Reuters - North Korea presents a serious security threat and U.S. forces in South Korea are ready to respond quickly and decisively to counter any attack, the U.S. defense secretary and military leaders said on Tuesday.

Reuters - U.S. General David McKiernan took command of around 50,000 troops in NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan on Tuesday, pledging that anyone who stood in the way of security would be dealt with.

Reuters - More than 400 child members of a polygamist sect began returning to their families on Monday after a judge lifted her order giving the state of Texas custody of the children.

Reuters - U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Democratic icon and a leading backer of presidential contender Barack Obama, had successful surgery on Monday to remove a malignant brain tumor and should suffer "no permanent neurological effects," his surgeon said.

Reuters - Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton end their historic Democratic presidential battle on Tuesday with two nominating contests that could help Obama clinch the nomination and push Clinton from the race.

AP - Vice President Dick Cheney on Monday rejected a suspension of the federal gasoline tax as proposed by his party's presumptive presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain. Cheney said it would offer little help to consumers coping with gas prices around $4 a gallon.

AP - Not so fast Motor City. The Detroit Red Wings' road to the Stanley Cup has another stop to make. Against all odds, the Pittsburgh Penguins stayed alive in the Stanley Cup finals with a 4-3 victory in Game 5 that ended on Petr Sykora's goal 9:57 into the third overtime Monday night.

AP - A spokesman for Kelsey Grammer says the "Frasier" star is recovering in a Hawaii hospital after a mild heart attack this weekend. Stan Rosenfield says Grammer is "resting comfortably" in an undisclosed hospital after being stricken Saturday. Rosenfield says the 53-year-old actor will be released early this week.

AP - NASA's newest spacecraft got down and dirty on Mars, taking its first practice scoop of Martian soil ahead of the actual dig expected later this week, scientists said Monday.

AP - Jennetta Jessop fought back tears when she was reunited with her 5-year-old son, two months after the state raided her polygamist sect's ranch and took away her children.

AP - Shuttle Discovery's astronauts geared up for the first spacewalk of their mission Tuesday and the installation of Japan's giant lab to the international space station.

AP - World leaders meeting at a U.N. summit Tuesday will try to figure out how to head off skyrocketing food prices before millions more join the multitudes across the globe who already lack enough to eat.

AP - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was recovering Tuesday at Duke University Medical Center, a day after undergoing risky surgery that experts said was designed to reduce his brain tumor and give chemotherapy and radiation treatments a chance to work.

AP - Chinese police dragged away more than 100 parents Tuesday while they were protesting the deaths of their children in poorly constructed schools that collapsed in last month's earthquake.

AP - Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton heaved toward the finish line in their exhaustive Democratic presidential odyssey with Obama poised to claim victory and Clinton facing the prospects of having to abandon a quest that once seemed a sure shot but became one of long odds.