Top Stories - AP

AMMAN, Jordan - Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama stepped into the thicket of Mideast politics Tuesday, declaring in Jordan that neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians are strong enough internally to make the bold concessions necessary for peace.

ELDORADO, Texas - A Texas grand jury indicted polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs and four of his followers Tuesday on charges of felony sexual assault of a child. Another was indicted for failing to report child abuse.

ORLANDO, Fla. - The mother of a missing 2-year-old is a person of interest in a case that is beginning to look like a homicide, prosecutors said Tuesday. Sheriff's deputies said they still hope to find the girl alive.

PITTSBURGH - A woman accused of slicing open a pregnant woman's belly and taking her baby was obsessed with getting an infant and even had hallucinations of hearing babies cry after a February 1990 miscarriage, according to court records.

BELGRADE, Serbia - Serb nationalists skirmished with riot police in the capital Tuesday, lashing out against the new Western-leaning government that captured war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic. Karadzic's lawyer vowed to appeal Serbia's plan to extradite the former Bosnian Serb chief to a U.N. war crimes court.

CHICAGO - Tuberculosis cases continue to fall in the United States, but some immigrants have disturbingly high rates of the disease, according to a study released Tuesday that called for more aggressive action.

LOS ANGELES - Omarosa is not sorry for sparring with Wendy Williams. "I stand by everything I said," Omarosa told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - State police say they arrested a man early Tuesday whose blood alcohol level was 0.491 percent — the highest ever recorded in Rhode Island for someone who wasn't dead.

NEW YORK - So Taguchi and Jimmy Rollins had two-run doubles in a six-run ninth, and the Philadelphia Phillies rallied against the New York Mets' makeshift bullpen for an 8-6 victory Tuesday night, taking over first place in the NL East.

LAS VEGAS - As Team USA's practice ended, LeBron James reclined on a table with trainers tending to his sprained right ankle. A horde of television cameramen surrounded James and the trainers before team officials shooed them away.

ROCHESTER, N.H. - Yet another town-hall meeting isn't doing the trick. Neither is dropping in on a former Republican president. So just what can John McCain do to draw attention away from his showy Democratic rival? Pick a running mate, perhaps.

LONDON - The darkness around Batman has deepened: While audiences were shattering weekend box-office records in the U.S., Christian Bale was in London, where his mother and sister reportedly leveled assault allegations against the star of "The Dark Knight" that have yet to become clear.

MIAMI - Gus Dominguez negotiated the contract for the first Cuban player to defect to the United States. He opened his home to prospects fresh from the communist island and taught them about bank accounts.

NEW YORK - Federal prosecutors have decided not to seek criminal charges against the Rev. Al Sharpton over his chronic tax problems, his lawyers said Tuesday.

CHICAGO - Viagra's effect in women has been disappointing, but a new small study finds those on antidepressants may benefit from taking the little blue pills. The research involving 98 premenopausal women found Viagra helped with orgasm. But the benefits did not extend to other aspects of sex such as desire, researchers report in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

LOS ANGELES - Estelle Getty, the diminutive actress who spent 40 years struggling for success before landing a role of a lifetime in 1985 as the sarcastic octogenarian Sophia on TV's "The Golden Girls," has died. She was 84.

WASHINGTON - The new leader at USA Track and Field sent a letter to President Bush asking him to deny Marion Jones' request to commute her six-month prison sentence for lying to federal agents about her use of performance-enhancing drugs and a check-fraud scam.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Rising prices at the gas pump appear to be having at least one positive effect: Traffic deaths around the country are plummeting, just as they did during the Arab oil embargo three decades ago.

NEW YORK - Alex Rodriguez signed another big-league contract, joining the William Morris Agency in an attempt to extend his brand beyond the baseball diamond.

AMMAN, Jordan - Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama stepped into the thicket of Mideast politics Wednesday, declaring that neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians are strong enough internally to make the bold concessions necessary for peace.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Wachovia Corp. reported a surprisingly large second-quarter loss Tuesday, deflating Wall Street's hopes that the nation's big banks are weathering the credit crisis well. The bank said it lost $8.86 billion, is slashing its dividend and eliminating 10,750 positions after losses tied to mortgages soared.

JERUSALEM - A Palestinian rammed a construction truck into three cars and a bus near the Jerusalem hotel where Barack Obama is supposed to stay Tuesday, injuring five people before an Israeli civilian shot and killed the attacker, police and witnesses said.

NEW YORK - Wall Street shook off early doldrums and closed sharply higher Tuesday after another drop in oil prices encouraged investors to set aside financial sector worries and go bargain hunting across the market. The Dow Jones industrial average rose more than 130 points.

WASHINGTON - The Senate voted 94-0 Tuesday to move ahead on legislation to curb speculation in oil markets. But any hope of bipartisanship to pass the bill is likely a mirage.

NEW YORK - Mets closer Billy Wagner has tightness around his left shoulder, which an MRI exam Tuesday showed was a muscle spasm around his pitching arm.

WASHINGTON - A federal rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could cost taxpayers $25 billion, congressional budget experts said Tuesday, as lawmakers put finishing touches on legislation that would tap the troubled mortgage giants' profits to help save homeowners from foreclosure.

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - A former driver for Osama bin Laden knew the target of the fourth hijacked plane on Sept. 11, a prosecutor said Tuesday as he sought to undercut defense arguments that the Guantanamo prisoner was a low-level employee of the terrorist leader.

WASHINGTON - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson spent another day stumping for the U.S. banking system, declaring Tuesday that his top priority was ensuring "stability and confidence in our markets and financial institutions."