AP - Felix Hernandez hit the first grand slam by an American League pitcher in 37 years, then departed with a sprained ankle before he could qualify for a win in the Seattle Mariners' 5-2 victory over the New York Mets on Monday night.

AP - Oil prices steadied near $137 a barrel Tuesday, supported by concerns over supply disruptions out of Nigeria and new European Union sanctions against Iran.

AP - As towns upriver watched the Mississippi River slowly begin to recede, a few farther south focused on holding on for a few more days — furiously filling sandbags and keeping watch over saturated levees struggling to hold back the flooded river.

AP - Months after returning to the radio with a pledge to mend the wounds caused by his comments about a women's basketball team, Don Imus is once again defending on-air remarks regarding race.

AP - Firefighters from neighboring states arrived to help Monday after an "unprecedented" lightning storm sparked more than 800 wildfires, from Big Sur to wine country to Humboldt County.

AP - The choice for John McCain's running mate is such a mystery that few people even know who is helping in that search. The Republican is leaning on a consummate behind-the-scenes player in Washington — attorney Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr. — for this maximum-discretion, minimal-disclosure assignment.

AP - Divers wriggled into an upside-down ferry Tuesday and found bodies but no survivors three days after the vessel capsized during a powerful typhoon with more than 800 people aboard, officials said.

AP - Outraged at the turmoil in Zimbabwe, the U.N. Security Council declared that a fair presidential vote is impossible because of the "campaign of violence" waged by President Robert Mugabe's government.

AFP - Philippine rescue teams battled furious seas and high winds Monday in a desperate hunt for more survivors of a ferry that sank in a typhoon with 862 people aboard.

AFP - Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was holed up in the Dutch embassy in Harare Monday after saying he was abandoning his election challenge to President Robert Mugabe because of growing violence.

Reuters - The world's major cities are also among the planet's worst polluters but they have the solutions to most of their problems at their fingertips, a leading environmental consultancy said on Monday.

Reuters - U.S.-led coalition troops killed some 55 Taliban insurgents who ambushed them in southeastern Afghanistan, close to the Pakistan border, the U.S. military said on Monday.

Reuters - Rescuers halted efforts on Monday night to find nearly 800 people missing from a capsized ferry in the Philippines as darkness fell and large swells prevented divers from drilling holes into the doomed vessel.