WASHINGTON — Thirty years ago, Rep. Jim Oberstar testified in favor of his legislation to install solar panels at federal buildings. Now, as chairman of the House Transportation Committee, he’s got the juice to make it happen — at least on a small scale.

SALT LAKE CITY -- A historic mall’s winding hallways became a shooting gallery for an 18-year-old gunman in a trench coat who fired a shotgun randomly at customers, killing five and wounding four before being killed by police, authorities and witnesses said.

WASHINGTON  — Three or four FBI laptop computers are lost or stolen each month and the agency is unable to say in many instances whether information on the machines is sensitive or classified, the Justice Department’s inspector general said Monday.

MAPLEWOOD, N.J. — A woman glancing out a kitchen window in this bedroom community just west of New York City was startled to find a black bear peering back in at her.

BAGHDAD, Iraq  — Soldiers spearheading the increase in U.S. forces in Baghdad are papering car windows and storefronts with purple stickers listing telephone numbers and an e-mail address where Iraqis can send intelligence tips to help stop the violence.

SAN FRANCISCO — Smoking marijuana eased HIV-related pain in some patients in a small study that nevertheless represented one of the few rigorous attempts to find out if the drug has medicinal benefits.

CHICAGO — Office nappers now have the perfect excuse: New research shows that a little midday snooze seems to reduce the risk of fatal heart problems, especially among men.

BEIJING — Six countries reached a tentative agreement Tuesday on initial steps toward North Korea’s nuclear disarmament that could usher in the first concrete progress after more than three years of talks marked by delays, deadlock and the communist country’s first nuclear test explosion.

TOKYO  — Japanese police were investigating a suspected extremist attack on the U.S. Army after two small explosions occurred outside a military base south of Tokyo, police said Tuesday.

WASHINGTON — To honor black history, President Bush on Monday didn’t spend much time looking back.

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration’s budget assumes cuts to funding for veterans’ health care two years from now — even as badly wounded troops returning from Iraq could overwhelm the system.

CONAKRY, Guinea — President Lansana Conte declared a state of emergency in Guinea on Monday, saying he had ordered the army to “take all necessary measures” to restore order after three days of violent protests. At least 27 people have been killed.

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Thunderous car bombs shattered a crowded marketplace in the heart of Baghdad on Monday, triggering secondary explosions, engulfing an eight-story building in flames and killing at least 78 people in the latest in a series of similar attacks aimed at the country’s Shiite majority.

NEW ORLEANS — A homeowner who claims Allstate Indemnity Co. failed to properly or promptly pay his damage claim after Hurricane Katrina took the witness stand in federal court Monday, kicking off testimony in the first trial for one of the several thousand such Louisiana lawsuits.

SACRAMENTO — About one in three of the state’s worst-performing schools will get a share of nearly $3 billion in funding dedicated to helping them improve academic achievement.

WASHINGTON — Three prominent journalists testified Monday that Bush administration officials volunteered leaks about a CIA operative, as I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s attorneys sought to suggest he was not responsible for exposing her.

12:45 p.m. WASHINGTON -- House members debated Iraq Tuesday in an emotional and historic faceoff over a war that Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned as a commitment with ''no end in sight.''