Reuters - The top U.S. commander in Iraq told Congress on Tuesday he plans to stop U.S. troop withdrawals in July due to fragile security gains and heard appeals for quicker action to find a way to end the war.

Reuters - The U.S. Senate on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to proceed on a bill tackling the nation's housing market crisis with a range of tax breaks for corporations and some help for homeowners.

AFP - US lawmakers Tuesday grilled the top US general in Iraq amid fierce fighting on the ground as Shiite radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr threatened to end a truce which had helped staunch the bloodshed.

AFP - The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday the worldwide losses stemming from the US subprime mortgage crisis could hit 945 billion dollars as the impact spreads in the global economy.

Reuters - Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton will win several state nominating contests in the coming months but has little chance of becoming the party's candidate for the November 2008 election, traders were betting on Tuesday.

AP - Luciano Pavarotti, in severe pain months before his cancer diagnosis, lip-synched his last performance, according to the maestro who conducted the aria at the opening ceremony of the Turin Olympics.

AP - A coroner's jury returned the most serious verdict within its power Monday, ruling that Princess Diana and her boyfriend were unlawfully killed because their driver and pursuing paparazzi were reckless — behavior tantamount to manslaughter.

AP - Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has stopped telling a story of a pregnant woman's medical tragedy after an Ohio hospital challenged its accuracy last weekend.

AP - Hundreds of people fled fighting in Baghdad's Shiite militia stronghold Monday as U.S. and Iraqi forces increased pressure on anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who faces an ultimatum to either disband his Mahdi Army or give up politics.

AP - More than 400 children, mostly girls in pioneer dresses, were swept into state custody from a polygamist sect in what authorities described Monday as the largest child-welfare operation in Texas history.

AP - Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Monday that calls from his Democratic rivals to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq stand as a "failure of leadership" as they are making promises they cannot keep.

AP - A daughter of a civil rights icon who served as a top lieutenant to Martin Luther King Jr. testified Monday that her father regularly molested her beginning when she was 6 years old.

Reuters - Republican presidential candidate John McCain raised more than $15 million for his White House bid in March, a campaign source said on Monday, putting the Arizona senator well behind his Democratic rivals.

Reuters - Authorities have now removed 401 children from a remote ranch in west Texas belonging to a breakaway Mormon sect linked to jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, local media reported on Monday.

Reuters - A top U.S negotiator will meet his North Korean counterpart in Singapore on Tuesday with hopes of reviving stalled nuclear talks.

AP - Greg Maddux earned his 348th career win, Adrian Gonzalez went 4-for-5 with a homer and four runs, and the San Diego Padres spoiled the San Francisco Giants' first home opener since cutting ties with Barry Bonds by winning 8-4 Monday.

Reuters - China on Tuesday condemned the disruption of the Olympic torch relay in London and Paris, vowing it would not impede the Olympic spirit.

Reuters - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton urged President George W. Bush on Monday to boycott the Beijing Olympics opening ceremonies this summer unless China improves human rights.

Reuters - Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai met South African ruling party leader Jacob Zuma on Monday after appealing for help from outside powers to end the 28-year rule of President Robert Mugabe.

AFP - Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe came under increased pressure Monday to allow the release of presidential election results as his rival Morgan Tsvangirai met with ruling party chief Jacob Zuma in South Africa.

AFP - The Beijing Olympic flame relay was cut short in Paris Monday due to disruption by pro-Tibet activists, while protesters in San Francisco scaled the Golden Gate Bridge ahead of the next leg.

Reuters - Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is ready to disband his militia if Shi'ite religious leaders demand it, his aides said on Monday, a surprising offer given renewed clashes between his fighters and security forces.

Reuters - Reuters won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography on Monday for a picture of a Japanese videographer killed during a demonstration in Myanmar.

AP - Mark Penn, the pollster and senior strategist for Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential bid, left the campaign Sunday after it was disclosed he met with representatives of the Colombian government to help promote a free trade agreement Clinton opposes.

AP - The bigger the stage, the better Candice Wiggins performs.

AP - White House officials waged an extraordinary campaign during an 11-hour Air Force One flight to put a positive spin on the outcome of Sunday's summit talks between President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

AFP - Zimbabwe anxiously awaited Monday the outcome of a legal bid by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to force the declaration of poll results that could spell the end for President Robert Mugabe.

Reuters - China's state media on Monday condemned the "vile misdeeds" of the protesters who disrupted the Olympic torch's marathon relay through London.

Reuters - The top campaign strategist to Sen. Hillary Clinton, under fire for his meeting with a Colombian diplomat to discuss a free trade deal that the presidential candidate opposes, quit his post on Sunday, the campaign said.

Reuters - A Zimbabwe court will rule on Monday on whether it has the authority to order the release of delayed presidential election results which Robert Mugabe's opponents say will show his long grip on power is over.

AP - When Charlton Heston learned in July of 2002 that he had a neurological disorder with symptoms that resembled Alzheimer's disease, he delivered the news in a typical Heston manner.

AP - Demonstrators grabbed at the Olympic torch, blocked its path and tried to snuff out its flame Sunday in raucous protests of China's human rights record that forced a string of last-second changes to a chaotic relay through London.

Reuters - U.S. President George W. Bush and Russia's Vladimir Putin ended their last face-to-face meeting as heads of state on Sunday with warm words for each other but no solution to their row over missile defense.

AP - Suspected Shiite militants lobbed rockets and mortar shells into the U.S.-protected Green Zone and a military base elsewhere in Baghdad on Sunday, killing three American troops and wounding 31, officials said.

Reuters - Oscar-winning U.S. actor Charlton Heston, whose chiseled features and commanding presence won him epic roles from Moses to Michelangelo and became the face of American gun rights, died on Saturday night at age 84.

Reuters - Iraqi troops backed by U.S. forces battled gunmen in Baghdad's Sadr City on Sunday, a return to heavy fighting in the capital after Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr pulled his militiamen off the streets a week ago.

AP - Authorities who removed 219 women and children from a polygamist compound were struggling Sunday to determine whether they had the 16-year-old girl whose report of an underage marriage led them to raid the sprawling rural property.