AP - Soaring gas prices and weakening job prospects left shoppers gloomier about the economy in May, sending a key barometer of consumer sentiment to its lowest level in almost 16 years.

AP - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama set his sights on the West on Tuesday, saying he will fight for states there that narrowly voted Republican in the last presidential election four years ago.

AP - About 80,000 people were evacuated Tuesday from downstream of an unstable earthquake-created dam that is threatening to collapse, and troops rushed to carve a trench to drain the water before it floods the valley.