AP - For a second straight year, SAT scores for the most recent high school graduating class remained at the lowest level in nearly a decade, a trend attributed to a record number of students now taking the test.

AP - Americans felt better about the economy in August, as a barometer of sentiment posted the biggest boost in two years amid falling gas prices. Two reports suggested that a bottom could be nearing for the housing market, but economists caution it's too early to proclaim that the worst is over.

AP - Russia formally recognized the breakaway Georgian territories at the heart of its war with Georgia on Tuesday, drawing immediate condemnation from the West as the United States dispatched a military ship bearing aid to a port city still patrolled by Russian troops.

AP - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is warning his country may respond to a U.S. missile shield in Europe through military means.

AP - Hurricane Gustav struck Haiti on Tuesday and sent global oil prices soaring on fears it could become "extremely dangerous" even before it reaches the Gulf of Mexico.

AP - Democrats bickered among themselves Tuesday about how hard to attack John McCain as the party's former dominant couple — Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton — took center stage at Barack Obama's political coronation.

AFP - The Russian parliament voted to recognise two breakaway Georgian regions as independent nations, prompting a flurry of diplomatic warnings amid a deepening freeze in relations.

AFP - Barack Obama's wife Michelle on Monday pledged allegiance to the "blessing" of the American dream, as the historic Democratic convention opened in a pageant of political symbolism.

Reuters - California's large-scale tobacco control campaign has saved $86 billion in health care costs in its first 15 years, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

Reuters - World stocks fell to their lowest in almost two years on Tuesday as fresh concerns about the financial sector and growth outlook prompted investors to dump risky assets.

Reuters - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Israel on Tuesday to avoid undermining peace efforts with the Palestinians after a report that it had nearly doubled construction in Jewish settlements.

Reuters - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev convened security chiefs on Tuesday to consider a plea from parliament to recognize two separatist regions of Georgia as independent, a move Washington says would be unacceptable.

Reuters - Prospects for political stability in Pakistan faded on Tuesday, a day after a split in the ruling coalition, with a battle looming over who will become the next president of the nuclear-armed U.S. ally.