AP - California's Supreme Court declared that gay couples in the nation's most populous state can marry a monumental but perhaps short-lived victory for the gay rights movement Thursday that was greeted with tears, hugs, kisses and at least one instant proposal of matrimony.
AP - Troops dug burial pits in this quake-shattered town and black smoke poured from crematorium chimneys elsewhere in central China as priorities began shifting Thursday from the hunt for survivors to dealing with the dead. Officials said the final toll could more than double to 50,000.
AP - President Bush is putting the finishing touch on his celebrate-and-be-celebrated Israel stay, leaving the Holy Land with no movement on Mideast peace but hoping to fare better in Saudi Arabia at obtaining help for soaring gas prices at home.
AP - A Missouri woman was indicted Thursday for her alleged role in perpetrating a hoax on the online social network MySpace against a 13-year-old neighbor who committed suicide.
AP - Republican John McCain declared for the first time Thursday he believes the Iraq war can be won by 2013, although he rejected suggestions that his talk of a timetable put him on the same side as Democrats clamoring for full-scale troop withdrawals.
AP - The One Laptop Per Child project is about to find out whether Microsoft Corp., a rival the nonprofit group once derided, is the solution to its problems in spreading inexpensive portable computers to schoolchildren.
AP - Shania Twain and husband-producer Robert "Mutt" Lange are splitting up after 14 years of marriage. The 42-year-old Canadian country superstar and 59-year-old Lange married in 1993 and have a 6-year-old son named Eja. Her publicist provided no further details Thursday about the couple's breakup.
AP - The San Antonio Spurs' Big Three came through. Now they have to win one on the road to keep their title defense alive. Manu Ginobili scored 25 points, Tim Duncan had 20 points and 15 rebounds, and Tony Parker added 15 points in the Spurs' 99-80 victory over the New Orleans Hornets in Game 6 on Thursday night.
AP - The Pittsburgh Penguins' road to the Stanley Cup finals along the Pennsylvania Turnpike took an unexpected detour.