US church to go ahead with Sept. 11 Quran burning (AP)

AP - A Christian minister vowed Tuesday to go ahead with plans to burn copies of the Quran to protest the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks despite warnings from the White House and the top U.S. general in Afghanistan that he would endanger American troops overseas.

Grim outlook for Democrats puts House up for grabs (AP)

AP - Their control of the House in peril, Democrats are scratching to survive in races all across the country. Disgruntled voters, a sluggish economy and vanishing enthusiasm for President Barack Obama have put 75 seats or more — the vast majority held by Democrats — at risk of changi...

Colorado fire forced residents to make mad dash (AP)

AP - David Myers knew it was time to leave when he looked out into the forest and spotted bright red flames towering skyward. Then came a blinding cloud of smoke and a deafening roar as the fire ripped through the wilderness.

EU decries 'barbaric' plans to stone Iranian woman (AP)

AP - The international crossfire over Iran's stoning sentence for a woman convicted of adultery intensified Tuesday with a top European Union official calling it "barbaric" and an Iranian spokesman saying it's about punishing a criminal and not a human rights issue.

Report: Castro blasts Ahmadinejad as anti-Semitic (AP)

AP - Fidel Castro criticized Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for what he called his anti-Semitic attitudes and questioned his own actions during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 during interviews with an American journalist he summoned to Havana to discuss fears of global nuclear war.

Abbas asks US to step into settlement dispute (AP)

AP - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he has asked the U.S. to settle a dispute with Israel over settlement expansion that is threatening to derail Mideast peace talks.

Chicago Mayor Daley won't run for re-election (AP)

AP - Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, who has presided over the nation's third-largest city for 21 years, like his father did before him, announced Tuesday that he will not run for a seventh term, saying the time "just feels right."

John Lennon killer Chapman denied parole in NY (AP)

AP - John Lennon's killer was again denied parole in New York, nearly 30 years after gunning down the ex-Beatle outside the musician's New York City apartment building.

Nanny: Bloody syringes in Anna Nicole's bathroom (AP)

AP - A nanny who worked for Anna Nicole Smith in the last months of her life said Tuesday that she found bloody syringes and cotton balls, and sometimes a spoon with liquid, inside a bathroom that the celebrity model, her lawyer-boyfriend and her psychiatrist emerged from.

Boise State gains ground in AP Top 25 (AP)

AP - More AP Top 25 voters are buying into Boise State as the No. 1 team in the country.

U.S. says not considering NATO Afghan troop request (Reuters)

Reuters - The United States does not plan to contribute to a NATO request for 2,000 troops for the Afghan war, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, even as the head of the alliance held out the possibility of U.S. participation.

Car bomb kills 20 in Pakistan after Taliban threat (Reuters)

Reuters - A suicide bomber rammed his car into a police residential complex in Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least 20 people, officials said, in another blow for a country grappling with devastating floods.

U.S. judge refuses to lift ban on govt stem cell funds (Reuters)

Reuters - A U.S. judge refused on Tuesday to lift a ban on federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research despite Obama administration warnings it would set back key research and cost more than a thousand jobs.

Religious leaders condemn "anti-Muslim" frenzy (Reuters)

Reuters - U.S. religious leaders joined on Tuesday to condemn an "anti-Muslim frenzy" in the United States, and the head of U.S. forces in Afghanistan warned that a Florida church's plan for a Koran-burning could endanger American troops abroad.

U.S. team to discuss N.Korea in Seoul, Tokyo, Beijing (Reuters)

Reuters - A U.S. government team will travel to Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing next week to discuss North Korea but has no plans to visit the poor, isolated state or meet its officials, the State Department said Tuesday.

Pressure mounts in U.S. against Koran-burning plan (Reuters)

Reuters - Civil and military leaders stepped up calls on Tuesday for an obscure U.S. pastor to drop his plans to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, as fears grew it would fan religious hatred.

Half a year on, little progress in Iraq government talks (Reuters)

Reuters - Six months after Iraq held an election many hoped would usher in greater stability and peace, voters like Naseer Challoub are running out of patience with politicians, and also out of faith in democracy.

Congress Republicans wary of Obama economy plan (Reuters)

Reuters - Republicans in Congress showed little willingness to help President Barack Obama approve $350 billion in measures to boost the economy with midterm elections less than two months away.

Ten million without shelter in Pakistan floods: UN (AFP)

AFP - Pakistan's devastating floods have left 10 million people without shelter, the United Nations said Tuesday, as authorities rushed to bolster river defences to save two towns from catastrophe.

Toll from Guatemala, Mexico landslides rises above 50 (AFP)

AFP - The toll from the heaviest rains in living memory in Guatemala and Mexico rose Tuesday above 50, as Guatemalan officials called off the search for 15 more corpses because of safety fears.