USA
Minnesota officials said that the focus is shifting to removing tons of wreckage from the Mississippi River now that the body of the last missing person killed in the Aug. 1 Minneapolis bridge collapse was found Monday. The discovery brought the official death toll to 13. Site work for the planned bridge replacement is expected to start soon.
The Pentagon said Tuesday that its decision to close a controversial antiterror database was because the system's "analytical value had declined," not because of public criticism that the database, created after the 9/11 attacks, included information on peace activists.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson sought to calm investor jitters Tuesday by saying of the spreading credit crisis, "We are going to work through this problem just fine." On Monday, the Conference Board's index of economic indicators rose 0.4 percent in July, the research group said. That nearly reversed a 0.3 percent decline in June.
A Fontana, Calif., couple sued Mattel Inc., Monday, alleging that the world's largest toymaker should pay to test children exposed to lead from millions of recalled toys made in China. Meanwhile, a study summarized in this month's journal Injury Prevention, finds that recalled toys and other children's products are often resold through online auction sites despite prohibitions of the practice.
The proportion of foreign-born Latinos at the lowest end of the wage scale (earning less than $8.50 an hour) fell 6 percent to 36 percent over the decade ending in 2005, the Pew Hispanic Center said Tuesday.
Shareholders of Tribune Inc., the media conglomerate that owns 11 newspapers, 23 TV stations, and the Chicago Cubs, overwhemingly approved an $8.2 billion buyout by billionaire Sam Zell on Tuesday, but the transaction needs financing and federal waivers.
Yang Jianlia, a Harvard University scholar and democracy activist who was imprisoned for five years in China, has been reunited with his family in Brookline, Mass. Yang said that he's still optimistic that China is on the path to democracy.
Hollywood studios are expected to set a summer box office record with more than $4 billion in receipts at US and Canadian theaters, according to industry projections. Among the hits contributing to the record pace: "The Simpsons Movie" and "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."
Hastings, Neb., beat out 350 cities to be named Yahoo! Inc.'s "Greenest City in America." To win the challenge, Hastings (pop. 25,000) demonstrated its commitment to environmental causes in various ways.
