AP - Investigators looking into what went wrong in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill are a step closer to answers now that a key piece of evidence is secure aboard a ship.

AP - It is a place of sacrifice. A place of mourning. A place people pass by on their way to grab lunch. It's a place where tourists crane their necks to snatch a glimpse around barriers walling off an enormous construction site — which is also what it is.

AP - Torrential rains from a tropical depression caused mudslides that have killed at least 38 people in Guatemala — most of them in separate disasters along the same highway.

AP - Just days after Mideast peace talks began in Washington, the first major crisis is already looming: Israel hinted Sunday it will ease restrictions on building in West Bank settlements, while the Palestinian president warned he'll quit the talks if Israel resumes construction.

AP - While a fire warms their campsite, the icy feeling between Cristina Nunez Macias and her mother-in-law is as palpable as the cold Atacama desert.

AP - American officials say that U.S. troops helped repel a complex attack by a group of heavily armed militants against a Baghdad military headquarters.

AP - East Asia is the world's electronics factory, yet unless they are Japanese, producers are largely anonymous. Now HTC Corp., a Taiwanese maker of smart phones, is moving out of the shadows and trying to establish its own brand name as it competes with Apple's iPhone.

AP - Kim Clijsters put a quick end to Ana Ivanovic's run at the U.S. Open, winning her 18th straight match at Flushing Meadows with a 6-2, 6-1 wipeout of the former world No. 1 in their fourth-round match Sunday.

Reuters - President Barack Obama will ask the U.S. Congress on Wednesday to increase and permanently extend a tax credit for business research as a way of boosting job growth, an administration officials said on Sunday.

Reuters - Hurricane Earl made landfall in Canada on Saturday and fizzled after a series of scares along the U.S. East Coast, flooding roads, felling trees and cutting power to tens of thousands in the Atlantic province of Nova Scotia.

Reuters - The Philippines' national police chief took the blame for the botched bus hijacking rescue attempt last week that killed eight Hong Kong tourists at a Manila park, announcing his decision to retire early from the service.

Reuters - Strong aftershocks and gale-force winds buffeted a clean-up of New Zealand's second biggest city on Sunday following the country's most damaging earthquake in 80 years.

Reuters - Oracle Corp has offered a job to Mark Hurd, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Co who resigned amid a scandal involving inaccurate expense receipts related to a female contractor, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Reuters - Tens of thousands protested across France on Saturday against a clampdown on immigrants, launching a week of action over policies on which President Nicolas Sarkozy has staked his political reputation.

Reuters - The U.S. government is likely to take a loss on General Motors Co in the first offering of the automaker's stock, six people familiar with preparations for the landmark IPO said.

AFP - Basque separatist fighters ETA declared a ceasefire Sunday in their flagging 42-year campaign of bombing and shooting for a homeland independent of Spain.

AFP - As many as five suicide bombers killed 12 people on Sunday at an Iraqi army complex, the military said, in the first major strike in Baghdad since the US army declared an end to combat operations last week.