The Starting Point: Stimulus payments and a waterboarding dare

The Starting Point is a snapshot of the news stories that occurred overnight. Look for updates throughout the day on Yahoo! News and in the news box on Yahoo.com.

Top story overnight: A toddler in Texas has become the first U.S. death from swine flu, Reuters reported. When the child's death was announced this morning, the number of confirmed infections in America stood at 66, with 45 in New York, 11 in California, six in Texas, two in Kansas and one each in Indiana and Ohio. The outbreak also spread to Germany today, prompting the World Health Organization to consider raising its pandemic alert level to Phase 5. A declaration of Phase 5 would be "a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent." 

In other news: Seven police officers were assassinated in Tijuana on Monday, The Associated Press reported. The coordinated effort, likely committed by drug cartels, also injured two officers and a convenience store employee. Mexico's drug violence has claimed more than 10,700 lives since 2006. Finally, a bus carrying French tourists overturned on a California overpass on Monday, killing at least five passengers and injuring dozens. According to The AP, investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the crash, but wind may have been a factor. Click here to see video of the accident scene.

Popular stories overnight: Readers were intrigued by this AP story of a cable TV showdown about America's use of waterboarding on suspected terrorists. MSNBC host Keith Olbermann offered $1,000 to the families of U.S. troops for every second Fox New Channel's Sean Hannity could withstand a waterboarding session. Hannity says waterboarding is a fair and necessary interrogation technique; Olbermann calls it torture.

An AP article on the economic stimulus package captured readers' attentions as well. The U.S. government plans to send $250 checks to more than 50 million Americans next month. These payments, which are intended to inject more than $13 billion into the economy, will be mailed to Americans who receive Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, railroad retirement or veteran's disability benefits.

Yesterday's poll: Will the recent outbreaks of swine flu affect your summer travel plans? Most respondents said it was "too early to make any changes yet." Twenty percent said they don't expect their travel plans to change and another 18 percent have already made plans to go somewhere else.

Today's poll: Today is President Barack Obama's 100th day in office. How would you grade his performance thus far? Click here to share your thoughts.

Looking ahead: The Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case about the way elections are held. And a judge at the U.N.-backed tribunal set up to prosecute former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassins is expected to rule on whether to keep the only suspects in custody.

Today in history: In 1945, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler married his longtime mistress Eva Braun in a Berlin bunker. The couple killed themselves the next day.

Birthdays: Chicago Bears defensive tackle Tommie Harris, 26. Actor Tyler Labine, 31. Musician Mike Hogan (The Cranberries), 36. Tennis player Andre Agassi, 39. Actress Uma Thurman, 39. Singer Carnie Wilson, 41. Actress Eve Plumb, 51. Actress Michelle Pfeiffer, 51. Actor Daniel Day-Lewis, 52. Actress Kate Mulgrew, 54. Actor/comedian Jerry Seinfeld, 55. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), 59. Singer Duane Allen (The Oak Ridge Boys), 66.

Tagline Contest: The Starting Point blog needs a snappy and informative tagline. The current tagline is "Jade Walker is the overnight editor of Yahoo! News. While America sleeps…Jade keeps the rest of the world informed." Can you come up with something better? E-mail your suggestions using the subject "Tagline Contest." Include your name, mailing address and tagline suggestions in the body of the e-mail. A few notes: The tagline should fit on a T-shirt. It must indicate that Jade Walker is the overnight editor. And the tagline should have some attitude, but not snarky that it belittles the most likely sad news posted above it. Deadline for entries is April 30. Winner will receive a new iPod shuffle!

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--Jade Walker is the overnight editor of Yahoo! News. While America sleeps…Jade keeps the rest of the world informed.

**Yahoo! News bloggers compile the best news content from our providers and scour the Web for the most interesting news stories so you don't have to.