WASHINGTON Joe Biden, the vice president who might have been secretary of state, is widening his role as globe-trotting diplomat, drawing praise on some fronts and puzzlement on others.

BEIJING State media says an earthquake has rocked southwestern China and injured at least 336 people. The Xinhua News Agency said the magnitude-6.0 quake in Yunnan province damaged some 2,700 homes on Thursday night.

ST. LOUIS Animal humane groups say more than 400 dogs including some that were about to deliver puppies have been rescued in the largest coordinated raids on dogfighting in U.S. history.

NEW YORK A fundraiser at an upstate New York university says senior athletic department officials tried to use her as a sexual "plaything" to ply big donors.

MINNEAPOLIS Mark Teixeira ended a 23-game homerless drought and the New York Yankees completed a season sweep of the Minnesota Twins with a 6-4 victory Thursday. Teixeira connected on the first pitch of the fifth inning. It was his 21st homer of the season and first in 96 at-bats, dating to June 12 against the Mets.

WASHINGTON Banks trimmed borrowing from the Federal Reserve's emergency lending facility over the past week and cut back on other programs designed to ease the financial crisis, promising signs that some credit problems are easing.

WASHINGTON Former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry says U.S. Park Police should not have arrested him on charges he was stalking his ex-girlfriend.

WARREN, Ohio An Ohio police officer who was wounded when he saved people from a fire blames his injuries on budget cuts that shut down a nearby fire station.

WASHINGTON The national motto, "In God We Trust," will be engraved in the Capitol Visitor Center, responding to critics who said Congress spent $621 million on the new facility without paying due respect to the nation's religious heritage.

COLUMBUS, Ohio An Ohio man has his wedding band back - and is back in his wife's good graces - after the ring accidentally wound up in the till at a Texas tollbooth. Rodger Moore went to Texas for a family wedding nearly two weeks ago. He said he was on his way to catch his flight home when his ring slipped off as he threw change into the basket at an unmanned booth on the Dallas North Tollway.

MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. Two people have died in a small plane crash in the Sierra Nevada near California's Mammoth Lakes.

ESCONDIDO, Calif. A U.S. Border Patrol worker has been arrested in Escondido following a hatchet attack that left a couple seriously injured in their home.

GARY, Ind. The mayor of Gary, Ind. says Michael Jackson's father will attend a memorial service for the pop icon in the family's hometown.

WASHINGTON The bundles of bad home mortgages that panicked the Bush and Obama administrations have turned out to be not so toxic for the financial industry after all.

NEW YORK Showtime is putting the final touches on a six-man super middleweight round-robin tournament that will include two current champions and three former U.S. Olympians.

WASHINGTON Federal safety officials say downdrafts probably caused the plane crash that killed entrepreneur Steve Fossett nearly two years ago.

WASHINGTON Sen. Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Banking Committee, on Thursday warned credit card companies against jacking up interest rates before legislation takes effect that would limit their ability to do so.

WASHINGTON Amid the great debates of the day over health care, global warming and economic recovery, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that there will be no pause in the action to honor Michael Jackson.

WASHINGTON The Department of Housing and Urban Development is using $1.2 billion in stimulus money to fight homelessness in hundreds of locations across the country.

NEW YORK A Manhattan skyscraper in one of the most security-conscious parts of the city has become the scene of an unlikely missing persons mystery.

LAS VEGAS U.S. Sen. John Ensign's parents gave the Nevada Republican's mistress and her family nearly $100,000 "out of concern for the well being of longtime family friends during a difficult time," an attorney for the senator said Thursday.

DENVER A surgery technician in Colorado accused of swapping out used syringes for ones filled with a painkiller meant for patients has been denied bail.

NAPLES, Fla. A southwest Florida woman was arrested after deputies said she assaulted her 71-year-old common-law husband after he complained about her cooking. A Lee County Sheriff's Office arrest report shows 66-year-old Meredith Hart Mulcahy was charged with battery on an elderly person Tuesday night.

NEW YORK Retail sales were weak in June for the 11th consecutive month, raising worries about how consumers will approach the back-to-school shopping season.

WASHINGTON First came the drug companies, offering to give up $80 billion. Then hospital chiefs stood at the White House and promised to do their part for President Barack Obama's health overhaul by taking a $155-billion hit. It's not altruism.

WASHINGTON Has the Justice Department taken President Barack Obama's promise of openness too far?

L'AQUILA, Italy Barack Obama is finding that even the reach of a globally popular president goes only so far, leaving him to snatch partial victories as he can. For all his effort, his strategy also banks heavily on the commodity that helped get him elected: hope.

DENTON, Texas God might not be the only one passing judgment on a man who skipped out on paying $200 for a religious tattoo at a parlor. Denton police are investigating a nonpayment complaint filed by a tattoo artist who inscribed "Only God can judge me" on a customer's arm. The Denton Record-Chronicle reported Thursday that the artist finished the work, which included a pair of praying hands, and presented the bill.

CHICAGO The Cleveland Indians have sent struggling left-hander Jeremy Sowers to Triple-A Columbus and activated reliever Rafael Betancourt from the disabled list.

SAN JOSE, Calif. Rob Blake is staying with the Sharks.

ARCADIA, Calif. Kentucky Derby runner-up Pioneerof the Nile has been retired with a soft-tissue injury in his left front leg.

WASHINGTON The line of sick students outside school nurse Mary Pappas' door was too long. So she thrust thermometers and a pad of Post-It notes at a security guard: Take their temperatures and slap the numbers on their chests.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. The Toronto Blue Jays' game against the Tampa Bay Rays was delayed for 20 minutes in the middle of the seventh inning by a thunderstorm that knocked out power to some of the lights at Tropicana Field.

Clarence Eckstein grew up in Ohio, when a great summer day meant driving 2 1/2 hours with his dad to see Pete Rose and the Big Red Machine.

HUNTINGDON VALLEY, Pa. The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission will investigate allegations of racial discrimination against a Philadelphia-area swim club accused of kicking out black and Hispanic children.

WASHINGTON U.S. airlines have cut many flights and they are getting better at staying on schedule with their remaining flights, as more trips arrived on time in May than a year earlier.

MIAMI Paris Hilton has arrived for the Miami trial of a federal lawsuit accusing her of failing to adequately promote her 2006 movie "Pledge This!"

LONDON The International Olympic Committee chastised U.S. Olympic officials on Thursday for "unilaterally" launching their own television network, warning the project could jeopardize relations with Olympic broadcaster NBC.

BOSTON Logan International Airport is testing a specialized radar system the Air Force uses to protect its fighters and NASA uses to guard its $2 billion shuttles, as it considers stepping up its efforts at preventing collisions between birds and airplanes.

MIAMI Leaders of Cuban and Venezuelan communities across the U.S. have become among the loudest supporters of the military ouster of Honduras' president because they see it as a strike against socialist influence in Latin America.

WASHINGTON The recipients of billions of dollars in IOUs being issued by California soon may have a regulated market where they could sell them.

Arthritis supplements bought by millions of pet owners for their dogs, cats and horses sometimes skimp on the ingredients the makers claim can help aching paws and aging joints, and some contain high amounts of lead, an independent laboratory found.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas A judge's illness has forced the postponement of the sentencing of a man who pleaded guilty to abusing residents at a Texas facility for the developmentally disabled.

SAN FRANCISCO The California Supreme Court has acknowledged that Breathalyzer results mean different things for different drivers.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. NASA is sailing through the countdown for Saturday's launch of space shuttle Endeavour, with weather the lone concern.

BARCELONA, Spain Lance Armstrong remained a split second behind leader Fabian Cancellara on Thursday after a day of treacherous riding in the rain and the mountains looming at the Tour de France.

CANTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. An Amtrak passenger train carrying about 170 people struck a car at a road crossing near Detroit on Thursday, killing all five people in the sedan, authorities said. The victims were believed to be teens. The crossing has a gate and flashing lights that were believed to be working when the car approached, said Sgt. Mark Gajeski, a police spokesman. Based on witness accounts, police suspect the people in the sedan tried to go around the gate and were hit, he said.

LOS ANGELES Scientists have detected a spike in underground rumblings on a section of California's San Andreas Fault that produced a magnitude-7.8 earthquake in 1857.

WASHINGTON A form of ebola virus has been detected in pigs for the first time, raising concerns it could mutate and threaten humans, scientists report.

WASHINGTON The State Department is worried that release of five Iranian officials suspected of aiding Shiite insurgents in Iraq could present a security threat to American troops there.