LOS ANGELES (AP) — Vinny Del Negro is out as coach of the Los Angeles Clippers after a season in which the team won its first division title but lost in the first round of the playoffs.

MIAMI (AP) — An 18-year-old Florida cheerleader is facing felony charges that she had sexual contact with her underage, 14-year-old girlfriend, leading gay rights advocates to say the teen is being unfairly targeted for a common high school romance because she's gay.

Golf's two governing bodies outlawed the anchored putting stroke used by four of the last six major champions, approving a new rule that starts in 2016 and urging the PGA Tour to follow along so the 600-year-old sport is still played under one set of rules.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama believes journalists shouldn't be prosecuted for doing their jobs, the White House said Tuesday, showing solidarity with First Amendment advocates alarmed by a pair of high-profile federal probes into national security leaks.

By Patrick Temple-West and Kevin Drawbaugh WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook made no apology on Tuesday for the iPad maker saving billions of dollars in U.S. taxes through Irish subsidiaries and told lawmakers that his company backs corporate tax reform, even though it may end up paying more. The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has found that Apple in 2012 alone avoided paying $9 billion in U.S. taxes, using a strategy involving three offshore units with no discernible tax home, or "residence. ...

NEW YORK (AP) — The Muppets are getting a new home in a Queens museum with a permanent exhibit the city hopes will persuade more tourists to venture beyond Manhattan.

MOORE, Oklahoma (Reuters) - The damage from Monday's tornado in a suburb of Oklahoma City is likely to exceed that caused by the 2011 twister in Joplin, Missouri, that killed 161 people, Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak said. In an interview with Reuters after touring the area, Doak said that losses were likely to be greater than in the Joplin storm, which he said caused about $3 billion in damage. "This will likely exceed that," Doak said. The insured losses from Joplin exceeded $2 billion and are expected to rise as claims are settled. ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Senate panel voted on Tuesday to provide weapons to rebels battling the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad, the first time lawmakers have endorsed the aggressive U.S. military step of arming the opposition in the 2-year-old civil war.

LONDON (AP) — For fans of the boy wizard, this could be the most coveted copy of all the "Harry Potter" books in the world.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Army says the commanding general of Fort Jackson, S.C., has been suspended in connection with charges of adultery and involvement in a physical altercation.

COALCOMAN, Mexico (AP) — Mexico's top security officials promised Tuesday that a new federal offensive to rescue towns besieged by the Knights Templar drug cartel in western Michoacan state would stay "until there is security and peace for all state residents."

By Kareem Raheem BAGHDAD, Iraq (Reuters) - A series of bomb and gun attacks across Iraq killed more than 40 people on Tuesday, a day after over 70 died in violence targeting majority Shi'ites that has stoked fears of all-out sectarian war with minority Sunnis. Nearly 300 people have been killed in the past week as sectarian tensions, fuelled by the civil war in neighboring Syria, threaten to plunge Iraq back into communal bloodletting. Ten years after the U.S. ...

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's election overseers removed potential wild-card candidates from the presidential race Tuesday, blocking a top aide of outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and a former president who revived hopes of reformers.

MOORE, Okla. (AP) — I left the office in Oklahoma City as soon as I saw the tornado warnings on TV. I had photographed about a dozen twisters in the past decade, and knew that if I didn't get in my car before the funnel cloud hit, it would be too late.

MOORE, Okla. (AP) — The search for survivors and the dead is nearly complete in the Oklahoma City suburb that was smashed by a mammoth tornado, the fire chief said Tuesday.

CINCINNATI (AP) — Tea party activists waving flags and signs, singing patriotic songs and chanting anti-IRS slogans held rallies outside federal buildings across the country Tuesday to protest the agency's extra scrutiny of conservative groups.

CANNES, France (AP) — Associated Press journalists open their notebooks at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival:

By Paul Carrel and Jonathan Spicer FRANKFURT/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two senior Federal Reserve officials on Tuesday played down chances that the U.S. central bank would signal a readiness to taper bond buying at its meeting next month, dampening speculation the Fed might soon dial back its ultra-easy policy. New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley and St. Louis Fed chief James Bullard, both of whom will vote at the June 18-19 meeting, made clear further economic progress was needed before they would support curtailing bond purchases. "Inflation is pretty low in the U.S. ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says President Barack Obama opposes a House bill that would speed approval of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to Texas.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said Tuesday he will put on hold about 20 applications to export liquefied natural gas until he reviews studies by the Energy Department and others on what impact the exports would have on domestic natural gas supplies and prices.