AP - Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton bargained and bickered through intermediaries Saturday over the fate of 368 convention delegates from Florida and Michigan, a lingering dispute that threatened Democratic hopes for party unity at this summer’s convention and in the fall campaign for the White House.

AP - Space shuttle Discovery and a crew of seven blasted into orbit Saturday, carrying a giant Japanese lab addition to the international space station along with something more mundane a toilet pump.

AP - A suicide bomber blew himself up at a police checkpoint west of Baghdad on Saturday, killing at least 10 people including the local police chief, an official said.

AP - Each April, weather wizard William Gray emerges from his burrow near the Rocky Mountains to offer his forecast for the six-month hurricane season that starts June 1. And the news media are there, breathlessly awaiting his every word.

AP - Chinese authorities prepared on Saturday to drain a swelling lake formed by a devastating earthquake, completing work on a drainage channel to divert water that threatens hundreds of thousands downstream.

AP - Muslim extremist women are challenging al-Qaida’s refusal to include or at least acknowledge women in its ranks, in an emotional debate that gives rare insight into the gender conflicts lurking beneath one of the strictest strains of Islam.

AP - Voters here took the state’s official permissiveness on marijuana to new heights in 2000, allowing residents to grow up to 25 pot plants for medical, recreational or personal use.

AP - It’s not just concern for the squeamish biology students who wince at the feel and smell of cutting into a formaldehyde-soaked animal.

AP - Brangelina must be cocooning.

AP - Authorities ordered 1.3 million people, many living in tents and other temporary shelters, to evacuate a valley in central China on Friday amid fears that an earthquake-spawned lake could burst and flood the area, state media reported.

AP - Gaining ground this political season is a proposed League of Democracies designed to strengthen support for the next president’s overseas agenda and ensure a global leadership role for the United States.

AP - Presidential spokesmen traditionally have worn cloaks of loyalty to their graves. But are they really honor-bound to toe the party line after they leave the White House?

AP - Now, the waiting begins. A Texas Supreme Court ruling paves the way for members of a polygamist sect to get their children out of foster care, but it remains unclear when that might happen or what kind of restrictions might be imposed.

AP - Republicans have raised many millions of dollars over the past three decades just invoking the name of Ted Kennedy.

AP - Human rights and aid groups complained Friday that Myanmar’s military government was still hindering the free flow of international help for victims of Cyclone Nargis.

AP - When Tina Meier’s 13-year-old daughter committed suicide after being bullied on the Internet, her grief was so encompassing she felt at times she couldn’t breathe. She had trouble being around loved ones who reminded her of her child. Even today, recollections of those first holidays after Megan’s death are foggy at best.

AP - Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers dispatched the defending champions, and now they’re headed to the NBA finals for the first time in four years.

AP - Harvey Korman, the tall, versatile comedian who won four Emmys for his outrageously funny contributions to “The Carol Burnett Show” and played a conniving politician to hilarious effect in “Blazing Saddles,” died Thursday. He was 81.

AP - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Thursday that he was “deeply disappointed” by a supporter’s sermon at his church that mocked Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Reuters - United Airlines and US Airways
have suspended merger talks due to concerns about labor
opposition and integration costs, while United draws closer to
an alliance with Continental Airlines, a source close to the
talks said late on Thursday.

AP - Israel’s powerful defense minister on Wednesday called on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to step down amid a burgeoning corruption scandal and threatened to bring down the government if the Israeli leader does not comply.

AP - Diplomats from more than 100 nations agreed on a treaty Wednesday to ban current types of cluster bombs and require the destruction of stockpiles within eight years.

AP - No one could even remember a shark attack along this resort-studded stretch of Mexican coast popular with surfers and Hollywood’s elite. Many of the large predators had been pulled from the ocean by fishermen. So when sharks attacked three surfers in less than a month, two fatally, it was unthinkable.

AP - Iran’s lawmakers overwhelmingly picked conservative Ali Larijani as parliament speaker Wednesday, sending another strong message of discontent with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s leadership by boosting one of his likely challengers in elections next year.

AP - It’s not much, but the flimsy bamboo lean-to on the side of the road is all Aye Shwe has to keep his family dry. They lost their home to the cyclone and may soon be uprooted again this time by soldiers ordering them to leave.

AP - Israel’s defense minister said Wednesday he would use his considerable power to topple the fragile coalition government if Prime Minister Ehud Olmert does not step aside to face corruption allegations.

AP - China struggled to keep roads open to provide a lifeline for quake survivors, while the government warned Wednesday that rebuilding after the disaster would be “arduous.”

AP - The party of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi denounced the extension of her house arrest and said Wednesday it would launch an appeal, while foreign donors said aid for cyclone victims in the military-ruled nation will continue.

AP - Iraq’s largest Sunni Arab political bloc said Wednesday it has suspended talks on ending its boycott of the Shiite-led government due to a dispute over which positions it would assume, the head of the bloc said Wednesday.

AP - Lawmakers prepared Wednesday to declare Nepal the world’s newest republic and bring an end to its centuries-old Hindu monarchy, as Nepalis rejoiced in the streets of the capital in anticipation of the announcement.

AFP - Sterling made losses against the dollar following stronger than expected US economic data and a fall in oil prices after an earlier record high.

AP - Iran’s new parliament speaker warned Wednesday that Tehran could impose new limits on its cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog after a critical report from the agency.

AP - Laptop computers have proven evidentiary treasure troves of late for Colombian investigators probing far-right militias and leftist rebels.

AFP - In a rare show of cooperation, all three major US presidential candidates pledged to end “genocide” in Darfur, in a joint statement released Wednesday.

AFP - German automaker Volkswagen AG will team up with Japan’s Sanyo Electric to develop a lithium-ion battery for next-generation hybrid vehicles, the Japanese company announced Wednesday.

AFP - Pope Benedict XVI will meet Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu leaders during his visit to Australia in July, organisers said Wednesday.

AP - NASA couldn’t send commands to the Phoenix Mars lander for most of Tuesday because of a radio glitch, delaying a second day of activities, officials said.

AP - A man whose lawyers claimed he was mentally disabled has been executed for killing a convenience store owner in Virginia.

AP - Another week, another rumbling train of tornadoes that obliterates entire city blocks, smashing homes to their foundations and killing people even as they cower in their basements.

AP - The anguish of Hurricane Katrina should have ended for Gina Bouffanie and her daughter when they left their FEMA trailer. But with each hospital visit and each labored breath her child takes, the young mother fears it has just begun.

AP - The decomposed bodies found last weekend in an oceanside home were identified Tuesday as an engineer who testified at trials about accident reconstruction and four of his relatives.

AP - Fred Everts held back tears as he surveyed a pile of splintered wood and metal scraps that the day before had been his and his wife’s home.

AP - Several leading child welfare groups Tuesday urged an overhaul of federal laws dealing with transracial adoption, arguing that black children in foster care are ill-served by a “colorblind” approach meant to encourage their adoption by white families.

AP - Same-sex couples in some California counties will be able to marry as soon as June 14, the president of the California’s county clerks association said.

AP - A van going through an intersection barreled into a second van that had sped a red light Monday, causing a fiery six-vehicle collision that killed five people and sent several others to the hospital in critical condition.

AP - Police are investigating the shootings of eight people in a New York City neighborhood.

AP - Sen. Edward Kennedy took the helm of his sailboat “Mya” on Monday and rode a stiff southern wind from Nantucket back to Hyannis in a regatta just a week after undergoing a brain biopsy that diagnosed him with cancer.

AP - Hillary Rodham Clinton ended a three-day campaign swing across Puerto Rico the same way many Americans mark Memorial Day with family, friends and a salute to the sacrifices of military men and women.

AP - Soldiers operated earth-moving equipment Tuesday as other lugged explosives deep into China’s disaster zone, preparing to blow up earthquake debris blocking a river whose rising waters threatened already-devastated towns and villages.

AP - Academy Award-winning director Sydney Pollack, a Hollywood mainstay who achieved commercial success and critical acclaim with the gender-bending comedy “Tootsie” and the period drama “Out of Africa,” has died. He was 73.

AP - As Sgt. Joe Higgins patrolled the streets of Saba al-Bor, a tough town north of Baghdad, he was armed with bullets that had a lot more firepower than those of his 4th Infantry Division buddies.

AP - Iran may be withholding information needed to establish whether it tried to make nuclear arms, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Monday in an unusually strongly worded report.

AP - Chinese soldiers prepared Monday to explode earthquake debris blocking a river where quickly rising waters threatened to flood disaster victims.

AP - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon headed back to New York on Monday, saying he hoped Myanmar’s military regime would honor its promise to open up cyclone-devastated areas of the country to foreign aid workers.

AP - A U.S. Treasury official said Monday the global credit crunch is gradually calming following efforts by the Federal Reserve and other central banks.

AP - A powerful aftershock destroyed tens of thousands of homes in central China on Sunday, killing two people and straining recovery efforts from the country’s worst earthquake in three decades. More than 480 others were injured.

AP - Lebanon’s parliament elected a new president Sunday, taking a step to stabilize the country after a long, violent political crisis and ushering in a shift in the balance of power in favor of Iranian-backed Hezbollah.

AP - Donor nations said they were ready to provide Myanmar with more than $100 million to help it recover from Cyclone Nargis, but warned the ruling junta Sunday they will not fully open their wallets until they are provided access to the hardest-hit areas.

AP - A slow-moving storm packing tornadoes and hail battered rural Oklahoma on Saturday, destroying several buildings, tearing up trees and tossing a mobile home onto a highway. The bodies of two storm victims were found in Kansas.

AP - Firefighters took advantage of cooler temperatures and calmer winds Saturday as they continued to fight a persistent wildfire in the Santa Cruz Mountains that has chewed through acres of centuries-old redwoods, destroyed at least 20 homes and displaced hundreds of people.

AP - The cracking of rifle fire silenced the twittering blue jays, blackbirds and killdeer. As members of the color guard lowered their rifles, the smell of bitter smoke drifted over the family and friends of former Army Sgt. Ellis Hale, a Vietnam War veteran who died of prostate cancer at age 59. Sniffles and gentle sobs accompanied a recording of taps.

AP - Robbie “Kaptain” Knievel, son of the late daredevil Evel Knievel, successfully jumped over 24 delivery trucks Saturday night at the site of one of his father’s most famous stunts.

AP - A few years ago, Kathleen Breault was just another suburban grandma, driving countless hours every week, stopping for lunch at McDonald’s, buying clothes at the mall, watching TV in the evenings.

AP - A tour helicopter crashed on an island off the Southern California coast Saturday morning, killing three people and injuring three others, a county sheriff’s deputy said.

AP - Once it was Japanese torpedoes and kamikaze suicide planes. Then, the threat of the wrecking ball. Now, it’s money or the lack of it that could imperil the future of the USS Intrepid.

AP - After a nearly 10-month journey, a NASA spacecraft will land softly Sunday on the northern polar region of Mars, if all goes as planned.

AP - A shark injured a 49-year-old American surfer Saturday off the Pacific coast of Mexico, in the third attack in a month.