WASHINGTON - The problems do not get any easier as President Bush attends his final summit with leaders of industrialized democracies.

WASHINGTON - Dying of cancer, Thomas Amschwand did everything he was told to make sure his wife would collect on the life insurance policy he had through his employer.

NEW YORK - Even as Wall Street skids lower almost by the day, and the major indexes have touched the levels of a bear market, some analysts are actually finding some signs in the performance of small-company stocks that might be pointing to the early stages of a much broader recovery.

DETROIT - Auto industry cutbacks, double-digit unemployment and one of the nation's highest home foreclosure rates have left Detroit with a dreary economic future.

LAS VEGAS - Despite the weak U.S. dollar, a boom in international travel around the world hasn't translated into an explosion of foreign tourists to the United States.

PARIS - France's central bank announced Friday that it has fined Societe Generale $6.3 million for "serious shortcomings" in its internal controls that led to nearly $7.8 billion in trading losses announced earlier this year.

TORONTO - BCE Inc, Canada's largest telecommunications company, said Friday it has agreed on terms of a $35 billion sale to a group led by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan in the biggest leveraged buyout ever. The deal is expected to be completed by mid-December.

VIENNA, Austria - Nine people, including a prominent executive who fled to France in an attempt to elude justice, were convicted Friday of criminal charges in a major Austrian bank fraud case linked to the 2005 collapse of New York-based commodities brokerage Refco Inc.

NEW ORLEANS - Fuel prices are soaring and credit markets tightening, but the super-rich are still lining up to pay tens of millions of dollars for mega yachts.

Entertainment  (top)

CLEVELAND - The Emmy-winning daughter of the late "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin is getting her own doll.

LOS ANGELES - Eric Lieber, whose television production credits include the long-running dating show "Love Connection," has died. He was 71.

MIAMI - The call girl involved in a scandal that brought down New York's former governor has dropped a lawsuit claiming "Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis exploited her image and name on the Internet.

ARGANDA DEL REY, Spain - Soul diva Amy Winehouse sipped from a glass of red wine and looked a bit unsteady on her feet as she appeared in front of a large audience at the Rock in Rio music festival southeast of Madrid on Friday.

WASHINGTON - Moving from celebrity to senator isn't exactly an untraveled path. But that doesn't mean comedian Al Franken, who is vying for a Senate seat in Minnesota, will coast to Capitol Hill on a wide, smooth road.

NICE, France - They'll always have Nice.

MADRID, Spain - For years Spain's famed Prado museum had its suspicions about one of its most prized Goyas. Now the museum says it is certain the painting is not by the 18th-century master.

NEW YORK - When the media capital of the world meets a celebrity divorce, it's a breakup made in tabloid heaven. So the city that has hosted the spectacular splits of Woody Allen, Liza Minnelli and Rudolph Giuliani now is feasting on the salacious details of model Christie Brinkley's fourth marital breakup.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - Michael Turner, a comic book artist who drew covers for major titles such as "Superman/Batman," "The Flash" and "Civil War,'" has died. He was 37.

Headlines  (top)

LOS ANGELES - A wildfire threatening thousands of homes in Southern California spread slowly through scenic canyonlands Saturday, straining resources as crews struggled to contain hundreds of other blazes around the state.

ST. LOUIS - Barack Obama celebrated "active faith" as an obligation of religious Americans and a chief agent of societal change while speaking Saturday to a nearly all-black roomful of churchgoers, but hoping to reach far beyond them.

SAN ANTONIO - The three American hostages rescued by Colombia's military said in their first public statement that they are doing fine and are thrilled to "return home to the country we love."

Even folks in the Optimist Club are having a tough time toeing an upbeat line these days. Eighteen members of the volunteer organization's Gilbert, Ariz., chapter have gathered, a few days before this nation's 232nd birthday, to focus on the positive: Their book drive for schoolchildren and an Independence Day project to place American flags along the streets of one neighborhood.

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran indicated Saturday that it has no plans to meet a key Western demand that it stop enriching uranium, a day after Tehran sent the European Union a response to an international offer of incentives for halting enrichment.

TYNGSBOROUGH, Mass. - The knock on Brian Hart's door came at 6 a.m. An Army colonel, a priest and a police officer had come to tell Hart and his wife that their 20-year-old son had been killed when his military vehicle was ambushed in Iraq.

RALEIGH, N.C. - Jesse Helms forever changed North Carolina politics and the conservative movement. The former senator did it without ever changing much about himself.

CLEVELAND - The Emmy-winning daughter of the late "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin is getting her own doll.

BEND, Ore. - Using his trusty BB gun to help him return to Earth, a 48-year-old gas station owner flew a lawn chair rigged with helium-filled balloons more than 200 miles across the Oregon desert Saturday, landing in a field in Idaho.

WIMBLEDON, England - Thrilled as she was to win her fifth Wimbledon singles championship, Venus Williams dialed down her celebration. No hopping in place and skipping to the net after match point, the way she's done so often on that Centre Court lawn. No giddy laughter and whoops of joy, as she's let out in the past.

Health  (top)

WASHINGTON - Scientists have new evidence that the brain chemical best known for regulating mood also plays a role in the mystifying killer of seemingly healthy babies _ sudden infant death syndrome.

NEW YORK - When staffers at a Brooklyn hospital spotted a middle-aged woman lying face-down on a waiting room floor last month, it hardly seemed like cause for alarm.

LUBBOCK, Texas - A slice of cool, fresh watermelon is a juicy way to top off a Fourth of July cookout and one that researchers say has effects similar to Viagra _ but don't necessarily expect it to keep the fireworks going all night long.

NEW YORK - A Filipino teenager who came to New York so doctors could perform surgery to untwist her severely clubbed feet took her first unaided steps Wednesday in pink-and-white sneakers _ the first shoes she's ever worn.

CHICAGO - First came the floods _ now the mosquitoes. An explosion of pesky insects are pestering clean-up crews and just about anyone venturing outside in the waterlogged Midwest.

WASHINGTON - Diabetes drugs should face tougher safety standards that could cost manufacturers millions but protect patients from unforeseen heart risks, a government panel has recommended.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark - Danish health officials fear more than 4,000 people may be infected with salmonella and are checking everything from refrigerators to credit card receipts to find the source of what may be the worst outbreak in 15 years.

NEW YORK - In 2002, at a Johns Hopkins University laboratory, a business consultant named Dede Osborn took a psychedelic drug as part of a research project.

Hitech  (top)

NEW YORK - Dismissing privacy concerns, a federal judge overseeing a $1 billion copyright-infringement lawsuit against YouTube has ordered the popular online video-sharing service to disclose who watches which video clips and when.

NEW YORK - This doesn't sound good: The nonprofit agency in charge of the Internet's addresses recently lost track of its own.

TAMPA, Fla. - Police in the 1970s urged citizens to "drop a dime" in a pay phone to report crimes anonymously. Now in an increasing number of cities, tipsters are being invited to use their thumbs _ to identify criminals using text messages.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - The Bee Gees' Robin Gibb and other European music composers warned Thursday that standardizing music royalties across Europe could hurt musicians and the songs they write.

MEMMINGEN, Germany - A baby boy removed from his parents' custody after they offered to sell him on eBay for just a euro _ $1.59 _ as a joke is back at home, a prosecutor said Thursday.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Privacy rights vs. terror fights: The EU and the United States are close to agreeing on how to protect personal and private data while still letting law enforcement officials share information to combat organized crime and terrorism.

International  (top)

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran indicated Saturday that it has no plans to meet a key Western demand that it stop enriching uranium, a day after Tehran sent the European Union a response to an international offer of incentives for halting enrichment.

BOGOTA, Colombia - Military intelligence agents posing as aid workers and a film crew flew to the jungle aboard a white helicopter, staging a mock humanitarian mission that rebels were told would ferry their hostages to another camp for talks on a prisoner swap.

The last major remnant of Saddam Hussein's nuclear program _ a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium _ reached a Canadian port Saturday to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two-week airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans.

BAGHDAD - Muntadhar al-Sharify stood shivering Saturday in Baghdad's searing heat, a smile on his young face.

OIL WELL NO. 1, Nigeria - Three decades after pumping its last drop, the first oil well in Nigeria is marked by a decrepit signboard bearing what would seem an uncontroversial statement:

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - A new book examining Nelson Mandela's life was launched Saturday with a feast that included everything from the spaghetti casserole he was brought in jail to the soured milk he longed for while living underground.

AUTLAN, Mexico - Inspectors are collecting soil, water and produce samples, reviewing export logs and combing packing plants in three major tomato-growing states in Mexico.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan's Foreign Ministry insisted Saturday that its nuclear proliferation case was closed, a day after the disgraced architect of its atomic program claimed the army under President Pervez Musharraf helped spread the technology.

BARA, Pakistan - Pakistani security forces have eased an operation against insurgents in a tribal region near the border with Afghanistan as local elders try to negotiate peace with a militant leader, a government official said Saturday.

LONDON - Lawmakers pledged Sunday to study the movements of planes and ships traveling to the remote British outpost Diego Garcia amid persistent suspicion it is used by U.S. authorities to detain or transfer terrorism suspects.

Olympics  (top)

EUGENE, Ore. - Tyson Gay accelerated through the first curve. Then, he started flying.

OMAHA, Neb. - Michael Phelps will get another shot at Mark Spitz's Olympic record in Beijing.

EUGENE, Ore. - Kevin Eastler has qualified for the U.S. Olympic team in the men's 20-kilometer race walk.

BEIJING - China plans to use unmanned security drones to patrol the skies over the Olympic sailing venue of Qingdao, state media reported Friday.

EUGENE, Ore. - For those athletes thinking about taking a stand in Beijing, John Carlos supports you.

WASHINGTON - President Bush will attend the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Beijing, the White House said Thursday. The announcement quashed any talk of a presidential boycott over China's violent crackdown after anti-government riots and protests in Tibet.

Olympic gold medalist Paul Hamm is back doing what he does best.

Politics  (top)

ST. LOUIS - Barack Obama celebrated "active faith" as an obligation of religious Americans and a chief agent of societal change while speaking Saturday to a nearly all-black roomful of churchgoers, but hoping to reach far beyond them.

WASHINGTON - John McCain calls himself an underdog. That may be an understatement.

ST. LOUIS - Malia Obama told her parents that spending her 10th birthday helping her father campaign for the presidency far from home and "rocking out" with her family after takeout in a modest hotel room was the best she has ever had.

WASHINGTON - Republican John McCain, who has made support for President Bush's troop buildup in Iraq the centerpiece of his presidential campaign, is getting from help from a veterans group that's launching a national TV ad campaign next week.

BUTTE, Mont. - Now that they're allies, Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton will help each other raise money in a series of fundraisers in New York next week.

WASHINGTON - Moving from celebrity to senator isn't exactly an untraveled path. But that doesn't mean comedian Al Franken, who is vying for a Senate seat in Minnesota, will coast to Capitol Hill on a wide, smooth road.

BUTTE, Mont. - Is Barack Obama close to being shadowed by giant flip-flops and, worse, having the image stick with people all the way to the voting booth?

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Gov. Charlie Crist won't be sleeping alone in the governor's mansion much longer _ he is engaged to a woman he met in New York City last September who quickly captured his heart.

HELENA, Mont. - Only two Democratic presidential candidates have carried Montana since 1948. Barack Obama is betting he can do it in November.

Religion  (top)

DENVER - As clergy involvement in politics stirs debate, Roman Catholic priests and deacons in the Denver Archdiocese are being instructed not to endorse or donate money to political candidates.

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Plans to translate the Bible into patois _ Jamaica's unofficial language _ have ignited a fiery debate that stretches beyond the shores of this island nation.

Science  (top)

TYNGSBOROUGH, Mass. - The knock on Brian Hart's door came at 6 a.m. An Army colonel, a priest and a police officer had come to tell Hart and his wife that their 20-year-old son had been killed when his military vehicle was ambushed in Iraq.

BANGKOK, Thailand - Orangutan numbers have declined sharply on the only two islands where they still live in the wild and they could become the first great ape species to go extinct if urgent action isn't taken, a new study says.

VOLCANO, Hawaii - More lava than usual is spilling from Hawaii's Kilauea volcano into the ocean.

WASHINGTON - From climate change to volcanoes and earthquakes, the world's growing challenges have leaders in earth science proposing a merger of agencies that study the planet.

LOS ANGELES - The Phoenix lander's first chemical sniff of Martian soil did not turn up any trace of the building blocks of life. Its next whiff could be its last.

SEA BRIGHT, N.J. - Authorities protecting a dolphin family in a New Jersey river are stepping up enforcement over the July Fourth holiday.

BERLIN - The U.S. has done the least among the world's eight largest economies to address global warming, a study released Thursday found.

BOSTON - New green rubber bands that will bind the claws of Massachusetts lobsters beginning this weekend won't save the lobsters from the dinner table. But they signify a state initiative aimed at saving whales.

Sports  (top)

WIMBLEDON, England - Thrilled as she was to win her fifth Wimbledon singles championship, Venus Williams dialed down her celebration. No hopping in place and skipping to the net after match point, the way she's done so often on that Centre Court lawn. No giddy laughter and whoops of joy, as she's let out in the past.

EUGENE, Ore. - Tyson Gay accelerated through the first curve. Then, he started flying.

OMAHA, Neb. - Michael Phelps will get another shot at Mark Spitz's Olympic record in Beijing.

NEW YORK - Mariano Rivera flashed his classic form just in time. The New York Yankees closer pitched himself in and out of trouble Saturday, escaping a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the ninth inning and preserving a 2-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox.

ST. LOUIS - Rick Ankiel slapped a two-run, two-out single to right field in the bottom of the ninth inning to cap a three-run rally and lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-4 win over the Chicago Cubs on Saturday.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Tony Stewart's freaky season of bad luck took another turn when the two-time NASCAR champion fell ill during Saturday night's race at Daytona International Raceway.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Volatile Kansas City outfielder Jose Guillen got into a heated clubhouse exchange with pitching coach Bob McClure prior to Saturday night's game, knocking over chairs before several Royals stepped in to separate them.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Andy Sonnanstine pitched seven strong innings, Ben Zobrist homered again and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Kansas City Royals 3-0 Saturday night for their sixth straight win.

PLUMELEC, France - Alejandro Valverde is determined to contend for the Tour de France title. And the Tour de France is determined to run a clean race.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Recently retired boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. accused HBO's announcers of bias against him and other black fighters.

Strange  (top)

BEND, Ore. - Using his trusty BB gun to help him return to Earth, a 48-year-old gas station owner flew a lawn chair rigged with helium-filled balloons more than 200 miles across the Oregon desert Saturday, landing in a field in Idaho.

WAUKESHA, Wis. - A Wisconsin man who posted a video online showing him and his father shocking each other with a stolen stun gun has been sent to prison.

BALTIMORE - FedEx prides itself on reliability. But a mistaken delivery tipped off police to a 200-pound shipment of marijuana that someone tried to send from Pembroke Pines, Florida to Baltimore via the shipping company.

BERLIN - A man tore the head off a controversial Adolf Hitler wax figure at Madame Tussauds' new branch in Berlin on its opening day Saturday, officials said.

WAUKESHA, Wis. - A 52-year-old Milwaukee-area man has been accused of faking heart attacks to avoid paying restaurant bills and cab fares.

DOVER, N.Y. - Two teenagers who drove to Oniontown after a series of YouTube videos portrayed the hamlet as a run-down, backwoods dump were pelted with rocks by an angry group of young residents, authorities said.

Today-in-history  (top)

Today is Saturday, July 5, the 187th day of 2008. There are 179 days left in the year.

Us  (top)

LOS ANGELES - A wildfire threatening thousands of homes in Southern California spread slowly through scenic canyonlands Saturday, straining resources as crews struggled to contain hundreds of other blazes around the state.

SAN ANTONIO - The three American hostages rescued by Colombia's military said in their first public statement that they are doing fine and are thrilled to "return home to the country we love."

Even folks in the Optimist Club are having a tough time toeing an upbeat line these days. Eighteen members of the volunteer organization's Gilbert, Ariz., chapter have gathered, a few days before this nation's 232nd birthday, to focus on the positive: Their book drive for schoolchildren and an Independence Day project to place American flags along the streets of one neighborhood.

WASHINGTON - Dale Metta, who manages a gun shop just outside the District of Columbia limits in Maryland, has had to turn away dozens of city residents wanting to buy handguns in recent days. Never mind that the U.S. Supreme Court just struck down Washington's 32-year-old ban on possessing handguns.

TYNGSBOROUGH, Mass. - The knock on Brian Hart's door came at 6 a.m. An Army colonel, a priest and a police officer had come to tell Hart and his wife that their 20-year-old son had been killed when his military vehicle was ambushed in Iraq.

RALEIGH, N.C. - Jesse Helms forever changed North Carolina politics and the conservative movement. The former senator did it without ever changing much about himself.

NEW YORK - A popular beach on Long Island was evacuated at the height of a holiday weekend after stray, unexploded fireworks washed ashore the day after a July Fourth show, state parks officials said Saturday.

DES MOINES, Iowa - A Fourth of July fireworks shell misfired in a northern Iowa town, sending a fireball skidding down a street into a crowd of spectators and injuring 37 people, officials said Saturday.

CROWN KING, Ariz. - Playing with matches, being careless with a campfire, even burning a letter from an estranged husband: Some of the most devastating wildfires in the country's recent history have been started by people.

BEND, Ore. - Using his trusty BB gun to help him return to Earth, a 48-year-old gas station owner flew a lawn chair rigged with helium-filled balloons more than 200 miles across the Oregon desert Saturday, landing in a field in Idaho.

Washington  (top)

RALEIGH, N.C. - Jesse Helms forever changed North Carolina politics and the conservative movement. The former senator did it without ever changing much about himself.

TYNGSBOROUGH, Mass. - The knock on Brian Hart's door came at 6 a.m. An Army colonel, a priest and a police officer had come to tell Hart and his wife that their 20-year-old son had been killed when his military vehicle was ambushed in Iraq.

WASHINGTON - The government on Saturday increased the number of people reported being sickened in a record salmonella outbreak in which tomatoes are the leading suspect although investigators are testing other types of fresh produce.

WASHINGTON - Dying of cancer, Thomas Amschwand did everything he was told to make sure his wife would collect on the life insurance policy he had through his employer.

WASHINGTON - The problems do not get any easier as President Bush attends his final summit with leaders of industrialized democracies.

WASHINGTON - Home foreclosures will keep rising next year no matter who is elected president in November.

WASHINGTON - Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat, accused Republicans of putting seniors and military families at risk by siding with President Bush against a measure to prevent Medicare cuts.

WASHINGTON - President Bush, serving almost seven years as a wartime president, marked the nation's 232nd birthday by honoring the U.S. armed forces and celebrating the citizenship of new Americans.

WASHINGTON - "Compromise, hell!" Jesse Helms screamed in a 1959 editorial that captured what would become the legacy of his Senate career and his place in the conservative movement.