AP - The knuckleball — the fluttering, hard-to-hit pitch that's rare in the major leagues — is propelling a 16-year-old girl to the pros in Japan.

AP - Eleven-year-old Protegee carried her sobbing niece on her back as they searched for relatives in a sea of people in eastern Congo.

AP - A major Norwegian shipping group on Tuesday ordered its more than 90 tankers to sail around Africa rather than use the Suez Canal after Somali pirates seized a Saudi supertanker carrying $100 million in crude.

AP - It seems inconceivable: Somali pirates in speedboats foil warships from the world's most powerful navies to prey on shipping lanes crucial to the oil supply.

AP - Rebels were pulling back their forces from the frontlines to allow talks with the army, their spokesman said Tuesday, as retreating army soldiers battled mobs of spear-wielding militiamen.

AP - An 8-year-old boy accused in the shooting deaths of his father and another man told police he did not fire the first shots at the men but later shot them so they wouldn't suffer. But near the end of an hourlong video of his interview with authorities, the boy admits to the slayings in St. Johns, burying his head in his jacket.

AP - State officials on Tuesday took into protective custody 21 children associated with an evangelical group whose founder faces federal child sex charges.

AP - Nebraska lawmakers gave preliminary approval Tuesday to a new 30-day age limit for children who can be legally abandoned under the state's safe-haven law.