AP - Pope Benedict XVI said Tuesday he was "deeply ashamed" of the clergy sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic church and will work to make sure pedophiles don't become priests.

AP - Inflation at the wholesale level soared in March at nearly triple the rate that had been expected as the costs of energy and food both climbed rapidly.

AP - John McCain called Tuesday for the federal government to free people from paying gasoline taxes this summer and ensure that college students can secure loans this fall, proposals aimed at stemming the public's pain now from the troubled economy.

AP - A DC-9 plane crashed Tuesday into a residential neighborhood in the eastern Congo town of Goma, a government official said. It was not immediately known how many people were on board.

Reuters - Former U.S. President Jimmy
Carter met an ex-minister in Hamas's government on Tuesday,
defying Israeli leaders who shunned the Nobel Peace Prize
laureate over his contacts with the Islamist movement.

Reuters - Iran says it plans proposals to help end
a row over its nuclear ambitions but at the same time it is
raising the stakes before world powers meet by expanding work
the West fears could produce bombs.

AP - Hiding a ring in a bouquet just wasn't enough when a computer programmer decided to pop the question.

AFP - Silvio Berlusconi's victory in Italy's elections marked a breakthrough for his Northern League ally, prompting fears Tuesday that the small anti-immigration party will unduly influence his agenda.

AP - Car bombs ripped through crowded areas in Baghdad and former insurgent strongholds to the north and west of the capital on Tuesday, killing more than 50 people and breaking a recent lull in violence in predominantly Sunni areas.

AFP - The Zimbabwe opposition's campaign to force the release of results from last month's presidential election suffered a fresh blow on Tuesday when a call for a general strike went largely unheeded.