AP - The Pittsburgh Steelers finally won the kind of close game they've been losing at home all season.

Reuters - A commercial truck carrying missile parts exploded inside a South Korean highway tunnel on Tuesday, YTN television and South Korean defense officials said.

AP - A pending change at the top of the Federal Reserve isn't likely to alter the game plan for combatting inflation — steadily increasing interest rates.

AP - The Bush administration, battered by criticism over its hurricane response, is getting the nation prepared for a possible travel ban and other restrictions in the event of a worldwide flu outbreak.

AP - The White House got the reaction it hoped for out of its third Supreme Court nominee, federal appeals judge Samuel Alito: immediate acceptance from the conservatives who helped torpedo President Bush's previous pick.

AP - A day after releasing new casualty figures showing that October was the fourth deadliest month for U.S. forces in the Iraq war, the military issued a report Tuesday showing how hard it can be to prevent the deadliest form of attack: roadside bombs.

AP - Syria's foreign minister faced off with the U.N. Security Council, angrily rejecting a unanimous resolution that demands Damascus cooperate fully with an investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.

AP - A U.S. military investigating officer recommended Tuesday that a National Guard soldier be court-martialed for the deaths of two of his superiors in Iraq in June.

Reuters - The Bush administration, tempered by the Iraq experience, appears to be approaching the conflict over the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri with more caution.

Reuters - Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi may boast that his new cabinet is the best line-up to achieve reforms, but to Asian neighbors, the inclusion of many conservative hardliners is a sign that Tokyo is far from keen on improving strained ties.

Los Angeles Times - In the weeks before 19-year-old William Freund donned a cape and mask and went on a shooting rampage in his Aliso Viejo neighborhood, he reached out for help on the Internet.

Los Angeles Times - It used to be that watching TV meant just that: aiming your eyeballs at a television set.

Los Angeles Times - WASHINGTON — Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr.'s solo dissent in what became the biggest abortion case since Roe vs. Wade is the key reason conservatives are so enthusiastic — and liberals so troubled — about his nomination to the Supreme Court.

Los Angeles Times - WASHINGTON — Energizing his conservative supporters, President Bush on Monday named Samuel A. Alito Jr., a federal appeals court judge with a 15-year record on the bench, to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Los Angeles Times - GREENSBURG, La. — At the end of a long gravel driveway, up a few steps on a wide wooden porch, a mother and son discuss their conundrum.

AP - The Bush administration, battered by criticism over its hurricane response, is getting the nation prepared for a possible travel ban and other restrictions in the event of a worldwide flu outbreak.

AP - Prince Charles, his wife and a wardrobe full of dresses took off for the United States Tuesday on a tour designed to celebrate trans-Atlantic ties, promote Charles' environmentalist causes — and test reaction to his new bride in a nation still smitten with the late Princess Diana.

AP - Prince Charles, his wife and a wardrobe full of dresses jet off to the United States Tuesday on a tour designed to celebrate trans-Atlantic ties, promote Charles' environmentalist causes — and test reaction to his new bride in a nation still smitten with the late Princess Diana.

AP - A woman dressed as a witch robbed a bank and vanished in the smoke of an exploding security dye pack, then apparently reappeared in street clothes and held up another bank, police said.

Reuters - Syria sharply criticized on Tuesday a U.N resolution ordering it to cooperate fully with an international inquiry into the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri or face unspecified action.

Reuters - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's inner cabinet approved on Tuesday a proposal for a crossing to let Palestinians come and go between Egypt and Gaza following the Israeli withdrawal from the strip.

Reuters - Efforts to form a new German government were plunged into crisis on Tuesday when a senior conservative abandoned plans to join the cabinet and party leaders on both sides said coalition talks could collapse.

AP - A pending change at the top of the Federal Reserve isn't likely to alter the game plan for combatting inflation — steadily increasing interest rates.

AP - Prince Charles, his wife and a wardrobe full of dresses took off for the United States Tuesday on a tour designed to celebrate trans-Atlantic ties, promote Charles' environmentalist causes — and test reaction to his new bride in a nation still smitten with the late Princess Diana.

Reuters - A U.S. plan for helping handle a pandemic of deadly bird flu, to be outlined by President George W. Bush later on Tuesday, is expected to center on strengthening the vaccine industry.

Reuters - Five hundred prisoners walked free from the U.S. military's Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq on Tuesday, released in a goodwill gesture to mark the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Reuters - Israel launched an air strike on a car carrying Palestinian militants in a Gaza refugee camp on Tuesday, killing at least two people, witnesses said.

Reuters - A U.S. military probe recommended on Tuesday that a sergeant charged with murdering two colleagues in Iraq face a possible death sentence at a court martial for the first such crime since the 2003 invasion.

AP - President Bush outlined a $7.1 billion strategy Tuesday to prepare for the danger of a pandemic influenza outbreak, saying he wanted to stockpile enough vaccine to protect 20 million Americans against the current strain of bird flu.

AP - Chosen to find a simpler way to tax the nation, a presidential panel is set to recommend two designs that would rewrite virtually every tax law for individuals and businesses.

Chicago Tribune - News reports on avian flu have taken on alarming tones as the virus has spread from chickens and ducks in Asia to swans in Croatia and, most recently, a parrot at an airport in England. But the risk that the disease poses to people remains frustratingly uncertain.

AP - Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, left Britain Tuesday for a tour of the United States — a trip the British press predicted would cause little excitement on the other side of the Atlantic.

AP - A British man was sentenced to four years in jail Tuesday for masterminding a 'phishing' fraud which stole identities and bank details from customers of the eBay auction site.

AP - Aiming to spur baseball and other sports to adopt tougher steroids policies, Sens. Jim Bunning and John McCain are reintroducing legislation that would standardize drug testing and penalties for professional leagues.

Reuters - U.S. President George W. Bush asked Congress on Tuesday for $7.1 billion in emergency funding to prepare the United States for a possible pandemic of avian influenza.

Reuters - Iraqi election officials defied a new upsurge of violence and held a televised lottery on Tuesday to determine the order in which more than 200 parties will appear on ballot papers at December 15 elections.

AP - Chosen to find a simpler way to tax the nation, a presidential panel on Tuesday recommended two designs that would rewrite virtually every tax law for individuals and businesses.

AP - Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito is "clearly within the mainstream" and shouldn't be filibustered, declared a Republican who helped fashion a plan limiting parliamentary roadblocks for judicial nominees.

AP - A pending change at the top of the Federal Reserve isn't likely to alter the game plan for combatting inflation — steadily increasing interest rates.

AP - Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, began a weeklong tour of the United States on Tuesday — a trip the British press predicted would cause little excitement on the other side of the Atlantic.

AP - Songbirds may be the Sinatras of the animal world, but male mice can carry a tune too, say Washington University researchers who were surprised by what they heard.

Reuters - U.S. terrorism experts Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon have reached a stark conclusion about the war on terrorism: the United States is losing.

Reuters - Israel killed two Palestinian militant commanders in a missile strike in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, triggering vows to "open the gates of hell" for revenge attacks against the Jewish state.

AP - Democrats forced the Republican-controlled Senate into an unusual closed session Tuesday, questioning intelligence that President Bush used in the run-up to the war in Iraq and accusing Republicans of ignoring the issue.

AP - The Federal Reserve, still concerned about inflation, raised a key interest rate on Tuesday to the highest level in more than four years and signaled more increases are likely.

AP - Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday announced online enhancements to its Windows operating system and other popular software programs, hoping to defuse a growing threat from Google Inc. and other fast-moving challengers.

Reuters - Democrats threw the Senate into a rare closed session on Tuesday to protest what they decried as the Republican-led body's inattention to intelligence failures on Iraq and the leak of a CIA operative's identity.

Reuters - The nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court is unlikely to provoke an all-out confirmation war in the Republican-controlled Senate, a member of the bipartisan band of lawmakers key to his fate said on Tuesday.

Reuters - U.S. terrorism experts Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon have reached a stark conclusion about the war on terrorism: the United States is losing.

AP - Democrats forced the Republican-controlled Senate into an unusual closed session Tuesday, questioning intelligence that President Bush used in the run-up to the war in Iraq and accusing Republicans of ignoring the issue.

AP - Aiming to spur baseball and other sports to adopt tougher steroids policies, Sens. Jim Bunning and John McCain are reintroducing legislation that would standardize drug testing and penalties for professional leagues.

Reuters - Democrats forced the Senate into a rare closed session on Tuesday to protest what they decried as the Republican-led body's inattention to intelligence failures on Iraq and the leak of a CIA operative's identity.

Reuters - President George W. Bush asked Congress for $7.1 billion in emergency funding on Tuesday to prepare the United States for a feared avian-influenza pandemic by building stockpiles of drugs and vaccines and encouraging vaccine makers to modernize.

Reuters - With interest groups across the spectrum gearing for a battle over conservative Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, the fate of the nominee may well rest in the hands of the Senate's bipartisan "gang of 14."

Reuters - The Federal Reserve on Tuesday raised U.S. interest rates to the highest in four years and signaled it still had leeway to tighten monetary policy, while data showed U.S. factories ran at a robust pace in October.

Reuters - Spurning a request by U.N. human rights investigators, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Tuesday the United States will not allow them to meet with detainees at the Guantanamo prison for foreign terrorism suspects.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Quaker Maid Meats Inc. on Tuesday said it would voluntarily recall 94,400 pounds of frozen ground beef panties that may be contaminated with E. coli.

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday his government may give its U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to Cuba or China and replace them with Chinese or Russian aircraft after accusing Washington of blocking purchases of U.S. military parts.

AP - Senate Democrats pushed on Tuesday for a 2006 date for hearings on Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, challenging President Bush's call for confirmation by year's end.

USATODAY.com - Karla McKanders never met Rosa Parks yet feels her influence every day. She received a scholarship created 25 years ago in Parks' name that helped McKanders go to college and then law school.

AP - Australian authorities have received intelligence about a specific terror threat to the country, Prime Minister John Howard said Wednesday.

AP - A transient who broke into Jennifer Aniston's rented Malibu beach house pleaded no contest to a burglary charge on Tuesday and was sentenced to one year in jail.

AP - Songbirds may be the Sinatras of the animal world, but male mice can carry a tune too, say Washington University researchers who were surprised by what they heard.

AP - Out on the West Coast, the NBA's Zen master has returned home from a yearlong sabbatical, accepting a task sure to disturb his implacable cool. On the other coast, Brooklyn's wayward son finally has his dream job, moving into Madison Square Garden for the ultimate stop in a lifetime of wandering.

Reuters - Breaking with the White House and fellow conservatives, Republican Sen. Trent Lott and the head of the Cato Institute questioned on Tuesday whether top White House adviser Karl Rove, who remains in legal jeopardy in a CIA-leak probe, should keep his policy-making job.

AP - Knight Ridder Inc.'s largest shareholder wants the nation's second-biggest newspaper publisher to seek a buyer, contending there are few other options left for a company that has been rapidly losing favor with investors as more advertising shifts to the Internet.

AP - They're still officially the team from New Orleans, but judging by the roaring capacity crowd and the startling success of their Oklahoma City debut Tuesday, the Hornets should happy to wear those "OKC" patches for a while.