Philippine president pardons 9 coup plotters

By Jeff Roberson (AP)

Across America, earthen flood levees protect big cities and small towns, wealthy suburbs and rich farmland. But the Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency that oversees levees, lacks an inventory of thousands of them and has no idea of their condition, the corps\' chief levee expert told The Associated Press.

The uncertainty, amid an unusually wet spring that has already caused significant flooding across many states, is creating worry even within the corps.

\"We have to get our arms around this issue and understand how many levees there are in the country, who\'s...

By Jeff Roberson (AP)

Across America, earthen flood levees protect big cities and small towns, wealthy suburbs and rich farmland. But the Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency that oversees levees, lacks an inventory of thousands of them and has no idea of their condition, the corps\' chief levee expert told The Associated Press.

The uncertainty, amid an unusually wet spring that has already caused significant flooding across many states, is creating worry even within the corps.

\"We have to get our arms around this issue and understand how many levees there are in the country, who\'s...

By SHEILAH MILLER (AP)

Sue Sigle was hoping the government would offer more money for her home before she moves away from this pollution-scarred town. Then the tornado came.

As she began the task of salvage Sunday, Sigle kept a smile on her face, noting that she was fortunate to be visiting family in Missouri when the massive twister hit Saturday night, killing at least six people in this northeastern Oklahoma town.

\"I\'m OK with everything,\" Sigle said. \"The Lord is going to take care of anything. ... I was going to move anyway. I guess I\'ll just have to move sooner.\"

That sense of...

By Jim Mone (AP)

So much for small ball. Craig Monroe went 2-for-4 with two of light-hitting Minnesota\'s three home runs and four RBIs, and the Twins hung on for a 9-8 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday night.

Joe Nathan gave up two runs in the ninth, but won a showdown with pinch-hitter Manny Ramirez by getting him to ground out to shortstop with the tying run on second base to pick up his 12th save in as many chances.

The Twins, who entered with a major league-low 17 homers, had yet to hit more than one in a game before Sunday\'s binge. Monroe had his third career multihomer game...

By Pablo Martinez Monsivais (AP)

Dan Uggla and the Florida Marlins will sure be sorry to have to leave Washington. Who can blame them? They\'ve been there twice this season and haven\'t lost yet.

Uggla hit two homers Sunday to help the Marlins complete another three-game sweep of the Nationals with a 5-4 win. The day before, Uggla hit a grand slam.

Florida has won seven straight overall, its best streak since winning nine in a row in August 2006. They\'ve also won all six games this season at Nationals Park.

\"I\'m not good at analyzing and knowing what\'s going right or anything like that,\" said...

By RANDY SNYDER (AP)

Hillary Rodham Clinton was just warming up the crowd in a cramped and muggy middle school gymnasium when she switched her pronouns.

\"All the kitchen table issues that everybody talks to me about are ones that the next president can actually do something about,\" Clinton said Sunday night, \"if he actually cares about it.\"

The word hung in the air only for a moment.

\"More likely, if she cares about it,\" she added.

Was it a dramatic turn of phrase or a slip of the tongue? A way to spotlight gender on Mother\'s Day or a sign that the public doubts about her...

By M. Spencer Green (AP)

Everyone expected Jody Weis to make changes in the Chicago Police Department when he left the FBI to become the first outsider in decades to head the city force.

He was, after all, taking over a department tarnished by a string of embarrassing incidents _ including the worldwide airing of a videotape allegedly showing a police officer beating a female bartender. And he was doing so just as the city was trying to polish its image in a bid to host the 2016 Olympics.

Weis marked 100 days on the job Saturday and he hasn\'t just ruffled feathers. He\'s plucked them.

He...

By Stuart Ramson (AP)

Actor Dennis Farina was charged with a felony Sunday at Los Angeles International Airport after a loaded gun was found in his carry-on luggage.

When the weapon was discovered at a security checkpoint, the 64-year-old actor said he had forgotten the .22-caliber handgun was in his luggage, police said.

Farina was booked for investigation of carrying a concealed weapon, said Sgt. Dennis Beacham. Bail was set at $25,000 before police discovered the weapon was not registered. Charges were then upgraded to a felony and bail was increased to $35,000.

Farina was released after...

By Apichart Weerawong (AP)

The United States has launched its first relief airlift to Myanmar for last week\'s cyclone victims.

A military C-130 cargo plane packed with supplies left a Thai air force base Monday for Myanmar\'s biggest city, Yangon. Two more air shipments are scheduled to land Tuesday.

Allowing the U.S. flight is a huge concession by Myanmar\'s military government, which sees Washington as its enemy. The junta has also generally refused to allow international relief experts and slowed down aid delivery by the U.N. with red-tape.

Operation spokesman Lt. Col. Douglas Powell said the...

By Mike Gullett (AP)

Stunned survivors picked through the little that was left of their communities Sunday after tornadoes tore across the Plains and South, killing at least 22 people in three states and leaving behind a trail of destruction and stories of loss.

At least 15 people died in southwestern Missouri. In the fading mining town of Picher, Okla., at least six people were killed, and at least one person died in storms in Georgia.

Susan Roberts, 61, stared at the smashed remains of her classic 1985 Cadillac sitting on her living room floor _ the only thing left of her Seneca home. A woman...

By Paul Sancya (AP)

Manny Ramirez\'s pursuit of his 500th home run will have to wait for at least another day. Ramirez, who has 497 career homers, was given Sunday night off against the Minnesota Twins because of a sore right hamstring.

Manager Terry Francona said he saw Ramirez come up a little gimpy while running out a grounder in Saturday night\'s 5-2 victory over the Twins. Ramirez called Francona on Sunday morning and told him the leg was a little sore.

\"When he reached for first last night, I thought I saw him (grab) behind his right hamstring, kind of lower,\" Francona said. \"It looked...

By Jim Mone (AP)

So much for small ball.

Craig Monroe went 2-for-4 with two of light-hitting Minnesota\'s three home runs and four RBIs, and the Twins hung on for a 9-8 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday night.

Joe Nathan gave up two runs in the ninth, but won a showdown with pinch-hitter Manny Ramirez by getting him to ground out to shortstop with the tying run on second base to pick up his 12th save in as many chances.

Monroe had his third career multihomer game and Adam Everett also went deep during an atypically brutal start for Tim Wakefield (3-2) in the Metrodome. Nick...

By Jim Mone (AP)

So much for small ball. Craig Monroe went 2-for-4 with two of light-hitting Minnesota\'s three home runs and four RBIs, and the Twins hung on for a 9-8 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday night.

Joe Nathan gave up two runs in the ninth, but won a showdown with pinch-hitter Manny Ramirez by getting him to ground out to shortstop with the tying run on second base to pick up his 12th save in as many chances.

Monroe had his third career multihomer game and Adam Everett also went deep during an atypically brutal start for Tim Wakefield (3-2) in the Metrodome. Nick Blackburn...

By Evan Agostini (AP)

Cablevision Systems Corp. is close to buying the Long Island newspaper Newsday from Tribune Co. for $650 million, a person with knowledge of the situation said Sunday.

The deal, which could be announced as soon as Monday, would net Cablevision, a cable TV company also based on Long Island, its first newspaper. It would also provide much-needed cash to Tribune Co., which is struggling under $8.2 billion in debt it took on when it went private last December.

The person familiar with the talks asked to remain anonymous since the discussions were confidential. Spokesmen for both...

By Ric Francis (AP)

Hiroki Kuroda took a no-hitter into the seventh inning for the Los Angeles Dodgers before the Houston Astros broke out for seven hits and six runs in the eighth inning to pull out an 8-5 victory Sunday.

Lance Berkman, Carlos Lee and Hunter Pence had RBI singles against reliever Jonathan Broxton (1-1), and Brad Ausmus added a two-run single against the right-hander as the Astros won for the eighth time in nine games. Houston also completed its first three-game sweep at Dodger Stadium since September 25-27, 1992.

Michael Bourn capped the rally with a sacrifice fly, giving...

By John Froschauer (AP)

Raul Ibanez hit a two-run homer in the third inning and the Seattle Mariners beat the Chicago White Sox 6-3 Sunday to snap a five-game losing streak.

Jose Lopez and Ichiro Suzuki each went 3-for-4 for the Mariners, who finished with 13 hits. It was Seattle\'s most hits since it collected 10 in a 7-3 win over Texas last Monday. The Mariners went 2-5 on their seven-game homestand.

Seattle got to Gavin Floyd (3-2), who has been one of the toughest pitchers to hit so far this season, for five runs and nine hits over 3 2-3 innings.

Floyd entered with a major league-leading...

By John Froschauer (AP)

Raul Ibanez hit a two-run homer in the third inning and the Seattle Mariners beat the Chicago White Sox 6-3 Sunday to snap a five-game losing streak.

Jose Lopez and Ichiro Suzuki each went 3-for-4 for the Mariners, who finished with 13 hits. It was Seattle\'s most hits since it collected 10 in a 7-3 win over Texas last Monday. The Mariners went 2-5 on their seven-game homestand.

By Nam Y. Huh (AP)

The big matchup between Big Z and the Big Unit never materialized. Pinch-hitter Daryle Ward delivered a two-run double in the eighth inning, and the Chicago Cubs rallied again to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-4 Sunday after the anticipated showdown between Carlos Zambrano and Randy Johnson got wiped out.

Carlos Marmol (1-0) struck out two in a perfect eighth and Kerry Wood pitched the ninth to earn his seventh save in 10 chances and finish off Chicago\'s three-game sweep of the NL West leaders.

Heavy rain and temperatures in the mid-40s delayed the start of the game by 58...

By Nam Y. Huh (AP)

The big matchup between Big Z and the Big Unit never materialized. Pinch-hitter Daryle Ward delivered a two-run double in the eighth inning, and the Chicago Cubs rallied again to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-4 Sunday after the anticipated showdown between Carlos Zambrano and Randy Johnson got wiped out.

Carlos Marmol (1-0) struck out two in a perfect eighth and Kerry Wood pitched the ninth to earn his seventh save in 10 chances and finish off Chicago\'s three-game sweep of the NL West leaders.

Heavy rain and temperatures in the mid-40s delayed the start of the game by 58...

By Morry Gash (AP)

Ryan Braun hit a pair of solo home runs, Jeff Suppan pitched seven solid innings and the Milwaukee Brewers\' new closer by committee held on for a 5-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday.

With Eric Gagne out as the closer, the Brewers turned to Salomon Torres and Brian Shouse in the ninth. Torres allowed a leadoff double and a walk before giving way to Shouse with two outs. Shouse, a left-handed specialist, gave up an RBI single to Yadier Molina before finishing for his first save and fifth of his career.

The Brewers, who won for the second time in nine games, scored...

By Nam Y. Huh (AP)

The big matchup between Big Z and the Big Unit never materialized.

Pinch-hitter Daryle Ward delivered a two-run double in the eighth inning, and the Chicago Cubs rallied again to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-4 Sunday after the anticipated showdown between Carlos Zambrano and Randy Johnson got wiped out.

Carlos Marmol (1-0) struck out two in a perfect eighth and Kerry Wood pitched the ninth to earn his seventh save in 10 chances and finish off Chicago\'s three-game sweep of the NL West leaders.

By Evan Agostini (AP)

A person with knowledge of the situation says cable TV provider Cablevision Systems Corp. is close to buying the Long Island newspaper Newsday from Tribune Co. for $650 million.

The news Sunday comes a day after Rupert Murdoch\'s News Corp. withdrew its own $580 million bid, despite assurances from Murdoch himself just days earlier that he would prevail.

The person with knowledge of the matter asked to remain anonymous since the talks are confidential. Spokesmen for Tribune and Cablevision declined comment.

By Orlin Wagner (AP)

Brian Bannister allowed two singles in eight innings and the Kansas City Royals beat Baltimore 4-0 Sunday to end their 12-game skid against the Orioles.

It was Kansas City\'s first victory over Baltimore since July 25, 2006.

Bannister struck out five and walked two to end a personal four-game losing streak. He did not allow a runner to reach second. Joakim Soria tossed a perfect ninth to finish Kansas City\'s fourth shutout of the year.

Bannister was 0-4 with an 8.02 ERA and had allowed 33 hits in 21 1-3 innings over his previous four starts. He held the Orioles to one...