AP - Prison officials halted Tuesday night's scheduled execution of a former topless-club bouncer condemned for a double slaying almost 20 years ago as the clock ticked down on their deadline.

AP - A police detective testified Tuesday that a laptop computer taken from the home of a British man accused of killing his wife and 9-month-old daughter was used to search online for "how to kill with a knife" four days before the slayings.

AP - As of Tuesday, June 17, 2008, at least 447 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. The department last updated its figures June 7 at 10 a.m. EDT.

AP - A judge on Tuesday approved an $11 million state settlement with families of most of the victims in last year's Virginia Tech slayings that will avoid a court battle over whether anyone but the gunman was to blame.

AP - The rising Mississippi River broke through a levee Tuesday, forcing authorities to rescue about a half-dozen people by helicopter, boat and four-wheeler as floodwaters moved south into Illinois and Missouri.

AP - Wearing everything from T-shirts to tuxedos and lavish gowns, hundreds of same-sex couples rushed to county clerks' offices throughout California to obtain marriage licenses and exchange vows as last-minute legal challenges to gay marriage failed.

AP - From the beach of Lake Willoughby's Southwest Cove, the sheer cliffs of Mount Pisgah tower over the deep, frigid water. Across the narrows, Mount Hor's peak completes the look of a Scandinavian fjord.

AP - County clerk offices opened their doors Tuesday to hundreds of gay and lesbian couples with appointments to secure marriage licenses and exchange vows on the first full day same-sex nuptials were legal throughout California.

AP - The rising Mississippi River interrupted travel on two bridges between Iowa and Illinois and forced the helicopter rescue of more than a dozen people sandbagging a levee before it broke.

AP - A military judge dismissed charges Tuesday against a Marine officer accused of failing to investigate the killings of 24 Iraqis.