DETROIT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - General Motors Corp will file for bankruptcy later on Monday, U.S. officials said, forcing the 100-year-old automaker once seen as a symbol of American economic might and dynamism into a new and uncertain era of government ownership.

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Search planes scoured the dark waters of the Atlantic Ocean early on Tuesday, looking for the remains of an Air France jetliner that disappeared in a severe storm with 228 people on board.

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazilian navy divers rushed on Wednesday to reach the wreckage of an Air France jet and start the grim job of pulling debris from the Atlantic Ocean, where the plane with 228 people went down in the airline's worst disaster in its 75-year history.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Medical bills are involved in more than 60 percent of U.S. personal bankruptcies, an increase of 50 percent in just six years, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday.

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai coroners completed an autopsy on Friday on the body of actor David Carradine, a day after the star of the U.S. television show 'Kung Fu' was found naked and hanging dead in his luxury Bangkok hotel room.

AP - A plan under consideration by the Obama administration would permit Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detainees facing the death penalty to plead guilty without a full trial, it has been reported.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Indiana pension funds asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Sunday to immediately delay the sale of bankrupt automaker Chrysler LLC to a group led by Italian carmaker Fiat SpA while they challenge the deal.

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea, facing U.N. sanctions for last month's nuclear test, on Monday raised the stakes in its growing confrontation with Washington by jailing two U.S. journalists to 12 years hard labor for 'grave crime.'

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bank stress tests should be repeated if the U.S. unemployment rate rises beyond levels assumed by regulators in a recent round of examinations that provided relief to markets, according to a report released by a bailout watchdog panel on Tuesday.

AP - With opponents of Chrysler's planned partnership with Italy's Fiat having exhausted their appeals, the Obama administration-backed sale could close early Wednesday — putting the automaker close to its goal of a speedy exit from bankruptcy protection.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California's government risks a financial 'meltdown' within 50 days in light of its weakening May revenues unless Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers quickly plug a $24.3 billion budget gap, the state's controller said on Wednesday.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranians began voting on Friday in a closely-fought election which pits hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad against a former prime minister who sharply criticizes his economic record and wants detente with the West.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad resoundingly won Iran's election, preliminary official results showed on Saturday, but his moderate challenger alleged irregularities and claimed victory for himself.

AP - Standing on a chair with his arms raised as if he were being crucified, ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich opened a comedy show Saturday evening lampooning the rise and fall of his own political career.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With Congress working to flesh out controversial elements of his healthcare reform plan, President Barack Obama will make his case for a public insurance program to the nation's doctors on Monday, seeking to overcome their resistance.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranians planned more protests on Tuesday against a presidential election they say was rigged but the focus of their anger, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, left the country to attend an international meeting.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will unveil on Wednesday his plans for reshaping U.S. financial regulation, with proposals to close one bank regulator and create new overseers for big-picture economic risk and consumer financial product safety.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton fell and broke her elbow on Wednesday but will resume her full duties soon as the Obama administration's top diplomat, a State Department spokeswoman said.

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Texas billionaire Allen Stanford will appear in a federal court in Virginia on Friday over allegations of massive fraud involving his Antigua bank, U.S. officials said after he surrendered to the FBI.

AFP - Iran's opposition will go ahead with a planned rally in Tehran despite a government warning against new protests, an aide to defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi told AFP.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans strongly support fundamental changes to the healthcare system and a move to create a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll published on Saturday.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi urged supporters to stage more protests over the re-election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a direct challenge to the Islamic Republic's leadership.

PARIS (Reuters) - Signals from the flight data recorders of the Air France airliner that crashed into the Atlantic killing all 228 people on board have been located, Le Monde newspaper said on its website on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve will emphasize that the U.S. economy remains fragile in a policy statement later on Wednesday, as it talks down expectations for a rate hike this year and holds fire on expanding asset purchases.

AP - A Web site affiliated with Iran's key opposition figure, Mir Hossein Mousavi, says 70 university professors were detained after meeting with him.

AP - Swine flu has infected as many as 1 million Americans, U.S. health officials said Thursday, adding that 6 percent or more of some urban populations are infected. The estimate voiced by a government flu scientist Thursday was no surprise to the experts who have been closely watching the virus.

AP - Michael Jackson insisted that his concert promoter's payroll include his personal physician, a financially troubled cardiologist who was with the entertainer when he collapsed.

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea is acquiring 40 U.S.-made missiles for an Aegis destroyer this month to boost its defenses amid reports North Korea may soon test-fire missiles, Yonhap news agency on Sunday quoted a military source as saying.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Admitted thief Bernard Madoff will leave his jail cell and be taken under guard to court on Monday morning to hear his punishment for running Wall Street's biggest and most brazen investment scheme.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq takes a major step toward reasserting its sovereignty on Tuesday when U.S. combat troops hand urban areas over to its relatively untested police and soldiers.