AP - Republican presidential candidate John McCain tried to strike a balance at a town hall meeting Tuesday between the independence he boasts of and his avowed conservatism.

AP - Obama says 'reckless' GOP economic policies hammer middle class, would continue under McCain ... Analysis: McCain eager to reassure anxious conservatives he won't raise taxes

AP - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says he's offering fundamental change from what he calls "reckless" Republican economic policies that have hammered middle-class families.

Reuters - Peace talks on ethnically- divided Cyprus this September offer possibly the best chance in years for a deal that has been eluding the island for decades, a senior United Nations envoy said on Tuesday.

AP - Al-Qaida in Iraq is increasingly embracing extortion and kidnapping to finance its operations as cash carried in by its dwindling foreign fighter network is drying up, according to U.S. intelligence and documents captured in Iraq.

AP - Iraq's coffers are bulging with oil money, yet some Baghdad residents go without electricity for much of the day and others get drinking water tainted with sewage.

AP - Just when it looked like things couldn't get much worse for Republicans in this election year, they did.

AP - As speculation swirls, Barack Obama and John McCain are knuckling down to the work of choosing running mates with their nominating conventions just weeks away.

AP - Barack Obama told House Democrats on Tuesday that as president he would order his attorney general to scour White House executive orders and expunge any that "trample on liberty," several lawmakers said.

AP - McCain tries balancing act: brags of independence and seeks to reassure conservatives... Obama tells House Democrats he'll order review of White House executive orders ... Doctors say biopsy of skin from McCain's right cheek shows no evidence of cancer

AP - Republican Ronald Reagan raised taxes and survived to serve another presidential term. His successor, George H.W. Bush, raised taxes and did not.

Reuters - The top U.N. humanitarian affairs official said on Monday the world body had suffered "significant" losses while delivering cyclone aid to Myanmar due to a distorted official exchange rate.