BEIRUT (AP) - The leader of Lebanon's Shiite militant group Hezbollah appealed for calm Tuesday after people blocked roads and burned tires in Beirut to protest the kidnapping of 11 Lebanese Shiites in neighboring Syria. The abductions in Syria's northern Aleppo province threatened to ignite dangerous sectarian tensions and fueled fears that Lebanon is getting drawn into the chaos next door.
APNewsBreak: NKorea upgrading rocket launch site WASHINGTON (AP) - Satellite imagery shows North Korea is upgrading its old launch site in the secretive country's northeast to handle larger rockets, like space launch vehicles and intercontinental missiles, a U.S. institute claimed Tuesday. The U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies said the upgrade of the Musudan-ri site began last summer and reflects North Korean determination to expand its rocket program.
BAGHDAD (AP) - Iran made the first move Tuesday in attempts to gain an edge in nuclear talks with the U.S. and other world powers: It agreed in principle to allow U.N. inspectors to restart probes into a military site suspected of harboring tests related to atomic weapons. The tentative accord - announced as envoys headed to the Iraqi capital for negotiations - is likely to be used by Iran as added leverage to seek concessions from the West on sanctions. But U.S. officials have shown no willingness to shift into bargaining mode so quickly, setting the stage for possible tense moments after talks tentatively set for Wednesday resume in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Uncle Sam may still want you. But you? Maybe not. In sharp contrast to the peak years of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the Army last year took in no recruits with misconduct convictions or drug or alcohol issues, according to internal documents obtained by The Associated Press. And soldiers already serving on active duty now must meet tougher standards to stay on for further tours in uniform.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - Opening a new, entrepreneurial era in spaceflight, a ship built by a billionaire businessman sped toward the International Space Station with a load of groceries and other supplies Tuesday after a spectacular, middle-of-the-night blastoff. The launch of the Falcon 9 rocket and its unmanned Dragon capsule marked the first time a commercial spacecraft has been sent to the orbiting outpost.
JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) - A year after a massive tornado tore through Joplin, reminders of the storm's fury are plentiful - from the glaring absence of century-old trees in the city's central neighborhoods to the ghostly shell of St. John's Regional Medical Center. Residents, hospital workers and politicians gathered across the disaster zone Tuesday to mark the year since the tornado, mixing somber remembrances with steely resolutions to rebuild the battered city, where 161 people were killed.
LONDON (AP) - A Channel Islands auction house says it's selling a vial that allegedly contains blood residue from Ronald Reagan - a move denounced Tuesday by the late U.S. president's family and his foundation. The vial being auctioned online was used by the laboratory that tested Reagan's blood when he was hospitalized after a 1981 assassination attempt in Washington, the PFCAuctions house said.
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - A man caught trying to climb Mount Rushmore National Memorial pleaded guilty to federal charges of trespass and failing to obey a lawful order, a prosecutor said Tuesday. Patrick Marshall, 53, whose last known address is Chicago, was arrested by park rangers on Monday afternoon as he clambered on loose rock directly below the carvings of four presidents at the monument in western South Dakota.
CHICAGO (AP) - Couch potatoes everywhere can pause and thank Eugene Polley for hours of feet-up channel surfing. His invention, the first wireless TV remote, began as a luxury, but with the introduction of hundreds of channels and viewing technologies it has become a necessity. Just ask anyone who's lost a remote.
Junior Seau's suicide is troubling NFL players. No one knows precisely why the 43-year-old Seau shot himself in the chest at his oceanfront home May 2, less than 2 1/2 years after the end of his Pro Bowl career as a linebacker. What is clear - and cause for concern among other players - is that he reached some serious depths of despair.
