WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Hispanics in the United States grew to 45.5 million last year, and the country's largest minority group now makes up more than 15 percent of the U.S. population, the U.S. Census Bureau reported on Thursday.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Police in northern Japan arrested a U.S. serviceman on Friday for sexually assaulting a young woman, in the latest in a string of such cases involving American military that have sparked anger among Japanese.

AP - Violent storms unleashed tornadoes, high winds and hail in four central states and killed eight people in Arkansas, including a teenager who died when a tree fell into her bedroom as she slept.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Nearly a third of U.S. parents know surprisingly little about typical infant development, and this lack of understanding can rob their babies of much-needed mental stimulation, researchers said on Sunday.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - In another sign pointing to an inherited component to autism, a study released on Monday found that having a schizophrenic parent or a mother with psychiatric problems roughly doubled a child's risk of being autistic.

AP - A Yankees fan who got into a Red Sox-Yankees argument outside a bar aimed her car at a group of people to scare them and didn't brake, hitting and killing a man, authorities and witnesses said.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Major studios and the Screen Actors Guild broke off three weeks of contract talks without agreement on Tuesday, stoking fears of renewed Hollywood labor unrest after a 100-day writers strike that ended in February.

DETROIT (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp has offered to buy back Tacoma pickup trucks with frames rusted beyond repair and to extend the warranty on over 800,000 of the vehicles in North America.

AP - A line of severe storms swept across the Southeast on Thursday, damaging homes and businesses in at least four states. No injuries were reported.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Even with some signs of improvement in the U.S. financial markets and a temporary boost from the economic stimulus package, the growth outlook for the second half of this year has deteriorated, according to a panel of economic forecasters.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The visiting Detroit Pistons edged the Orlando Magic 90-89 on Saturday to take a commanding 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semi-final playoff series.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Retail sales barely rose in April, as a relentless surge in gasoline prices made consumers cut back other types of spending, according to a report released on Monday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A requirement that all companies help fund health insurance in the United States and a new public plan option are keys to a plan proposed on Tuesday to dramatically shrink the rolls of the uninsured.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The U.S. economy is in a recession and stimulus from a government tax rebate later this quarter will only temporarily stem a fall in consumer spending, a Merrill Lynch economist said on Wednesday.

AP - Record-setting rains flooded dozens of homes and closed roads in northwestern Louisiana, and the misery was expected to rise along with the water as another round of storms hit Wednesday, authorities said.

AP - Nineteen-year-old John Tyler Hammons has a lot on his plate as he prepares to take over as mayor of this eastern Oklahoma city, but he's trying to keep his priorities straight.

DETROIT (Reuters) - The United Auto Workers and American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc reached a tentative contract agreement late Friday aimed at ending an 11-week-long strike that had triggered thousands of layoffs and cost General Motors Corp at least $1 billion.

AP - A minister arrested in an Internet sex sting has resigned his position at a Dallas-area megachurch, its pastor said Saturday.

ROCK PORT, Missouri (Reuters) - At 265 feet tall, four gleaming white wind turbines tower over the tiny farm town of Rock Port, Missouri, like a landing of alien intruders.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Customer satisfaction with airlines in the United States has fallen to its lowest level since 2001, according to a survey published on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Premature babies born in the United States are more than twice as likely to have a major birth defect than full-term infants, with the risk even higher among very pre-term babies, researchers said on Wednesday.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rocker David Cook won the coveted title of 'American Idol' on Wednesday, dealing an unexpected but decisive defeat to a silken-voiced teenager, also named David, on the most popular U.S. television show.

AP - Barack Obama has agreed to deliver the commencement address at Wesleyan University in place of Sen. Edward Kennedy, who pulled out Thursday after finding out he had brain cancer.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Los Angeles Lakers, sparked by Kobe Bryant, cruised to a 101-71 victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Friday to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven Western Conference finals.

DETROIT (Reuters) - The Boston Celtics cruised to a 94-80 victory over the Detroit Pistons to take a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference finals on Saturday.

BOISE, Idaho (Reuters) - J.R. Simplot, the billionaire founder of the Boise, Idaho-based agriculture business that bears his name and who helped make French fries a staple of the American diet and waistline, died on Sunday at the age of 99, officials said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The international fight to control climate change heads to a new arena in June when the Senate is to debate a bill that could cut total U.S. global warming emissions by 66 percent by 2050.

AP - A man whose lawyers claimed he was mentally disabled has been executed for killing a convenience store owner in Virginia.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Global warming will likely drain more water from the Great Lakes and pose added pollution threats to the region's vulnerable ecosystem, environmental groups said in a report issued on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of uninsured U.S. young adults, who already represent a major chunk of the American population without health coverage, rose again in 2006, according to a study released on Friday.

AUBURN HILLS, Michigan (Reuters) - The Boston Celtics clinched their first NBA championship appearance since 1987 with a 89-81 win over the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference finals on Friday.