VENICE, Louisiana (Reuters) - Hurricane Alex is slowing cleanup and oil containment efforts at the site of BP Plc's Gulf of Mexico oil spill even as a potential permanent fix for the leak remains weeks away.

AP - Concerns are rising that the economic rebound is stalling, but a strong jobs report on Friday would go a long way towards assuaging those fears.

AFP - US General David Petraeus makes his public debut on Saturday as commander of the Afghan war, celebrating US Independence Day in one of the most heavily guarded places in the country.

AP - Poles vote Sunday in a presidential runoff election that pits the identical twin brother of the last head of state, who was killed in a plane crash, against the acting president.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's ruling and main opposition parties wrested ground from each other in elections for governors in a dozen states on Sunday, setting the stage for a tough battle for the presidency in 2012.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet on Tuesday seeking to show they have turned the page on an unusually rocky period in relations between Washington and its close ally.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle on Tuesday vetoed a domestic partnership bill that would have allowed same-sex couples to gain most of the benefits and protections of marriage by registering civil unions.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration heads to court on Thursday with a single goal -- to reinstate a six-month moratorium on deepwater oil drilling imposed in response to the BP Plc oil spill but blocked by a federal judge.

SEOUL (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council's likely adoption of a statement on the sinking of a South Korean war on Friday without explicitly blaming the North will begin to shift focus to disarmament talks aimed at reining in Pyongyang.

AP - U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle on Friday denounced Majority Leader Harry Reid as a 'desperate man' who was distorting her conservative record while ignoring a state that leads the nation in joblessness, foreclosures and bankruptcies.

VENICE, Louisiana (Reuters) - Gulf Coast native Kindra Arnesen is so anxious about the effects of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill she is packing up her family and leaving town.

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Bomb blasts ripped through two separate bars packed with soccer fans watching the World Cup final in Uganda's capital Kampala, killing at least 23 people and signaling a possible link to Somali Islamists.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly 60 percent of American voters say they lack faith in President Barack Obama, according to a public opinion poll published on Tuesday.

TOKYO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp said on Wednesday its investigation of nearly 2,000 cases of unintended acceleration had found no problem with its electronic throttle system, and that driver error was to blame in some cases.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The broadest overhaul of U.S. financial rules since the Great Depression is likely to clear a crucial hurdle in Congress on Thursday morning, paving the way for President Barack Obama to sign the measure into law.

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Oil is no longer spewing into the Gulf of Mexico -- at least temporarily -- as BP Plc said it choked off the flow from its undersea well that ruptured in April and caused the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) - A Mexican drug cartel is responsible for a cell phone-detonated car bomb that killed four people in a city on the U.S. border, state security forces said on Friday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's top diplomat and defense chief head to Seoul this week to discuss ways to respond to North Korea and deter it from any future attack after the sinking of a South Korean warship.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Bailed-out insurer American International Group Inc (AIG) named former Prudential plc Chief Executive Mark Tucker as head of its Asia life insurance business, AIA, replacing existing boss Mark Wilson.

HOUSTON/LONDON (Reuters) - BP Plc can keep its blown-out Gulf of Mexico well capped for at least another day, after it was determined that nearby seepage was not related to the leak, a U.S. official said on Monday.

LONDON/HOUSTON (Reuters) - BP Plc on Wednesday denied a report its heavily criticized chief executive would soon leave, after the company lined up $7 billion in asset sales to help pay for the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

LONDON/HOUSTON (Reuters) - BP Plc defended its embattled chief executive on Wednesday and denied he would soon leave as the company prepared to launch within days a new approach to ending the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Bonnie threatened efforts to plug BP Plc's Gulf of Mexico oil leak on Friday and officials said many of the vessels and rigs involved in the operation would prepare to move out of the system's path.

HOUSTON (Reuters) - The approach of a major storm on Saturday forced BP Plc to halt efforts to permanently plug its gushing oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico and the system could regain strength after it weakened on Friday.

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Ships and workers moved back into BP Plc's Gulf of Mexico oil spill site on Sunday as seas calmed, and BP could begin pumping mud into the blown-out well later this week in a bid to plug the gusher.

LONDON (Reuters) - BP Plc was expected to announce changes at the top on Monday with the anticipated departure of CEO Tony Hayward, who came under fire for his handling of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - State tax revenue is improving, but only slightly, and may not be enough to end steep spending cuts or replace the loss of assistance from the federal stimulus plan that expires in December, according to a report on Tuesday.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A Pakistani plane with more than 150 people on board crashed on Wednesday in hills near the capital, Islamabad, an aviation spokesman said.

HOUSTON/MIAMI (Reuters) - BP Plc may permanently shut the well that caused the worst off-shore oil spill in U.S. history as early as Monday, the company said as speculation grew over assets it might sell to cover mounting costs.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Economic growth likely slowed in the second quarter as a capital investment drive by businesses was sated by imports and consumer spending tapered off, a government report is expected to show on Friday.

PHOENIX, Arizona (Reuters) - A U.S. court denied a request for an expedited hearing on Friday and instead set a November date for Arizona's appeal to a federal court ruling that blocked key parts of a state law cracking down on illegal immigration.