AP - With the death of Whitney Houston just hours earlier, it's hard to focus on the matter of crowning the best in recorded music — but Sunday night's Grammy Awards are going to try.

AP - Whitney Houston's last days were spent surrounded by family, catching up with old friends and doing a bit of what she was best known for: singing.

AP - Al-Qaida's leader has called for the ouster of Syria's "pernicious, cancerous regime," raising fears that Islamic extremists will try to exploit an uprising against President Bashar Assad that began with peaceful calls for democratic change but is morphing into a bloody, armed insurgency.

AP - Conservatives said Sunday the flap surrounding President Barack Obama's birth control mandate was far from over, with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell saying he'll push to overturn the requirement because it was another example of government meddling.

AP - A day after Mitt Romney regained some momentum in the Republican presidential contest, his rival Rick Santorum went on the attack, calling the front-runner "desperate" while promising to compete aggressively to win the state where Romney grew up.