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AP - The pope's brother said in a newspaper interview published Tuesday that he slapped pupils as punishment after he took over a renowned German boys' choir in the 1960s. He also said he was aware of allegations of physical abuse at an elementary school linked to the choir but did nothing about it.

Reuters - A soldier serving with the British Army in Afghanistan has told of the moment he threw back a Taliban hand grenade, telling himself: "I've really only got one chance to do this."

The Newsroom - This time last week, Eric Massa was another low-profile House Democrat. Now his media profile has exploded?with the Washington Post reporting today that House investigators are looking into allegations that the New York Democrat groped some male aides in his office. (Update: Massa claims on "The Glenn Beck Show" that the latest charges arise from an incident where he tickled a staffer "until he could no longer breathe" at a birthday celebration, and says that he behaved wrongly. "I own this misbehavior. . . .," he told Beck. "It doesn't make any difference what my intentions were. It's how it's perceived." At the end of a digressive interview, Beck turned to the camera and said "America, I've got to be straight with you. I think this is the first time I've wasted an hour of your time," because the Massa exchanges didn't yield significant new revelations.)

AP - A Toyota Prius that sped out of control on a California freeway was towed to a dealership Tuesday while federal and company inspectors converged on the car to determine whether a stuck gas pedal was to blame.

AP - Former New York Congressman Eric Massa, who resigned from Congress amid sexual harassment allegations, acknowledged Tuesday groping a staffer but denied it was sexual.

The Christian Science Monitor - Firsthand exposés about the personal lives of North Korea’s leaders can put the lives of their authors at risk, even if they are far away.The latest tell-all, published in Austria by two journalists to whom former Army Col. Kim Jong-ryul told his story, is a case in point.

AP - Centralians have long believed the government's demolition of their beloved town in the 1980s was part of a plot to swipe the mineral rights to anthracite coal worth hundreds of millions of dollars — and not, as state and federal officials said, the solution to an out-of-control underground mine fire that menaced the town with toxic gases.

AFP - A dozen previously unknown shipwrecks, some of them believed to be up to 1,000 years old, were discovered in the Baltic Sea during a probe of the sea bed to prepare for the installation of a large gas pipeline, the Swedish National Heritage Board said Monday.

AP - A moderate Democrat insisted Tuesday she remained opposed to pushing a health care bill through the Senate with a simple majority vote, despite saying she wanted to see what was in the legislation.

AP - U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said Tuesday the scene at President Obama's State of the Union address was "very troubling" and the annual speech has "degenerated to a political pep rally."

AP - Vice President Joe Biden condemned an Israeli plan to build hundreds of homes in disputed east Jerusalem on Tuesday, casting a cloud over a high-profile visit that had been aimed at repairing ties with the Jewish state and kickstarting Mideast peace talks.

Reuters - The actress Lindsay Lohan has sued E*Trade Financial Corp for $100 million, saying a "milkaholic" baby girl who appeared in a recent commercial was modeled after her.

AP - Detroit, the very symbol of American industrial might for most of the 20th century, is drawing up a radical renewal plan that calls for turning large swaths of this now-blighted, rusted-out city back into the fields and farmland that existed before the automobile.