AP - A high-profile push by business groups to double the number of U.S. bachelor's degrees awarded in science, math and engineering by 2015 is falling way behind target, a new report says.

AP - Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura halted his political comeback before it began, using a national TV platform to announce that he won't launch a third-party bid for the U.S. Senate "at this moment."

AP - Tens of thousands of Catholic pilgrims from around the world crammed into an area along Sydney Harbor Tuesday, waving flags of their home countries and singing as they awaited a Mass opening the World Youth Day festival.

AP - Israel's Cabinet began final deliberations Tuesday on whether to trade a Lebanese militant convicted of killing three people for two Israeli soldiers captured by Hezbollah guerrillas and believed to be dead.

AP - For years, the Bush administration has taken a strong stance denouncing atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region and labeling them genocide.

AP - Barack Obama is setting the stage for his upcoming visit to Iraq with a high-profile explanation of his opposition to the war there and his pledge to complete a U.S. troop pullout within 16 months of becoming president.

AP - Two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a crowd of army recruits Tuesday in a former al-Qaida in Iraq stronghold northeast of Baghdad, killing at least 28 people, Iraqi police said.

AFP - A senior prosecutor Monday brought terrorism-related charges against 86 suspects in a long-awaited indictment concerning an alleged plot to overthrow Turkey's Islamist-rooted government.

AFP - The International Criminal Court's top prosecutor Monday sought the arrest of Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur.

Reuters - A Taliban attack that killed nine U.S. soldiers, the biggest single American loss in Afghanistan since 2005, was a well-planned, complex assault which briefly breached the defenses of an outpost near the Pakistan border.

Reuters - South African President Thabo Mbeki and the African Union's top diplomat will meet on Friday to discuss the political crisis in Zimbabwe, an Mbeki spokesman said on Monday.

Reuters - The U.S. military commander in Iraq said on Monday that security conditions would determine whether he makes recommendations for further troop withdrawals in the coming months.

Reuters - IndyMac Bancorp Inc customers lined up outside a branch at the company's headquarters on Monday, hoping to withdraw their money after regulators seized what was once one of the largest mortgage lenders in the United States.

Reuters - The International Criminal Court's (ICC) prosecutor charged Sudan's president on Monday with masterminding a campaign of genocide in Darfur, killing 35,000 people and persecuting 2.5 million refugees.