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LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have discovered a gene mutation linked to the most common cause of blindness in the developed world, holding out the prospect of better treatments and perhaps eventually a cure.

PERTH, Australia (AFP) - Up to 40 passengers and crew were injured, some seriously, in a mid-air incident that forced a Qantas jetliner to make an emergency landing, the Australian carrier and police said on Tuesday.

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve stepped forward as a commercial lender of last resort and signaled a readiness to cut interest rates as governments around the world scrambled to stem the growing credit crisis and stocks spun lower for a fifth straight day.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators sent a letter to American International Group Inc in March warning of its lack of transparency and ability to oversee its financial products, a top Democratic lawmaker said on Tuesday.

John McCain has set off the harshest burst of attack politics in the presidential campaign so far.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan immigration authorities arrested the U.S. author of a critical book about presidential candidate Barack Obama before its launch on Tuesday and took him to the airport for deportation, witnesses said.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - A senior Iranian official denied on Tuesday a local news agency report that a U.S. military plane had violated the country's airspace and was forced to land, saying both the aircraft and the people on board were Hungarian.

KABUL (Reuters) - Britain's military commander and ambassador in Afghanistan are being "defeatist" by thinking the war cannot be won, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said, as Washington seeks more troops for the conflict that started exactly seven years ago.

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Two Japanese scientists and a Tokyo-born American shared the 2008 Nobel Prize for physics for helping explain why the universe is asymmetrical and thus fit for life, the prize committee said on Tuesday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp, citing "recessionary conditions," on Monday halved its dividend and said it would sell at least $10 billion in new common stock to bolster its capital to offset rising loan losses.

WILMINGTON, Del (Reuters) - With a month to go before the U.S. election on November 4, Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden canceled campaign events for another two days on Sunday after the death of his mother-in-law.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sen. Ted Stevens told an oil-executive friend, in recordings played on Monday at the Alaska Republican's corruption trial, they both risked going to jail -- but he didn't think it would come to that.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's government is poised to announce a "comprehensive" rescue package for the banking system, the BBC reported on Tuesday, including the possibility of injecting capital into banks.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australians who sound like crocodile hunter Steve Irwin or Crocodile Dundee actor Paul Hogan could soon be a relic of the past, a report said on Sunday.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - A senior Iranian official on Tuesday denied an Iranian news agency report that a U.S. military plane had violated the country's airspace, saying both the aircraft and the people on board were Hungarian.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A new prenatal test to detect genetic disorders such as Down's Syndrome could render current riskier procedures "obsolete," according to new research published Monday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mayor Michael Bloomberg introduced a bill on Tuesday that would change the city's term-limits law and allow him to seek four more years in office to help New York cope with the sweeping economic crisis.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - An Iranian state television station said on Tuesday that a plane that was forced to land in Iran was not a U.S. military aircraft, but that five senior U.S. military officials had been on board.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Legendary Hollywood director Steven Spielberg and his longtime partner Paramount Pictures formalized their divorce on Sunday, but intend to stay good friends, announced Paramount.

Washington - The US Supreme Court is set to hear a case this week that will provide important practical advice to workers asked to participate in an internal company investigation of alleged sexual harassment by a senior manager.

ZASLAVL, Belarus (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin wishes officials would stop naming streets after him and erecting statues of him, his spokesman said on Monday.

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp is looking for support from Detroit city pension officials to refinance its Detroit headquarters and could possibly sell it, but has no plans to move from the iconic building.

The Supreme Court Monday left in place an appeals court ruling that allows Arizona to issue "choose life" license plates, while in another case the justices rejected for a third time an appeal by antiabortion activists to undo a $16 million verdict against them. The activists were penalized for using "wanted" posters to identify abortion clinic doctors.