AP - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Tuesday that security in Iraq has improved and that the United States urgently needs to turn its attention to Afghanistan.

AP - Texas mobilized National Guard troops and residents along the Gulf Coast near the Mexican border were buying plywood, flashlights and gasoline as Tropical Storm Dolly gained strength Tuesday over the Gulf on its way to becoming a hurricane before it hits land.

AP - 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.

AP - Radovan Karadzic grew a long, white beard to conceal his identity and even managed to openly practice alternative medicine while in hiding, officials said Tuesday in revealing details of the war crimes fugitive's capture after a decade on the run.

AP - 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.

AP - Wall Street traded mostly higher Tuesday as investors were encouraged by another sharp drop in oil prices and snapped up shares of undervalued financial companies.

AP - 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.

AP - 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.

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

Reuters - Bosnian Serb wartime president Radovan Karadzic, indicted for genocide in the Bosnia war, was captured in disguise near Belgrade after 11 years on the run and had been working as a doctor, Serbian officials said on Tuesday.

Reuters - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Tuesday he was committed to a 16-month timetable for a U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq, after a trip in which he met Iraqi leaders and U.S. officials.

Reuters - The United States sought to kickstart efforts to rescue a global trade deal on Tuesday by offering to cut a ceiling on its contested farm subsidies, but leading developing countries said it was not enough.

Reuters - Tropical Storm Dolly intensified over the western Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday as it bore down on southern Texas, but forecasters don't expect it to pack too much of a punch when it comes ashore near the Mexican border as a hurricane on Wednesday.

Reuters - A Palestinian rammed a bulldozer into vehicles on a Jerusalem street on Tuesday before a visit by U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, who condemned the attack and pledged to push for a peace deal.

AFP - Captured war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic, one of the world's most wanted men, was arrested on genocide charges while practising medicine under a fake name in Belgrade, officials said Tuesday.

AFP - Zimbabwean crisis talks due to start in South Africa struggled to get off the ground on Tuesday as chief negotiators had yet to leave Harare, sources from the opposition and ruling party said.