with Myanmar boiled over on Saturday, with accusations of negligence and crimes against humanity over the regime's slow-moving response to the cyclone disaster.

Reuters - U.S. President George W. Bush, responding to Arab dismay about his praise for Israel, said on Saturday he was confident a deal on Palestinian statehood could be reached before he leaves office.

Reuters - Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai postponed his return home on Saturday to contest an election run-off after his party said it had discovered an assassination plot against him.

Reuters - Iraqi forces have detained more than 1,000 suspects in an offensive aimed at crushing al Qaeda in northern Iraq, the military commander of the operation said on Saturday.

Reuters - Diplomats witnessed "huge" devastation in the Irrawaddy delta on Saturday and the toll of dead and missing from the cyclone rose above 133,000 people, making it one of the most damaging to hit Asia.