AFP - Police imposed a security lockdown as the Olympic torch Tuesday started its run through China's mainly Muslim region of Xinjiang, seen as one of the most sensitive legs on its nationwide journey.

Reuters - A powerful South Korean labor group on Tuesday announced a one-day strike next month to protest against President Lee Myung-bak's economic reform plans, adding pressure on the embattled leader facing calls for his ouster.

Reuters - China locked down the far-western former Silk Road city of Kashgar on Tuesday in preparation for the passage of the Olympic torch relay through the sensitive region populated by ethnic-minority Muslim Uighurs.

Reuters - Scores of families fled their homes in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday as foreign and Afghan forces prepare to drive out Taliban insurgents who have overrun several villages, officials and witnesses said.

Reuters - The Turkish military said on Tuesday it had opened fire on 21 Kurdish PKK fighters trying to enter Turkey from northern Iraq.

Reuters - Suspected pro-Taliban militants shot and killed four Shi'ite Muslims in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday in what appeared to be the second deadly sectarian attack in two days.

Reuters - Iran said on Tuesday it would continue enriching uranium, defying efforts by major powers to pressure Tehran into stopping such work.

Reuters - The worst flooding in the U.S. Midwest in 15 years sent fresh shocks to global markets and consumers as corn prices hit record highs on devastating crop losses in the heart of the world's top grain exporter.

Reuters - Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama opens the general election campaign with a narrow lead over Republican John McCain but the two score near even among independent voters, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

AP - The federal government predicts that 27 levees could potentially overflow along the Mississippi River if the weather forecast is on the mark and a massive sandbagging effort fails to raise the level of the levees, according to a map obtained Monday by The Associated Press.

AP - Willie Randolph is out as manager of the New York Mets, fired 2 1/2 months into a disappointing season that has followed the team's colossal collapse last September.

AP - A serial killer who mutilated the bodies of four young girls and reportedly drank the blood of one of his victims was among three convicted murderers executed in Japan on Tuesday for crimes an official called indescribably cruel.

AP - Security agents hoping to prevent displays of defiance jogged alongside Olympic torchbearers Tuesday as the flame began its journey through China's restive West, drawing cheers from carefully controlled crowds.

AP - As southeastern Iowa prepared for the Mississippi River's wrath, the rest of Iowa began the slow move from protection to cleanup.

AP - Make more than $250,000 a year? Watch out. Barack Obama wants to raise your income taxes. Social Security taxes, too.