AP - A man was shot to death Saturday in a mall parking lot following an argument over citizens band radio, police said.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. youths who watch television on weekdays tend to do worse in school than those who don't watch during the week, but weekend viewing appears to have no negative effects on schoolwork, researchers said on Monday.

AP - More than 200 times each day, authorities detect radiation in containers arriving off cargo ships at Port Newark. It's in ceramic tiles, granite, pottery, kitty litter — all natural products made from Earth's elements.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics and St Louis Cardinals struck the first blow in their division series on Tuesday, as some of baseball's most feared sluggers opened the post-season with a bang.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Airbags that drop from the roof or inflate from the seat to provide head protection in serious side crashes significantly reduce deaths, especially when cars are struck by bigger sport utilities and pickups, according to industry research to be released on Thursday.

AP - Authorities asked about 16,000 residents to evacuate this Raleigh suburb early Friday after a hazardous material fire at an industrial plant.

OAKLAND, California (Reuters) - The Oakland Athletics beat the Minnesota Twins 8-3 on Friday to sweep their three-game division series and book a place in the American League Championship Series.

AP - Three adults were found dead and a teenager was found critically injured Saturday in an apartment on the city's South Side, police said.

AP - Opponents are trying to reroute one of the largest railroad track expansions in a century, claiming it threatens the Mayo Clinic and its patients and staff.

AP - Two Louisiana National Guard soldiers shot at a man suspected of wielding a weapon Monday, the first time any guard member patrolling the city has opened fire, officials said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The big-splurge dinner out has grown even costlier for New Yorkers and visitors, with the tab at top spots soaring 15 percent since last year, according to the 2007 Zagat dining survey released on Wednesday.

AP - The military sent dozens of fighter jets Wednesday to patrol the skies over New York, Washington, and other U.S. and Canadian cities minutes after a small plane crashed into a New York City high-rise.

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Nokia has decided to close its Alliance facility in Texas in the first half of 2007, cutting 300 jobs, the world's top handset maker said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - So Taguchi homered leading off the ninth to trigger a three-run burst that lifted the St. Louis Cardinals to a 9-6 win over the New York Mets on Friday, tying their National League Championship Series at 1-1.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Northern pintail birds in Ohio have tested positive for a low-pathogenic strain of the H5N1 bird flu virus, the U.S. government said on Saturday, adding to recent cases in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Michigan.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Playwright Neil Simon, who drew on his New York upbringing to create such Broadway hits as 'The Odd Couple,' 'Barefoot in the Park' and 'Brighton Beach Memoirs,' was honored on Sunday night with the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize as a uniquely American humorist.

BOSTON (Reuters) - Disaffected people living in the United States may develop radical ideologies and potentially violent skills over the Internet and that could present the next major U.S. security threat, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said on Monday.

AP - Preliminary damage estimates from the earthquake that shook Hawaii over the weekend hit $46 million on Tuesday, and President Bush declared a major disaster, opening the way for federal aid.

TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters) - After strapping him to a gurney for the second time in nine months, Florida prison officials on Wednesday executed a 57-year-old former handyman by lethal injection for the 1985 murder of an elderly woman in Florida's rural Panhandle.

AP - A Swedish businessman who authorities say crashed a rare Ferrari sports car worth $1.5 million on Pacific Coast Highway pleaded no contest Thursday to drunken driving.

AP - A train derailed and burst into flames over a bridge in southwestern Pennsylvania late Friday, leaving fiery rail cars dangling over a river, authorities said.

AP - Ten passengers on a riverboat cruise of the Ohio River remained hospitalized in western Kentucky on Saturday after developing flu-like symptoms while aboard the boat.

DETROIT (Reuters) - George 'Sparky' Anderson, who managed the Tigers to their last World Series crown in 1984, returned to Detroit on Sunday to toss out the first pitch for Game Two of the 2006 Fall Classic and dispense his unique brand of baseball wisdom.

AP - A biracial man who accused a group of current and former police officers of beating him outside a house party two years ago sued the officers and the city of Milwaukee in federal court Monday, alleging that his civil rights were violated.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - About 12 Los Angeles Times employees briefly evacuated the paper's newsroom on Tuesday night after white powder was found in an envelope sent to the publication, but police said the substance was not toxic.

AP - The first combat tour of Pfc. John J. Jodka III ended just four months after it began, when he and seven others were accused of kidnapping and murdering an Iraqi man.

AP - A woman accused with her boyfriend of kidnapping her baby and killing a social worker said Thursday she did not participate in the slaying.

AP - A former Baptist pastor who disappeared with a 15-year-old girl for a month and later pleaded guilty to raping her was sentenced Friday to more than 11 years in federal prison.

HARTFORD, Connecticut (Reuters) - Energized by a big poll lead over his anti-war rival, Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman punched the air with his fist as he arrived at a campaign rally at a Cajun diner to cheers of 'Let's go Joe.'

NEW YORK (Reuters) - For home owners dreaming of making improvements, environmentally friendly changes are the top choice, according to a survey released on Monday by Wells Fargo.

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Hollywood star Brad Pitt has joined former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to help volunteers from a Christian charity build homes for the poor in western India, the organization said.