States that allow debt collectors to seize consumers' wages have sharply higher bankruptcy rates than neighboring states that prohibit or strictly limit the practice, an Associated Press analysis has found.

PARIS - A submarine scouring the Indian Ocean on Sunday detected the signal beacons of the two black boxes from a Yemenia Airways flight that crashed off the Comoros Islands, the French aviation agency said.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Drew Gilpin Faust started as Harvard's president when the university's prosperity seemed limitless. With its ballooning wealth, Harvard planned almost frenzied growth, from a building boom into Boston to vast increases in student financial aid.

NEW YORK - Investors, whose optimism was recently shaken by surprisingly weak economic data, are now hoping companies can provide some clues about a recovery.

BISMARCK, N.D. - Hundreds of anxious shoppers watched as city officials used power saws to cut 2-by-4s during Home Depot Inc.'s ribbon-cutting ceremony for its 102,700-square-foot building center in Bismarck. Less than three years later, the home improvement retailer shuttered the underperforming store, leaving a big orange empty eyesore on the outskirts of town.

The media moguls attending an annual powwow staged by investment bank Allen & Co. used to be able to rest comfortably in the Idaho mountains as they mulled their next moves.

LOS ANGELES - Prehistoric creatures and robots were in a photo finish for the Fourth of July box-office crown Sunday, with "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" tied with $42.5 million each.

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration "misread" the depth of the economic troubles it inherited and still expects more new jobs in the long term as the spending pace from the $787 billion stimulus plan quickens, Vice President Joe Biden said.

HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe has promised to withdraw its soldiers from diamond fields in the east, an official newspaper reported Sunday _ a week after a rights group alleged the military was committing killings and abuses in the area.

WASHINGTON - The Washington Post's publisher apologized to readers Sunday for a plan to charge business leaders and lobbyists for intimate dinner discussions with government officials and the newspaper's journalists.

Entertainment  (top)

LOS ANGELES - Prehistoric creatures and robots were in a photo finish for the Fourth of July box-office crown Sunday, with "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" tied with $42.5 million each.

NEW YORK - Even President Barack Obama, a gleam in his eye as he talked at the Radio and Television Correspondents' Association dinner two weeks ago, seemed to recognize the special relationship he's forged with TV networks in the opening months of his administration.

LOS ANGELES - The more than 1.6 million fans who registered for tickets to Michael Jackson's memorial service will finally get word Sunday on whether they will be among the lucky few to get tickets for the ceremony.

NEW YORK - NBC executives changed their minds Sunday and decided to join other networks that will televise Michael Jackson's memorial service live this week.

MUMBAI, India - One of the impoverished child stars from "Slumdog Millionaire" will move from his shanty home in one of Mumbai's more wretched slums into a new apartment next week, his mother said Sunday.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - Think of the most popular brands in celebrity news, and you'll probably come up with a small list that includes Entertainment Tonight, US Weekly and People.

LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles city officials are preparing for massive crowds downtown during Tuesday's public memorial for Michael Jackson at Staples Center, even though only 17,500 tickets are being offered to the public.

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - When he hired Itzhak Perlman as artistic director of the Westchester Philharmonic in 2007, Joshua Worby thought he'd hit a grand slam.

LOS ANGELES - Dr. Tohme Tohme vividly remembers the first time he met with Michael Jackson to discuss the pop star's finances. It's not the money talk that stays with him now, but his enchantment at entering Jackson's world of love.

LONDON - Madonna paid tribute to Michael Jackson on Saturday night in the same arena where he was to stage his comeback, dancing along with an impersonator doing Jackson's distinctive moves.

Headlines  (top)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The shooting death of former NFL quarterback Steve McNair raised questions Sunday about his relationship with the 20-year-old woman whose body was found alongside his in his downtown condominium.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - Honduras' ousted President Manuel Zelaya said he was getting on a flight home to reclaim his post on Sunday, accompanied by the U.N. General Assembly president and a group of journalists.

WIMBLEDON, England - Roger Federer won his record 15th Grand Slam title Sunday, outlasting Andy Roddick for his sixth Wimbledon championship in a marathon match that went to 16-14 in the fifth set.

MOSCOW - Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev end a seven-year hiatus in U.S.-Russian summitry on Monday, with each declaring his determination to further cut nuclear arsenals and repair a badly damaged relationship.

BLANCHARD, Haiti - When Micheline Leon was diagnosed with HIV, her parents told her they would fit her for a coffin.

WASHINGTON - One of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's potential presidential rivals said Sunday that her abrupt resignation won't help her dodge scrutiny. President George W. Bush's chief political adviser said her strategy is, at best, unclear.

OCRACOKE, N.C. - A third worker who had been preparing for an Independence Day celebration died from injuries suffered when a truckload of fireworks exploded on a dock at a remote North Carolina island, authorities said.

HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe has promised to withdraw its soldiers from diamond fields in the east, an official newspaper reported Sunday _ a week after a rights group alleged the military was committing killings and abuses in the area.

NEW YORK - NBC executives changed their minds Sunday and decided to join other networks that will televise Michael Jackson's memorial service live this week.

BRIGNOLES, France - Britain's Mark Cavendish won the second stage of the Tour de France in searing heat Sunday, with seven-time champion Lance Armstrong finishing safely in the trailing pack.

Health  (top)

SAN FRANCISCO - It might take Californians a puff or two to get their heads around an apparent contradiction recently enshrined in state law. The same marijuana smoke that doctors can recommend to ease cancer patients' suffering must soon come with a warning saying it causes the disease.

CHICAGO - No matter how unusual their lives may have been so far, Michael Jackson's children now face a universal trauma felt by all kids who suddenly lose a parent.

CANCUN, Mexico - As swine flu runs rampant in the Southern Hemisphere winter, world health experts are concerned that some hard-hit countries have been reluctant to take forceful measures to protect public health.

WASHINGTON - With swine flu continuing to spread around the world, researchers say they have found the reason it is _ so far _ more a series of local blazes than a wide-raging wildfire. The new virus, H1N1, has a protein on its surface that is not very efficient at binding with receptors in people's respiratory tracts, researchers at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology report in Friday's edition of the journal Science.

CHICAGO - When carpenter Greg Douglas crashed his pickup truck, his toolbox hit him and smashed his ribs and collarbone. After a month in the hospital, the medical bills hit him even harder, totaling $165,000.

A federal investigation has found that heart attack survivors enrolled in a study of a controversial alternative medicine treatment were not told enough about potential dangers from the drug being tested, including death.

DENVER - A former surgery technician may have exposed thousands of Colorado patients to hepatitis C when she swapped her own dirty syringes for ones filled with a powerful narcotic, federal authorities said Thursday.

CANCUN, Mexico - Swine flu is running wild in the Southern Hemisphere and is spreading rapidly through Europe, with Britain projected to reach 100,000 daily cases by the end of August. The virus is even showing signs of rebounding in Mexico.

ATLANTA - In a perverse twist of medical fate, Farrah Fawcett has become the poster girl for anal cancer, a rare disease often linked to a sexually transmitted virus.

When Michael Jackson went into cardiac arrest, rescuers took him to a place known for bringing the dead back to life. A world-renowned surgeon at the UCLA Medical Center has pioneered a way to revive people that most doctors would have long written off, including a woman whose heart had stopped for 2 1/2 hours.

Hitech  (top)

The media moguls attending an annual powwow staged by investment bank Allen & Co. used to be able to rest comfortably in the Idaho mountains as they mulled their next moves.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - Think of the most popular brands in celebrity news, and you'll probably come up with a small list that includes Entertainment Tonight, US Weekly and People.

CHICAGO - Credit the recession for "staycations" and bringing us more game-night parties at home. But also give it a shout for spurring more first dates.

LONDON - He's the spy who came in from the beach.

LONDON - Telecoms company BT Group PLC is offering staff a year off work in return for a 75 percent cut in that year's pay.

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration is moving cautiously on a new pilot program that would both detect and stop cyber attacks against government computers, while trying to ensure citizen privacy protections.

NEW YORK - In a big break for online shoppers, Web retailers generally don't have to charge sales taxes in states where they lack a store or some other physical presence.

Companies that track consumer behavior online for advertising purposes are vowing to make their practices more transparent and to give people a way to decline being shadowed.

BEIJING - Several PC makers were including controversial Internet-filtering software with computers shipped in China on Thursday despite a government decision to postpone its plan to make such a step mandatory.

NEW YORK - Facebook is overhauling its privacy controls over the next several weeks in an attempt to simplify its users' ability to control who sees the information they share on the site.

International  (top)

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - Honduras' ousted President Manuel Zelaya said he was getting on a flight home to reclaim his post on Sunday, accompanied by the U.N. General Assembly president and a group of journalists.

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran said Sunday it has released a British-Greek journalist detained for two weeks during its postelection crackdown as opposition forces pressing their claims of fraud called for parliament to dismiss President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

BLANCHARD, Haiti - When Micheline Leon was diagnosed with HIV, her parents told her they would fit her for a coffin.

HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe has promised to withdraw its soldiers from diamond fields in the east, an official newspaper reported Sunday _ a week after a rights group alleged the military was committing killings and abuses in the area.

MOSCOW - President Barack Obama said strengthening human rights and the rule of law in Russia should be a part of the much-heralded "reset" in U.S.-Russian relations, according to an interview with an embattled Russian opposition newspaper.

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Heavy shelling between Somali rebels and government forces near the presidential palace killed at least 12 people on Sunday, witnesses said, and the prime minister looked for help from more African Union peacekeepers.

KABUL - Insurgent attacks killed two British soldiers in the southern Afghanistan region where thousands of U.S. Marines pushed forward with the American military's biggest anti-Taliban offensive since the hard-line Islamist regime was toppled.

PARIS - A submarine scouring the Indian Ocean on Sunday detected the signal beacons of the two black boxes from a Yemenia Airways flight that crashed off the Comoros Islands, the French aviation agency said.

BAGHDAD - Iraqis are skeptical that much will change after last week's pullback of U.S. combat troops from Baghdad and other cities, a sentiment not shared by their government.

MALOYAROSLAVETS, Russia - Tambourine throbbing in hand, Velislav chants to gods whose cult has almost been obliterated by a millennium of Christianity in Russia.

Politics  (top)

MOSCOW - Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev end a seven-year hiatus in U.S.-Russian summitry on Monday, with each declaring his determination to further cut nuclear arsenals and repair a badly damaged relationship.

WASHINGTON - Vice President Joe Biden signaled that the Obama administration would not stand in the way if Israel chose to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, even as the top U.S. military officer said any attack on Iran would be destabilizing.

WASHINGTON - One of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's potential presidential rivals said Sunday that her abrupt resignation won't help her dodge scrutiny. President George W. Bush's chief political adviser said her strategy is, at best, unclear.

WASHINGTON - Colin Powell says the U.S. took too long to strengthen its forces in Iraq after Baghdad fell early in the war.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama says he doesn't like his golf swing and the ball never goes where he wants.

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration "misread" the depth of the economic troubles it inherited and still expects more new jobs in the long term as the spending pace from the $787 billion stimulus plan quickens, Vice President Joe Biden said.

WASHINGTON - They are the biggest of the big _ the Citigroups, the Goldman Sachses, the AIGs and other financial behemoths. The Obama administration doesn't want so many around anymore.

WASHINGTON - The official in line to be Alaska governor when Sarah Palin resigns this month says she talked to him about the toll that ethics investigations has taken on her.

WASHINGTON - Colin Powell, one of the nation's most prominent African-Americans, is going after people who attacked Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor because of her stand in favor of affirmative action.

WASHINGTON - A week before her Senate hearings, Republicans are floundering in their efforts to trip up Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, unable to find an effective message about why she's not fit to serve.

Religion  (top)

ROME - The first-ever scientific tests on what are believed to be the remains of the Apostle Paul "seem to conclude" that they do indeed belong to the Roman Catholic saint, Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday.

The top five destinations for Mandaean refugees in the United States from 2002 through June 24, 2009:

The top five destinations for Mandaean refugees in the United States from 2002 through June 24, 2009:

TULSA, Okla. - Workers are toiling in the thick summer heat, trying to bring the campus of Oral Roberts University into the current century.

FERNDALE, Mich. - When the bride and groom arrive at the Mandaean Association, the Middle Eastern salad is ready and flower petals are lightly strewn across the floor.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Most states have child abuse laws allowing some religious exemptions for parents who shun medicine for their sick children, but a few recent cases highlight thorny legal issues for parents following less-recognized faiths.

SALT LAKE CITY - The Rev. Peter Morales of Colorado has been elected as the first Latino president of the Unitarian Universalist Association.

NEW YORK - Sayyid Syeed remembers an interfaith event several years ago when a Jewish leader went to embrace him, saw someone snapping a photo, then suddenly pulled back.

Science  (top)

NEW YORK - When owners of the Empire State Building decided to blanket its towering facade this year with thousands of insulating windows, they were only partly interested in saving energy. They also needed tenants.

SYDNEY - A 265-pound (120-kilogram), big-eared and long-nosed bundle of joy was welcomed in Australia as an important step in helping to save the endangered Asian elephant.

CANBERRA, Australia - Scientists have confirmed for the first time that Australia was once home to a dinosaur that was big, fast and terrifying, and they've named it like something from an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. Meet the Australovenator.

CHIANG MAI, Thailand - Thousands of excited visitors flocked Saturday to a zoo in northern Thailand for the first public viewing of a baby panda, which has been featured on Thai front pages almost every day since her birth six weeks ago.

CONCORD, N.H. - Tomato plants have been removed from stores in half a dozen states as a destructive and infectious plant disease makes its earliest and most widespread appearance ever in the eastern United States.

WASHINGTON - Like the wool sweater that emerges from the dryer a size too small, global warming seems to be shrinking sheep.

WASHINGTON - NASA has tweeted in space, but now one of its astronauts is breaking a new space Twitter barrier. He'll tweet from space in Spanish and English.

BANGKOK, Thailand - Fossils recently discovered in Myanmar could prove that the common ancestors of humans, monkeys and apes evolved from primates in Asia, rather than Africa, researchers contend in a study released Wednesday.

GENEVA - Governments are failing to stem a rapid decline in biodiversity that is now threatening extinction for almost half the world's coral reef species, a third of amphibians and a quarter of mammals, a leading environmental group warned Thursday.

BOISE, Idaho - Federal officials have told the Idaho fish and game officials that their plan to halve the number of pelicans nesting in southern and eastern Idaho by 2013 to boost fisheries is an "eradication program" that needs more work.

Sports  (top)

WIMBLEDON, England - Roger Federer won his record 15th Grand Slam title Sunday, outlasting Andy Roddick for his sixth Wimbledon championship in a marathon match that went to 16-14 in the fifth set.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The shooting death of former NFL quarterback Steve McNair raised questions Sunday about his relationship with the 20-year-old woman whose body was found alongside his in his downtown condominium.

NEW YORK - Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols is the fans' favorite choice to start the 80th All-Star game in St. Louis.

BRIGNOLES, France - Britain's Mark Cavendish won the second stage of the Tour de France in searing heat Sunday, with seven-time champion Lance Armstrong finishing safely in the trailing pack.

CLEVELAND - Eric Wedge's job is safe for the rest of the season.

NEW YORK - Yankees starter Chien-Ming Wang went back on the disabled list Sunday with a right shoulder strain, and manager Joe Girardi said he's not sure how long the right-hander will be out of the rotation.

SAN DIEGO - Manny Ramirez's first home run since returning from a 50-game drug suspension wasn't enough to help Los Angeles overcome Everth Cabrera's three RBIs as the San Diego Padres beat the Dodgers 7-4 on Saturday.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Kyle Busch braced himself for a four-lap "trophy dash" around Daytona International Speedway, intent on snatching a win away from Tony Stewart.

BETHESDA, Md. - Anthony Kim finally gets a crack at Tiger Woods, and when he says he has been practicing for a moment like this all his life, Kim isn't kidding.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Alberto Callaspo drove in three runs and the Kansas City Royals eclipsed their run total from their previous four games in a 6-4 victory over the White Sox on Saturday that snapped Chicago's seven-game winning streak.

Strange  (top)

NEW YORK - Joey Chestnut chomped down a record 68 hot dogs, capturing his third straight July Fourth hot-dog eating contest at Coney Island, an annual showcase for flamboyant hot dogging contestants eager to show they really are what they eat.

LONDON - He's the spy who came in from the beach.

NEW YORK - In the fight of pachyderms vs. people _ the pachyderms now have the upper trunk.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - New Zealand's national airline has adopted a cheeky way to encourage passengers to watch its in-flight safety video: The cabin crew's uniforms are nothing but body paint.

NEW YORK - A New York Police Department rookie just couldn't wait to get started.

ELGIN, Ill. - Police in suburban Chicago say a taxi driver who didn't have Mace handy when he was attacked by a knife-wielding passenger instead disarmed the man with a can of aerosol deodorant.

ELK GROVE, Calif. - A Northern California elementary school teacher sent her students home for the summer with a video of class memories, only the DVD included six seconds of her having sex on a couch.

HARTFORD, Conn. - A 16-year-old girl thought she heard her mother being assaulted by her boyfriend and rounded up some friends who beat him up, only to learn later that the couple actually were having sex, the woman and police said. The girl misinterpreted the woman's amorous screams, and she and four other teens went to the woman's bedroom in the Torrington home on June 6, police Lt. Bruce Whiteley said Thursday.

PORTLAND, Ore. - An Oregon woman obsessed with bunnies has been ordered back behind bars after police found her in a hotel room with more than a dozen rabbits.

WINCHESTER, Va. - Workers at the Frederick County Landfill were surprised by what they found in a large trash bin trucked in from a Goodwill Industries store: a woman who had apparently gotten trapped. "They opened the door and she got out," said landfill manager Ron Kimble.

Today-in-history  (top)

Today is Sunday, July 5, the 186th day of 2009. There are 179 days left in the year.

Us  (top)

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust began her tenure in 2007 when the university's prosperity seeemed limitless. With its ballooning wealth, Harvard planned almost frenzied growth, from a building boom into Boston to vast increases in financial aid for students.

ORLANDO, Fla. - Two monorail trains crashed early Sunday morning in the Magic Kingdom section of Walt Disney World, killing one train's operator, emergency officials said.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The shooting death of former NFL quarterback Steve McNair raised questions Sunday about his relationship with the 20-year-old woman whose body was found alongside him in his downtown condominium.

LOS ANGELES - Prehistoric creatures and robots were in a photo finish for the Fourth of July box-office crown Sunday, with "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" tied with $42.5 million each.

TEXAS CITY, Texas - Authorities in Texas have accused a man of wrapping a 20-foot chain around his teenage son's neck and spraying him in the face with Mace.

OCRACOKE, N.C. - A third worker who had been preparing for an Independence Day celebration died from injuries suffered when a truckload of fireworks exploded on a dock at a remote North Carolina island, authorities said.

WASHINGTON - Police say former Washington Mayor Marion Barry has been arrested and charged with stalking a woman.

GAFFNEY, S.C. - A teenage girl shot while helping her father in their family's small furniture and appliance store died Saturday, becoming the fifth victim of a suspected serial killer terrorizing a small South Carolina community, authorities said.

JUNEAU, Alaska - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin didn't wait long to give some hint of what her political life might look like after she leaves office at the end of the month.

LOS ANGELES - The more than 1.6 million fans who registered for tickets to Michael Jackson's memorial service will finally get word Sunday on whether they will be among the lucky few to get tickets for the ceremony.