Reuters - U.S.-Iraqi security talks to permit U.S. troops to stay in Iraq beyond 2008 were not aimed at setting a hard deadline for withdrawal despite such a suggestion by the Iraqi prime minister, the White House said on Tuesday.

Reuters - Presidential rivals Barack Obama and John McCain clashed over how to boost the ailing U.S. economy on Monday, with Obama pushing for a new stimulus package to help homeowners and McCain pressing for low income taxes and incentives for small business.

Reuters - A U.S. judge on Monday dismissed a case brought by families of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks who said the city denied proper burials by sending debris containing possible human remains to a garbage dump.

Reuters - Five regional powers will hold talks with North Korea from Thursday on ending its atomic weapons plans and verifying an account the secretive state gave in June of its nuclear programs, officials said on Tuesday.

Reuters - Iran started war games on Monday and its president rejected a demand by major powers that it stop enriching uranium as "illegitimate," showing no sign of backing down in a stand-off over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

Reuters - G8 nations, papering over deep differences on how to set goals to combat global warming, said on Tuesday they would work toward a target of at least halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 with other participants in U.N. talks.

Reuters - Fresh credit fears swept global financial markets on Tuesday, pushing world stocks to their lowest levels since October 2006 as concerns intensified that the financial sector would have to raise more capital.

AP - Hiroki Kuroda was nearly perfect in lifting the under-.500 Dodgers into a first-place tie in the NL West.

AP - As with most new parents, Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban might have difficulty telling what day it is.

AP - Barack Obama and John McCain agree on this much: The economy is staggering under the Bush administration, and Americans are hurting. But who's to blame and how best to fix it?

AP - Congress should repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" law because the presence of gays in the military is unlikely to undermine the ability to fight and win, according to a new study released by a California-based research center.

AP - As some residents whose homes were threatened by a vast Southern California wildfire were allowed to return home on Monday, forecasters warned that the cooler, damper conditions that have aided recent firefighting efforts would soon turn in favor of the flames.

AP - Negotiations on North Korea's nuclear program will resume this week for the first time in nine months, China said Tuesday.

AP - A bomb ripped through the gates of the Indian Embassy on Monday, killing 41 people and scattering bodies and pools of blood across some of Kabul's most protected Streets. Afghanistan quickly blamed Pakistan, India's archrival.