We have a fondness for stories about centenarians, we have to admit.

There was Fauja Singh, the 100-year-old "Turbaned Tornado," who finished the Toronto Marathon last year.

NATO has just asked the Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to attend the May 20-21 summit in Chicago. The AP says the overture signals that the rift between NATO and Islamabad may be coming to a resolution.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said a bomb detonated in the middle of Bogotá, the country's capital and largest city, was intended to kill former interior minister Ferdnando Londoño Hoyos.

El País reports that Santos condemned the attack, saying the bomb exploded next to the armored vehicle Londoño was travelling in.

Presidential candidate Ron Paul is not expected to ultimately endorse presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney, Paul's chief strategist said Tuesday.

"Never say never, but I don't believe that's likely," said Jesse Benton, during a half-hour-plus give-and-take with reporters.

The Southern Appalachian Highland Conservancy has protected 50,000 acres in North Carolina and Tennessee over the course of 38 years. Pam Bunch talks to Executive Director Carl Silverstein about the challenges of saving resources of Western North Carolina, working to conserve the Highlands of Roan, Mt. Mitchell and farmland as well. On Thursday, May 17, SAHC will celebrate this 50,000 milestone with a special event at Highland Brewing Company in Asheville.

Find out more at www.Appalachian.org.

Aletta — a modest tropical storm spinning of the western coast of Mexico with 40 mph winds — is already special because of two reasons: It the first tropical storm in the Western Hemisphere and it has now broken a 41-day streak in which Earth did not see a cyclone.

Jeff Masters at Weather Underground provides a little more detail:

Idaho native Justin Ringer fronts the 5-piece post-folk outfit Horse Feathers, based out of Portland, Oregon.  Their 4th album "Cynic's New Year", on the Kill Rock Stars label, captures the murky, heavy, minor-key mood of many Pacific Northwest bands, but also draws heavily from Appalachian folk inspirations.  They play Asheville Wednesday night.  

Americans Elect, the nationwide effort to launch a credible third-party presidential campaign, has money, media attention and — most importantly — access to the ballot in dozens of states.

What it doesn't have is a candidate for president.

So if it follows its own rules, the nonprofit, nonpartisan organization won't field a presidential candidate alongside President Obama and presumed Republican nominee Mitt Romney on Nov. 6, it announced Tuesday.

But the group also left the door open to bending those rules.