Bush: Iranian response to package 'positive '

WASHINGTON -- President Bush said Tuesday Iran's initial response to a package of incentives and threats on the nuclear impasse "sounds like a positive step to me. We will see if the Iranians take our offer seriously." The package includes a promise of Western technical help in developing peaceful civilian nuclear energy if Iran stops enriching uranium, a waiver of U.S. legal restrictions to allow export of some agricultural technology, access to U.S. aircraft parts or new Boeing Co. planes to upgrade Iran's fleet and U.S. and European backing for Iran to join the World Trade Organization, diplomats and others said.

Hispanics swept in after storms drove others out

WASHINGTON -- Hurricanes Katrina and Rita drove an estimated 450,000 people from their communities last year, but in the storms' wake Hispanics moved in. New government estimates show a region decimated by population losses four months after the storms. Orleans Parish in Louisiana lost 279,000 people, and nearby St. Bernard Parish lost 61,000. Hispanics, however, swept in by the tens of thousands, according to estimates released Tuesday by the Census Bureau.

North Dakota woman turned 66 on 6-6-6

BISMARCK, N.D. -- Thelma Morrison turned 66 Tuesday. Which, of course, was June 6, 2006 -- otherwise referred to as 6-6-6. But the devilish coincidences don't stop there. Morrison was also the sixth child born in her family and has six siblings. No word if her mother's name was Rosemary.

Veterans file class action suit over theft of data

WASHINGTON -- A coalition of veterans' groups charged in a lawsuit Tuesday that their privacy rights were violated after thieves stole personal data on 26.5 million military personnel from a Veterans Affairs employee. The class-action lawsuit against the federal government is the second suit since the VA disclosed the May 3 burglary two weeks ago. It demands that the VA fully disclose which military personnel are affected by the data theft and seeks $1,000 in damages to each person -- up to $26.5 billion total.

2 soldiers killed by Afghan roadside bomb

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Bomb attacks on U.S.-led forces killed two coalition soldiers and wounded four in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday. An Afghan interpreter was also injured. On Tuesday, a roadside bomb struck a military vehicle conducting security operations in Nangarhar province, killing two coalition soldiers, said Lt. Khrysten Darm, a U.S. military spokeswoman.

Student's body exhumed for burial at home

GAYLORD, Mich. -- The body of a young woman who was laid to rest under a grave marker with someone else's name on it was exhumed Tuesday for another burial after a case of mistaken identity. A city public works crew removed the casket holding the remains of Laura VanRyn from the Fairview Cemetery plot where the parents of Whitney Cerak had buried her, thinking the young woman was their daughter. VanRyn, 22, will be given a private graveside service by her parents and will be reburied near relatives in Grand Rapids Township, about 180 miles away, funeral home owner Bob Zaagman said.

-- From wire reports