The Starting Point: An early morning break-in and an Odd Day

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: Nearly a year after a massive earthquake leveled hundreds of schools in China, the government released the first official tally of student casualties: 5,335 were killed, or are still missing. Parents say the students died because the schools were poorly constructed; officials blame the sheer power of the quake for the damage. The magnitude-7.9 temblor also left 5 million people homeless, The Associated Press reported.

In other news: The Baghdad contract for the security firm formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide ended today, The AP reported. The company will remain in some areas of southern Iraq into the summer and its aviation service will continue to provide air security for U.S. diplomatic convoys until September. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited with 300 Marines in Afghanistan today, and announced that the U.S. has no plans to deploy ground troops to Pakistan, The AP reported. More than 60,000 U.S. troops will be stationed in Afghanistan by fall, up from about 38,000 now. A wind-driven wildfire has destroyed 20 homes near Santa Barbara, Calif., Reuters reported. At the time of this writing, three firefighters have sustained injuries from the blaze and thousands of residents have been forced to evacuate. Click here to view a slideshow of the destruction. Finally, today is Odd Day, a holiday math buffs enjoy celebrating. The date, 5/7/09, is one of only six in this century that will feature three consecutive odd numbers.

Most-read stories overnight: An American man was arrested on Wednesday morning for allegedly swimming across a lake and entering the home of Myanmar's detained opposition leader. It was reportedly the first time anyone had sneaked into Aung San Suu Kyi's compound, where she's been kept under house arrest for more than 13 of the past 19 years.

Readers were also interested in this AP story out of Connecticut. A gunman, wearing a disguise, walked into a local bookstore and killed a Wesleyan University student who worked there. Police identified the suspect as Stephen Morgan, 29, who they described as a thin, bearded man who should be considered armed and dangerous. The victim was identified as Johanna Justin-Jinich, of Timnath, Colo. She was working at the Red and Black Cafe inside Broad Street Books when the gunman shot her several times. She later died at the hospital.

Yesterday's poll: We asked readers about their dream jobs. Each sector received at least one vote, but 24% of respondents said they'd take any job, as long as they could work from home. There will be no poll today due to tool maintenance.

Today in history: In 1915, a German torpedo sank the British liner Lusitania off the Irish coast, killing nearly 1,200 people.

Birthdays: Actor Breckin Meyer, 35. Singer Eagle-Eye Cherry, 38. Adult actress Traci Lords, 40. Actor Michael E. Knight, 50. Writer/director Amy Heckerling, 55. Actor Robert Hegyes, 58. Musician Bill Kreutzmann (Grateful Dead), 63. Singer/songwriter Bill Danoff (The Starland Vocal Band), 63. Former Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), 77. Hall of Fame baseball manager Dick Williams, 80.

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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.