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Cuban President Fidel Castro has been a mentor to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. And their relationship has become critically important, as Venezuela now provides the Caribbean island nation with oil. The relationship gives Chavez a degree of influence in Cuba.

A massive heat wave continues to broil many parts of the United States, with temperatures topping 100 degrees for the third consecutive day in many places. And with high humidity and other factors, the heat index shows that the temperatures often feel even hotter.

President Fidel Castro is recovering from intestinal surgery and in good spirits, according to Cuban authorities. News of the leader's health has been closely guarded since he was hospitalized.

The Sprockettes, a troupe of do-it-yourself performing bicyclists from Portland, Ore., want to popularize a new performance sport that's part dance and part stunt biking.

The United States and France point to a positive response to a draft U.N. resolution calling for a halt to fighting and asking U.N. peacekeepers to monitor the Israeli-Lebanese border. But Lebanon's Prime Minister Fuad Siniora calls the text "inadequate." His government plans to press the Security Council to amend some of the wording.

A fresh barrage of rockets slams into the northern Israeli city of Haifa, despite days of fierce fighting between Hezbollah guerrillas and Israeli troops along the Lebanon-Israel border. Much of the current fighting is centered in and around a major Hezbollah stronghold in southern Lebanon.

Israeli troops welcome the cease-fire with Hezbollah guerrillas as a chance to rest. But the Israeli military remains ready to resume full operations if ordered to attack again. About 30,000 Israeli forces remained in Lebanon.

Another day of record-breaking heat puts more stress on California's already stressed power grid. Even as businesses and the public try to conserve, there's still a chance that power regulators will be forced to call for rolling blackouts. California has suffered through more than a week of triple-digit temperatures.

Ned Lamont is challenging Joe Lieberman in the Democratic primary for Senate in Connecticut. The race, which has drawn national attention, is largely seen as a referendum on incumbent Sen. Lieberman's position on the war in Iraq. Lieberman announced in June that he will run as a third-party candidate if he fails to win the nomination. Robert Siegel talks separately with Lieberman and Lamont.

The culture clash in Afghanistan between modernizers and traditionalists, and between urban and rural society, has been a constant source of tension.