AP - The United Mine Workers of America endorsed Barack Obama for president Wednesday despite his recent defeats in primaries in coal-producing states where many of the union's members vote.

AP - Obama, Clinton campaigning in Florida after trading primary wins ... United Mine Workers endorses Obama for president as unions swing behind the Democrat ... Obama builds his delegate total, closing in on Democratic nomination

AP - Sen. Barack Obama pulled within shouting distance of the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, though he still needs help from superdelegates to claim the prize.

AP - The Democratic presidential race is all but over.

AP - Close to securing the Democratic nomination, Barack Obama is lavishing attention on Florida and its wreckage of a presidential primary while minding his manners with Hillary Rodham Clinton — a rival he now can afford to praise.

AFP - The European Commission has granted the first licence to market a vaccine in preparation for a pandemic of H5N1 bird flu in Europe, British pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline said on Monday.

AP - Pink slips for principals and teachers. School-funded tutoring for poor kids. Schools are increasingly looking at those kind of consequences for failing to raise math and reading scores.

AP - Despite numerous veto threats, senators in both parties have loaded up President Bush's war funding bill with a grab bag of domestic programs, including work permits for immigrant farm labor and heating subsidies for the poor.

AP - John McCain's campaign angst over his lobbyist ties is putting the Republican in conflict with his carefully honed reformer image. It's also giving Democratic rival Barack Obama an opening to paint him as nothing more than a Washington creature.

AP - Democrats and their allies are ready to convert Sen. John McCain's stance on college aid for military veterans into a presidential campaign cause.

AP - A top strategist for Barack Obama has reached out to Hillary Rodham Clinton's former campaign manager about joining forces for the general election, the latest sign of political reconciliation between the two rivals as Obama begins consolidating his position as the likely Democratic nominee.

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.