MOORE, Okla. (AP) — A monstrous tornado at least a half-mile wide roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds up to 200 mph. At least 51 people were killed, including at least 20 children, and officials said the death toll was expected to rise.

MOORE, Okla. (AP) — The Oklahoma Medical Examiner's Office says the official death toll in the aftermath of a massive tornado that slammed the Oklahoma City area remains at 51 but is expected to rise.

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala's top court has thrown another curve into the genocide case of former dictator Efrain Rios Montt, overturning his conviction and ordering that the trial be taken back to the middle of the proceedings.

BANGKOK (AP) — The price of oil rose toward $97 per barrel Tuesday, but gains were checked as investors waited for the Federal Reserve's latest views on the U.S. economy.

BANGKOK (AP) — The price of oil rose toward $97 per barrel Tuesday, but gains were checked as investors waited for the Federal Reserve's latest views on the U.S. economy.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli troops shot at a target across the Syrian frontier on Tuesday in response to gunfire that struck its forces in the Golan Heights, the Israeli military said. A statement said a military vehicle was damaged by shots fired from Syria but that there were no injuries. It said that soldiers "returned precise fire". Gunfire incidents across the frontier from Syria have recurred in past months during an escalating a civil war there in which rebels have sought to topple President Bashar al-Assad. ...

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian stock markets fell Tuesday as investors waited for the U.S. Federal Reserve to telegraph what it plans to do next with its economic stimulus program.

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian stock markets fell Tuesday as investors waited for the U.S. Federal Reserve to telegraph what it plans to do next with its economic stimulus program.

(Reuters) - The Justice Department on Monday asked a federal judge to deny Standard & Poor's motion to dismiss a government lawsuit against the ratings agency, saying its statements on certain financial products were fraudulent and not mere "puffery". In a $5 billion suit, the U.S. government has accused S&P, owned by McGraw-Hill Companies Inc, of issuing inflated ratings on faulty products to drum up business before the 2008 financial crisis, despite assurances that its judgments were objective. ...

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Two FBI agents who died while training off the Virginia Beach coast fell to their deaths when a helicopter had trouble during a "maritime counterterrorism exercise," an agency spokeswoman said Monday night.

By Mike McDonald GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Guatemala's highest court on Monday overturned a genocide conviction against former dictator Efrain Rios Montt and reset his trial back to when a dispute broke out a month ago over who should hear the case. Rios Montt, 86, was found guilty on May 10 of overseeing the killings by the armed forces of at least 1,771 members of the Maya Ixil population during his 1982-83 rule. He was sentenced to 80 years in prison. ...

BEIJING (AP) — China's new leader Xi Jinping will confer with President Barack Obama next month in California, months earlier than their expected first meeting, as both sides seek to stem a drift in relations, troubled by issues from cyberspying to North Korea.

BEIJING (AP) — China's new leader Xi Jinping will confer with President Barack Obama next month in California, months earlier than their expected first meeting, as both sides seek to stem a drift in relations, troubled by issues from cyberspying to North Korea.

LA RUANA, Mexico (AP) — Residents of a western Mexico area who endured months besieged by a drug cartel cheered the arrival of hundreds of Mexican soldiers Monday.

Ray Manzarek, a founding member of the 1960s rock group The Doors whose versatile and often haunting keyboards complemented Jim Morrison's gloomy baritone and helped set the mood for some of rock's most enduring songs, has died. He was 74.

BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese boat and 16 fishermen seized for ransom by armed North Koreans two weeks ago were released Tuesday, easing the latest irritant in relations between the neighboring allies.

By Masayuki Kitano SINGAPORE (Reuters) - "Will he or won't he?" is the question investors want answered at Wednesday's Congressional testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, as suspense builds on whether the Fed will soon start tapering its bond-buying stimulus scheme - as hinted at by a Fed regional president last week. ...

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma state medical examiner's office says that 20 children are among the dead in the tornado that ripped through Oklahoma City suburbs.

By Fiona Lau and Elzio Barreto HONG KONG (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc raised $1.1 billion by selling its remaining shares in Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, ending a seven-year old investment and handing the Wall Street firm a return of nearly four times its original stake. Goldman's relationship with ICBC was similar to that of other big global financial institutions that purchased stakes in Chinese banks and insurers. ...

By Mari Saito TOKYO (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel Corp said its Japanese suitor SoftBank Corp granted it a waiver allowing it to consider a $25.5 billion rival bid by Dish Network Corp, as pressure mounts on SoftBank to sweeten its offer for the No. 3 U.S. wireless carrier. Sprint said its recommendation in favor of the SoftBank agreement had not changed, although some major Sprint shareholders including Paulson & Co and Omega Advisors have publicly said the Dish offer looks better than SoftBank's deal. SoftBank, which agreed last October to pay $20. ...

By David Henry TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) - As final ballots come in on a proposal to strip JPMorgan Chase & Co Chairman and Chief Executive Jamie Dimon of his chairman title, some worry about what will happen if shareholders win what will likely be a close vote. JPMorgan's annual meeting on Tuesday will bring to head a months-long and bitter shareholder campaign demanding more oversight of Dimon, who has suggested that he may eventually leave the bank if he loses the vote. Investors say that while Dimon, 57, may need more oversight after the bank posted $6. ...

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Americans got better about paying their credit card debt on time in the first three months of the year, a period when many borrowers use income tax returns to tackle their holiday season debt.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Americans got better about paying their credit card debt on time in the first three months of the year, a period when many borrowers use income tax returns to tackle their holiday season debt.

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — Federal investigators probing the hantavirus outbreak blamed for three deaths at Yosemite National Park recommended on Monday that design changes to tent cabins and other privately run lodging first be reviewed by National Park Service officials.

By Alice Mannette MOORE, Oklahoma (Reuters) - A 2-mile-wide (3-km-wide) tornado tore through the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore on Monday, killing at least 51 people while destroying entire tracts of homes, piling cars atop one another, and trapping two dozen school children beneath rubble. Twenty of the 51 confirmed deaths were children, the Oklahoma medical examiner said, and at least 45 of the 230 people injured were children, according to area hospitals. It was the deadliest U.S. tornado since one killed 161 people in Joplin, Missouri, two years ago. ...

By Yereth Rosen ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - One of Alaska's most active volcanoes, which has been belching ash and spewing lava since last week, has forced regional flight cancellations and dusted some nearby communities with ash, scientists and local officials said on Monday. Pavlof Volcano has sent up ash as high as 22,000 feet, with the cloud blowing eastward and the eruption showing no signs of abating, according to the federal-state Alaska Volcano Observatory. The lava from its 8,261-foot (2,518-metre) peak has also created huge steam clouds on meeting the mountain's snow. ...

Today is Tuesday, May 21, the 141st day of 2013. There are 224 days left in the year.

Today is Tuesday, May 21, the 141st day of 2013. There are 224 days left in the year.

Conservative radio talk show hosts have signed a letter opposing the sweeping immigration reform bill in the Senate, bucking tea party favorite Sen. Marco Rubio's attempts to win their support for the bill, which combines enhanced border security with a legalization program for the nation's unauthorized immigrants. Rubio, a member of the "gang of eight" [...]

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Outsourcing company iGate Corp said it had sacked its Chief Executive Phaneesh Murthy for not disclosing a relationship with a subordinate after investigating one of India's best-known IT executives for sexual harassment. Murthy was replaced with immediate effect by interim CEO Gerhard Watzinger, iGate said. Murthy was forced to quit India's second biggest software exporter Infosys Ltd in 2002 following a sexual harassment lawsuit, which was settled out of court. Murthy did not respond to repeated telephone calls by Reuters seeking comment. ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama declared a major disaster in Oklahoma after deadly tornadoes struck the state on Sunday and Monday and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts, the White House said on Monday. The White House said aid can include grants for temporary housing, home repairs, uninsured property losses and other recovery efforts. Obama spoke by telephone with Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin earlier on Monday, the White House said. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Eric Beech)

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas' state treasurer was accused Monday of taking at least $36,000 in cash — sometimes stashed in a pie box — from a broker who later came to manage a large share of the state's $3.3 billion investment portfolio.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Officials at two hospitals say they've been treating more than 120 patients, including about 50 children, since a massive tornado hit suburban Oklahoma City.

The devastating tornado that swept through Oklahoma turned houses into matchsticks and sent parents and teachers running to pull children from the wreckage of an elementary school in the eye of the storm. At least 51 people were killed by the 200-mph storm and dozens of homes destroyed. The toll was expected to rise. Here are images from the aftermath :

By Ronnie Cohen SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Nearly 13,000 healthcare employees at five University of California medical centers plan to strike on Tuesday in a move that threatens to back up emergency rooms and already has forced the postponement of elective surgeries. ...

MOORE, Okla. (AP) — Officials in Joplin, Mo., have brought together a team of public safety employees they are sending to tornado-stricken Moore.

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian stock markets struggled to post gains Tuesday as investors waited for the U.S. Federal Reserve to telegraph what it plans to do next with its economic stimulus program.

WASHINGTON (AP) — White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and other senior advisers knew in late April that an impending report was likely to say the IRS had inappropriately targeted conservative groups, President Barack Obama's spokesman disclosed Monday, expanding the circle of top officials who knew of the audit beyond those named earlier.

WASHINGTON (AP) — White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and other senior advisers knew in late April that an impending report was likely to say the IRS had inappropriately targeted conservative groups, President Barack Obama's spokesman disclosed Monday, expanding the circle of top officials who knew of the audit beyond those named earlier.

A list of the 10 deadliest tornadoes in the United States since 1900: