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AP - The recovery is losing so much momentum that employers are unlikely to step up hiring anytime this year, and unemployment could return to double digits.

AP - NATO announced Friday that six more U.S. troops have died in Afghanistan, bringing the death toll for July to at least 66 and surpassing the previous month's record as the deadliest for American forces in the nearly 9-year-old war.

AP - BP's incoming CEO said Friday that it's time for a "scaleback" of the massive effort to clean up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, but stressed the commitment to make things right is the same as ever.

AP - Bill Clinton made a long-anticipated appearance in the upstate New York village where his daughter is getting married, drawing crowds of onlookers Friday afternoon as preparations continued largely out of sight for the grand and secretive occasion.

AP - The panel that charged New York Democrat Charles Rangel with 13 counts of ethical misdeeds recommended he receive a relatively mild rebuke by the full House, one of the investigators said Friday.

AP - A huge wildfire churned through high desert wilderness north of Los Angeles on Friday, destroying a few buildings and forcing people from about 2,000 homes. Most of the displaced residents were allowed to return as the threat eased.

AP - Don't call it "American Idol." Call it "Extreme Makeover: 'Idol' Edition."

AP - Former first-round draft pick Ike Hilliard and Super Bowl hero David Tyree have retired as members of the New York Giants.

Reuters - BP Plc said on Friday it could seal its ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well by next week as U.S. lawmakers prepared to vote on reforms that would put tougher restrictions on offshore drilling.

Reuters - A close vote is expected later on Friday when the U.S. House of Representatives decides on legislation to reform the oil industry's offshore drilling practices in response to the massive Gulf oil spill.

Reuters - Israel must lift its military blockade of the Gaza Strip and invite an independent, fact-finding mission to investigate its raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, a United Nations rights body said on Friday.