WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Long after President Barack Obama's first term ends in 2013, millions of U.S. families will still be paying the price for the recession.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A task force is studying the possibility of moving some suspected militants from Guantanamo Bay to a maximum security prison in the United States with its own courtrooms for criminal and military trials, The Washington Post reported on Sunday.

LANSING, Michigan (Reuters) - After more than a century of making cars, the U.S. state of Michigan is retraining thousands of unemployed workers for new careers now that many of their jobs may be gone for good.

AP - The Taliban killed at least 10 people and critically injured a local police chief in western Afghanistan's main city on Monday with a remote-controlled bomb hidden in a trash can, officials said.

AP - Injuries to American children during physical education classes increased by 150 percent from 1997-2007, a new study finds, a possible drawback to a movement encouraging more vigorous exercise in schools.

AP - Melky Cabrera became the first Yankee in 14 years to hit for the cycle, leading New York to an 8-5 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday afternoon.

Reuters - Long after President Barack Obama's first term ends in 2013, millions of U.S. families will still be paying the price for the recession.

Reuters - A task force is studying the possibility of moving some suspected militants from Guantanamo Bay to a maximum security prison in the United States with its own courtrooms for criminal and military trials, The Washington Post reported on Sunday.

Reuters - After more than a century of making cars, the U.S. state of Michigan is retraining thousands of unemployed workers for new careers now that many of their jobs may be gone for good.

AFP - A remote control bomb targeting police killed 12 people in the heart of the western city of Herat Monday in the latest attack to hit beleaguered Afghanistan just weeks away from elections.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's supreme leader formally approved the second term presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday after a disputed election that leading reformists say was rigged to ensure the incumbent's victory.

HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A roadside bomb attack claimed by the Taliban killed at least 12 people in west Afghanistan's most important city on Monday, officials said, amid worsening security before a presidential poll this month.

ROME (Reuters) - Triumphant Michael Phelps did not need to rely on hi-tech swimsuit wizardry to reaffirm his worth at the world aquatics championships.

AP - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton embarks Monday on a seven-nation tour of Africa to affirm the Obama administration's commitment to tackling trouble spots across the continent from Somalia and Zimbabwe to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Liberia.

AP - A remote-controlled bomb exploded Monday in western Afghanistan's main city, killing 10 people and critically wounding a district police chief — the main target of the attack.

Reuters - Iran's supreme leader formally approved the second term presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday after a disputed election that leading reformists say was rigged to ensure the incumbent's victory.

Reuters - A roadside bomb attack claimed by the Taliban killed at least 12 people in west Afghanistan's most important city on Monday, officials said, amid worsening security before a presidential poll this month.

AFP - Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday formally endorsed hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president for a new four-year term amid intense political turmoil in the Islamic republic.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei formally endorsed the second term presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday after a disputed election that plunged Iran into its worst crisis since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's Supreme Court adjourned an appeal hearing on Monday to decide whether to re-arrest the founder of a militant group said to have been behind the attacks on Mumbai last November.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has sealed off a remote far-western town of 10,000 people after two people died of pneumonic plague, state media said Monday, but the World Health Organization said such outbreaks were nothing new.

AP - Navy pilot Michael 'Scott' Speicher was called the first casualty of the 1991 Gulf War. But his true status was a mystery, and the Pentagon didn't know whether he was dead or missing.

AP - Iran's supreme leader formally endorsed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for second term as president Monday in a ceremony that sought to portray unity among the country's leadership but was snubbed by prominent critics of the disputed election.

AP - A transplanted veteran and a talented rookie have added muscle to an already potent Boston Red Sox lineup.

Reuters - Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei formally endorsed the second term presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday after a disputed election that plunged Iran into its worst crisis since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Reuters - Pakistan's Supreme Court adjourned an appeal hearing on Monday to decide whether to re-arrest the founder of a militant group said to have been behind the attacks on Mumbai last November.

Reuters - China has sealed off a remote far-western town of 10,000 people after two people died of pneumonic plague, state media said Monday, but the World Health Organization said such outbreaks were nothing new.

AFP - Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday formally endorsed hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president for a new four-year term amid intense political turmoil in the Islamic republic.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali pirates holding a German ship with five Germans, three Russians, two Ukrainians and 14 Filipinos on board have received a $2.7 million ransom and are counting it before releasing the ship, a pirate told Reuters.

AP - More than two dozen people were hurt when a Continental Airlines jet hit turbulence on a flight from Brazil to Texas, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing in Miami early Monday, officials said.

AP - Even as Americans suffer rising unemployment, foreclosure rates in three states hit hardest by the housing bust — California, Arizona and Florida — stabilized in June, offering hope that the worst of the real estate crisis is over, according to The Associated Press' monthly analysis of economic stress in more than 3,100 U.S. counties.

AP - A spokeswoman for the family of Navy pilot Michael 'Scott' Speicher (SPYK'-uhr) says it will continue seeking on its own to learn how he died, now that his remains have been found.

Reuters - Somali pirates holding a German ship with five Germans, three Russians, two Ukrainians and 14 Filipinos on board have received a $2.7 million ransom and are counting it before releasing the ship, a pirate told Reuters.

AFP - A bomb planted in a rubbish bin detonated next to a police convoy here on Monday, killing 12 people in the latest attack to hit beleaguered Afghanistan weeks before elections.

DETROIT (Reuters) - The punishing four-year decline in U.S. auto sales may have reached a turning point this week -- just as Michael Papa handed over the keys to his 1996 Ford Explorer for a government-sponsored trade-in.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader endorsed the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a ceremony boycotted by leading moderates in protest at a disputed poll that plunged Iran into its worst crisis since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

AP - With the 'cash for clunkers' program essentially running on fumes, the Obama administration served notice on the Senate that it must pour in $2 billion more to keep it on track.

AP - A private-sector index measuring the health of U.S. manufacturing declined last month at the slowest pace since August, as companies boost production to restock bare shelves.

AP - Construction spending rose for the second time in three months in June as residential building increased, fresh evidence that the battered housing sector may be recovering.

AP - A Continental Airlines jet carrying 179 people from Brazil to Texas hit severe turbulence over the Atlantic early Monday, injuring at least 26 — including four seriously — and forcing an emergency landing in Miami, officials said.

AP - A Kentucky man has agreed to return to Wisconsin to face charges he killed a couple nearly 30 years ago and dumped their bodies in the countryside.

Reuters - Iran's Supreme Leader endorsed the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a ceremony boycotted by leading moderates in protest at a disputed poll that plunged Iran into its worst crisis since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

AFP - Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Monday that NATO would help prevent Afghanistan from once more becoming the main hub of international terrorism as he took the helm of the military alliance.

DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co said on Monday that U.S. auto sales rose 2.3 percent in July, its first year-over-year monthly sales increase since November 2007, supported by the U.S. government 'Cash for Clunkers' program.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Google Inc Chief Executive Eric Schmidt is resigning from Apple Inc's board of directors, the companies said, citing increased competition between the two leading technology companies.

AP - The Senate came under increasing pressure Monday to refuel the stalling 'cash-for-clunkers' initiative amid uncertainty over how much money, if any, is left in the fund bankrolling the popular program.

AP - A local south Sudanese official says gunmen have attacked a group of displaced people camping near a river close to the Ethiopian border, killing 185 of them.

AP - Lured by the government's cash-for-clunkers campaign, car and truck buyers started to return to Ford Motor Co. showrooms last month, with the automaker reporting its first U.S. sales increase in nearly two years.

AP - Katherine Jackson is attending a court hearing where several key issues involving her son's children and estate will be decided.

Reuters - Ford Motor Co said on Monday that U.S. auto sales rose 2.3 percent in July, its first year-over-year monthly sales increase since November 2007, supported by the U.S. government 'Cash for Clunkers' program.

Reuters - Google Inc Chief Executive Eric Schmidt is resigning from Apple Inc's board of directors, the companies said, citing increased competition between the two leading technology companies.

AFP - Fierce clashes between rival ethnic groups in south Sudan have killed more than 160 people, most of them women and children, a regional official said on Monday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama maintains his 'clear commitment' to not raise taxes on middle class families, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said on Monday.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's Supreme Court adjourned an appeal hearing on Monday to decide whether to re-arrest the founder of a militant group said to have been behind the attacks on Mumbai last November.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday urged the Iranian government to help determine the whereabouts of three missing Americans and 'return them as quickly as possible.'

AP - Michael Jackson's mother has gained permanent custody of her late son's children during a hearing Monday that saw a last-minute objection by the pop icon's former dermatologist.

AP - Dozens of Guantanamo Bay detainee cases have been referred to federal prosecutors for possible criminal trials in the nation's capital, Virginia and New York City, officials told The Associated Press on Monday as a second strategy for trying the detainees emerged within the Obama administration.

AP - Bank of America Corp. has agreed to pay a $33 million penalty to settle government charges that it misled investors about Merrill Lynch's plans to pay bonuses to its employees, regulators said Monday.

AP - Lured by the government's cash for clunkers campaign, car and truck buyers started returning to showrooms last month, as Ford Motor Co. reported its first U.S. sales increase in nearly two years and other major automakers said sales showed signs of stability.

AP - Florida coach Urban Meyer has two national championships in the last three years and the same number of raises.

AP - Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is predicting the Senate will pass legislation adding $2 billion to save a financially strapped 'clash-for-clunkers' car-buying program.

Reuters - U.S. President Barack Obama maintains his 'clear commitment' to not raise taxes on middle class families, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said on Monday.

Reuters - Pakistan's Supreme Court adjourned an appeal hearing on Monday to decide whether to re-arrest the founder of a militant group said to have been behind the attacks on Mumbai last November.

AFP - Fierce clashes between rival ethnic groups in south Sudan have killed at least 185 people, most of them women and children, a regional official said on Monday.

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co said on Monday its U.S. auto sales fell 19.4 percent in July from a year earlier, but retail sales rose from the month before for a fifth consecutive month, supported by the U.S. government's 'Cash for Clunkers' incentives.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will keep his promise not to raise taxes on people making less than $250,000 a year, the White House said Monday, rebutting comments by administration officials that indicated otherwise.

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc Chief Executive Eric Schmidt has quit Apple Inc's board of directors, a move that may help defuse some scrutiny of their relationship as they compete in key markets.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress was indicted on Monday on two felony counts accusing him of criminal possession of a weapon and one misdemeanor count of reckless endangerment, prosecutors said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck off Baja California in Mexico on Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

AP - The government's wildly popular 'cash for clunkers' program, offering $4,500 rebates to customers who trade in gas guzzlers, is likely to end Friday if the Senate doesn't approve $2 billion more for it, the White House says.

AP - The mother of an American freelance journalist said Monday she was concerned for the safety and welfare of her son and two others believed to have been arrested by Iranian authorities after going on a hiking trip in neighboring Iraq.

AP - A powerful earthquake Monday shook fishing villages along Mexico's Gulf of California, prompting alarm as far away as Phoenix, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

AP - The recession is starving the government of tax revenue, just as the president and Congress are piling a major expansion of health care and other programs on the nation's plate and struggling to find money to pay the tab.

AP - Iran's supreme leader bestowed his formal endorsement on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's second term as president on Monday but withheld a powerful symbolic gesture — the kisses and close embrace that portrayed their bond four years ago.

Reuters - U.S. auto sales jumped to their highest level of 2009 in July as Americans rushed to take advantage of a government incentive to trade in old cars and trucks, raising hopes the battered sector is poised for a recovery.

Reuters - U.S. President Barack Obama will keep his promise not to raise taxes on people making less than $250,000 a year, the White House said Monday, rebutting comments by administration officials that indicated otherwise.

Reuters - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said on Monday that the agency will continue to investigate the board of director relationship between Apple Inc and Google Inc.

Reuters - Former New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress was indicted on Monday on two felony counts accusing him of criminal possession of a weapon and one misdemeanor count of reckless endangerment, prosecutors said.

Reuters - A 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck off Baja California in Mexico on Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

DETROIT/PARIS (Reuters) - U.S. auto sales jumped to the highest level of 2009 in July as Americans rushed to take advantage of the government's 'Cash for Clunkers' program, raising hopes that the battered sector is poised for recovery.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With President Barack Obama's political fortunes on the line, Democrats in Congress vowed on Monday to push healthcare reform through the Senate with or without Republican support.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two visiting Arab leaders sought to ratchet up diplomatic pressure on Israel in Washington on Monday after Saudi Arabia accused the Jewish state of not being serious about peace with the Palestinians.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said it will continue to investigate the relationship between the boards of Apple Inc and Google Inc, after Google's chief quit Apple's board on Monday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress was indicted on Monday on two felony counts accusing him of criminal possession of a weapon and one misdemeanor count of reckless endangerment, prosecutors said.

AP - Shane Bauer, a freelance writer with a passion for travel and the Middle East, planned to spend a week covering the Kurdish elections in Iraq when he checked with his employer last week.

AP - Staring at a January deadline, the Obama administration is debating between two dramatically different schemes for putting Guantanamo Bay detainees on trial: big-city courtrooms in the nation's capital, New York and Virginia — or a one-of-a-kind superjail in the Midwest.

AP - Iran's supreme leader bestowed his formal endorsement on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's second term as president on Monday but withheld a powerful symbolic gesture — the kisses and close embrace that portrayed their bond four years ago.

AP - Bank of America Corp. has agreed to pay a $33 million penalty to settle government charges that it misled investors about Merrill Lynch's plans to pay bonuses to its executives, regulators said Monday.

AP - Former New York Giants star Plaxico Burress was indicted by a grand jury on weapons charges for shooting himself in the thigh at a Manhattan nightclub and faces a minimum prison sentence of 3 1/2 years if convicted, prosecutors announced Monday.

Reuters - With President Barack Obama's political fortunes on the line, Democrats in Congress vowed on Monday to push healthcare reform through the Senate with or without Republican support.

Reuters - Two visiting Arab leaders sought to ratchet up diplomatic pressure on Israel in Washington on Monday after Saudi Arabia accused the Jewish state of not being serious about peace with the Palestinians.

AP - The government's 'cash-for-clunkers' program drew car and truck buyers back to American showrooms last month, making July the best month for auto sales in nearly a year and offering powerful evidence that the rebates were working as senators debate whether to continue them.

AP - Shane Bauer, a freelance writer with a passion for travel and the Middle East, planned to spend a week covering the Kurdish elections in Iraq when he checked with his employer last week.

AP - Staring at a January deadline, the Obama administration is debating between two dramatically different schemes for putting Guantanamo Bay detainees on trial: big-city courtrooms in the nation's capital, New York and Virginia — or a one-of-a-kind superjail in the Midwest.

AP - Michael Jackson's mother gained permanent custody of her late son's children during a hearing Monday that included a surprise objection from the pop icon's former dermatologist.

AP - A pillar of U.S. communities since the nation's founding, the post office is facing the prospect of closings or consolidation of services at hundreds of locations amid a sharp decline in business due to e-mail.

AP - The popular but overwhelmed 'cash for clunkers' program is zooming toward a quarter-million trade-ins with the initial $1 billion in rebates, but the White House warns the special deals could sputter to an end by Friday unless the Senate quickly approves $2 billion more.

AP - Bank of America Corp. has agreed to pay a $33 million penalty to settle government charges that it misled investors about Merrill Lynch's plans to pay bonuses to its executives, regulators said Monday.

AP - Denny Hamlin ended a 50-race winless skid Monday, holding off Juan Pablo Montoya over the final riveting laps at Pocono Raceway before choking up with grief in Victory Lane.

Reuters - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said it will continue to investigate the relationship between the boards of Apple Inc and Google Inc, after Google's chief quit Apple's board on Monday.

AFP - Australian counter-terrorist police Tuesday arrested four people in raids that foiled a Somali-linked plot to launch a suicide attack on a military base, senior officers said.

SEOUL (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton is on his way to North Korea to try to negotiate the release of two American journalists convicted by the communist state of 'grave crimes,' South Korea's Yonhap news agency said on Tuesday.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Marine scientists from California are venturing this week to the middle of the North Pacific for a study of plastic debris accumulating across hundreds of miles (km) of open sea dubbed the 'Great Pacific Garbage Patch.'

AP - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton is heading to North Korea for negotiations to secure the freedom of two detained American journalists, a news report said Tuesday, nearly five months after they were seized on the China border.

AP - Freelance journalist Shane Bauer planned to cover the elections in northern Iraq's self-ruled Kurdish region. His girlfriend, Sarah Shourd, was going with him on a backpacking trip. Another friend stayed put, under the weather with a cold.

AP - The wishes Michael Jackson expressed in his will began to come into reality Monday during a lengthy court hearing, with his mother placed firmly in charge of rearing his children and the two men he designated still at the reins of his financial empire.

AP - A pillar of U.S. communities since the nation's founding, the post office is facing the prospect of closings or consolidation of services at hundreds of locations amid a sharp decline in business due to e-mail.

AP - The recession is starving the government of tax revenue, just as the president and Congress are piling a major expansion of health care and other programs on the nation's plate and struggling to find money to pay the tab.

AP - Bank of America Corp. has agreed to pay a $33 million penalty to settle government charges that it misled investors about Merrill Lynch's plans to pay bonuses to its executives, regulators said Monday.

Reuters - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton is on his way to North Korea to try to negotiate the release of two American journalists convicted by the communist state of 'grave crimes,' South Korea's Yonhap news agency said on Tuesday.

AFP - Australia arrested four people on Tuesday in anti-terror raids that foiled a Somali-linked suicide plot to storm a military base, in what police said would have been the country's worst extremist attack.

AFP - South Korea's best-selling newspaper said former US president Bill Clinton was to arrive in North Korea later Tuesday to try to secure the release of two detained American journalists.

SEOUL (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton arrived in North Korea on Tuesday to try to negotiate the release of two U.S. journalists convicted by the communist state of 'grave crimes,' South Korea's Yonhap news agency said.

AP - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton made a surprise trip to North Korea on Tuesday amid an international standoff over the country's nuclear program and concerns about two U.S. reporters imprisoned in Pyongyang since March.

AP - At least five rockets slammed into Kabul at daybreak Tuesday, one of them falling near the U.S. Embassy in a rare attack on the Afghan capital fewer than three weeks before presidential elections, police and residents said.

AP - The wishes Michael Jackson expressed in his will began to come into reality Monday during a lengthy court hearing, with his mother placed firmly in charge of rearing his children and the two men he designated still at the reins of his financial empire.

AP - If not for a rookie pitcher, the Chicago Cubs wouldn't be where they are today: First place by a percentage point.

Reuters - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton arrived in North Korea on Tuesday to try to negotiate the release of two U.S. journalists convicted by the communist state of 'grave crimes,' South Korea's Yonhap news agency said.

AFP - Former US president Bill Clinton arrived for a surprise trip to North Korea Tuesday, state media reported, in an apparent attempt to negotiate the release of two jailed American journalists.