AP - Oil was spewing largely unchecked into the Gulf of Mexico as BP crews claimed progress Sunday in the first stages of replacing a leaky cap with a new containment system they hope will finally catch all the crude from the busted well.

AP - The teenage "Barefoot Bandit" who allegedly stole cars, boats and airplanes to dodge U.S. law enforcement was nabbed Sunday as he tried to make a water escape then brought handcuffed — and shoeless — to the capital to face justice, abruptly ending his two-year life on the lam.

AP - President Barack Obama's party could lose its House majority in this fall's elections, his spokesman said Sunday, perhaps trying to jolt Democratic voters with the specter of GOP lawmakers rolling back White House policies.

AP - Attorney General Eric Holder says there's a real question about whether a terrorist suspect such as self-professed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed can face the death penalty if he were to plead guilty before a military commission.

AP - Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano met privately on Sunday with her successor as Arizona governor as the Obama administration challenges the state's immigration law.

AP - Justice Anthony Kennedy, who already decides whether liberals or conservatives win the Supreme Court's most closely contested cases, is about to take on an even more influential behind-the-scenes role with the retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens.

AP - Japanese voters handed a stinging electoral defeat to the ruling party Sunday, exit polls showed, rejecting a proposal to increase taxes and handicapping a fledgling government struggling to keep the world's second-largest economy from financial meltdown.

AP - Artifacts of a battle between a Native American tribe and English settlers, a confrontation that helped shape early American history, have sat for years below manicured lawns and children's swing sets in a Connecticut neighborhood. A project to map the battlefields of the Pequot War is bringing those musket balls, gunflints and arrowheads into the sunlight for the first time in centuries.

AP - Bob Sheppard, whose elegant introductions of stars from Joe DiMaggio to Derek Jeter at Yankee Stadium for more than a half century earned him the nickname "The Voice of God," died Sunday. He was 99.

AP - Spain's soft touch and quick passing game helped the European champions dominate possession after the first 45 minutes of the World Cup final on Sunday, even though they were even at 0-0 with the Netherlands at halftime.