To avoid a meltdown in 2006, Ford Motor Co. mortgaged the farm putting up its assets — including its Blue Oval logo, and F-150 pickup and iconic Mustang trademarks — to secure $23.5 billion in credit. The big gamble paid off and Ford was the only Detroit car maker that...

President Obama can thank baby boomers at least in part for the drop in the U.S. unemployment rate, with the first post-World War II generation hitting retirement age at a rate of 10,000 a day. Unemployment in April fell 0.1 point to 8.1 percent, well below the recession/post-recession...

Gold futures for June delivery were up 0.7 percent Friday to $1,568.90 per troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Silver futures for July delivery were up 22.90 cents to $28.386 per troy ounce. The U.S. dollar rose to its highest level since 2010 on continued...

Oil prices moved slightly higher Friday but held just below $91 a barrel of crude on positive U.S. consumer sentiment. The price of West Texas Intermediate for July delivery rose 20 cents to $90.86 per barrel. Natural gas for June delivery lost 7.9 cents to $2.568 per million British...

Grain markets closed mostly higher Friday on the Chicago Board of Trade. Corn was steady to up 8 1/4, soybeans were up 4 3/4 to up 13 1/4, wheat was up 10 1/4 to up 17, oats were off 8 1/2 to off 10 1/4. Weather gave a boost to corn after a day of choppy trade on slow export demand and outside...

Selling homes at desperately low prices is a fading phenomenon in some U.S. locations, industry observers said. The National Association of Realtors said April”s inventory of homes on the market was down to a 6.6-month supply. A year earlier in April, there was a 9.1-month supply of...

Cuba is reportedly sitting on vast underwater oil and gas reserves, but none came up in the latest exploration, a joint Chinese-Spanish undertaking. The Repsol initiative brought Chinese drilling rig operators into the play, but the outcome so far has been a dry well that has had to be...

Turkey says waters off the coast of war-divided Cyprus where Greek Cypriots plan to explore for natural gas lie within its continental shelf, sharpening multi-sided disputes over major fields under the eastern Mediterranean. Ankara has warned international companies bidding for drilling rights...

U.S. President Barack Obama urged Congress to extend the tax benefits key to the nation’s wind power sector. Speaking Thursday in Newton, Iowa, from a manufacturing facility for TPI Composites, a global provider of wind turbine blades, Obama said: “If Congress doesn’t act,...

The British government unveiled a draft energy bill this week critics say will raise prices and favors new gas-fired power plants over renewable sources. British Energy Secretary Ed Davey published the draft law Tuesday amid negative reviews from energy companies, which predicted it will...

Indonesia needs to address loopholes in its moratorium on deforestation, Greenpeace said. The two-year moratorium, announced last May by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, was part of an agreement with Norway. Under that agreement, Norway had committed up to $1 billion in...

Plans for Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish enclave to build an oil pipeline to Turkey points to a major political and economic realignment in the Middle East that will impact heavily on Iraq. The country stands to lose a region believed to contain 45 billion barrels of oil and as much as...

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was spotted in Rome with his recently wedded spouse, Priscilla Chan, onlookers tweeted Monday. Photos of the newlyweds at the Vatican museums, including the Sistine Chapel, hit Twitter Monday, Italy’s ANSA news agency reported. The owner of the exclusive...

Sharon Osbourne called fellow “America’s Got Talent” judge Howard Stern “a lot of fun” on Monday’s Anderson Cooper show. Osbourne made the comment to Cooper about working with Stern on the NBC reality competition show, andersoncooper.com reported. But she...

The Golden Gate Bridge celebrated its 75th birthday in the San Francisco Bay with fireworks. Thousands of people showed up at Crissy Field Sunday to celebrate the bridge’s 75th birthday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. “It was beautiful how the city put together such...

Pop singer Justin Timberlake and actress Jessica Biel celebrated their engagement by throwing a cocktail party in California, friends say. The Saturday party took place at the home of Timberlake”s longtime friend and HomeMint partner Estee Stanley, People reported. Among the 100...

Israeli-born filmmaker Oren Peli, creator of the “Paranormal Activity” movie franchise and TV show “The River,” has found yet another new way to tap into the collective fear of the unknown with his latest release “Chernobyl Diaries.” Asked if the psychology...

Pop singer Justin Bieber is being investigated for battery after allegedly hitting a paparazzo who tried to take pictures of him, California authorities said. The incident happened Sunday afternoon outside the Calabasas mall The Commons, TMZ.com reported. Police said Bieber and his...

Progestin, a hormone used to treat infertility due to polycystic ovary syndrome, may reduce the odds of conception and giving birth, U.S. researchers say. Dr. Michael P. Diamond of Wayne State University in Detroit, Dr. Richard S. Legro of the Pennsylvania State College of Medicine in Hershey...

An estimated 2,000 births by surrogate mothers took place in India last year, and experts say half of the babies went to Britain. Dr. Radhey Sharma, commissioned by the Indian government to study the boom in fertility treatments in India, said the scale of the commercial fertility enterprise...

A project in Britain that paired seniors and gardening enthusiasts increased the quality of life of both and saved healthcare funds, officials said. Sarah Jackson, a horticulturalist, found volunteers who had no access to land to plant a garden with older people who wanted to maintain their...

Health officials in Britain said they expect a surge of alcohol-related incidents during summer so they have set up a fleet of field hospitals. Authorities said they expect more alcohol-related incidents as Britain celebrates the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, the Summer Olympics and European...

Bahrain will push milk over carbonated drinks to combat unhealthy eating that contributes to child obesity, officials said Sunday. The Gulf Daily News reported Sunday the campaign — “Milk is Health” — is organized and sponsored by the Health Ministry’s nutrition...

U.S. hotels and resorts are raising their hygiene standards as the summer travel season begins, an infection prevention expert said. George Clarke, chief executive officer of UMF Corp. — a developer of infection prevention products — said Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide...

Industrial chemicals from the March 2011 tsunami in Japan are reaching the West Coast of North America, and contamination is a risk, scientists say. “Finding one drum of paint thinner, or something you might find in your garage, is not hugely toxic, but if you find 50 of them all washed...

Facebook might be looking to buy Norwegian company Opera Software for its popular Opera mobile Web browser, British tech site Pocket-lint.com is reporting. Facebook, based in Menlo Park, Calif., has been buying a number of companies in recent months to increase its presence in the world of...

Google will unveil its new tablet computer at its I/O conference next month and will give a unit to every developer in attendance, Web site TechnoBuffalo said. Citing a “trusted source,” TechnoBuffalo said the search giant will show off the device at its conference, scheduled to...

German researchers say the oldest archaeological evidence of a Jewish cultural presence on the Iberian Peninsula has been found at a Portuguese excavation site. Archaeologists of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena said a 16-by 24-inch inch marble plate that may have been a tomb slab bears...

Global positioning system-maker Garmin says moving from touchscreens to a console-mounted controller will help divers navigate with fewer distractions. Known for its portable GPS devices, Garmin has begun moving away from them to focus on permanent in-dash auto installations, the tech Web site...

The International Telecommunication Union has issued a draft recommendation on technical details for ‘Ultra High Definition Television’ or UHDTV, officials say. Although Ultra-HD TV systems are years away from being widely adopted, they would yield a massive improvement in picture...

Reigning champion Li Na of China began her defense of her French Open crown Monday with a first-round victory at Stade Roland Garros. The seventh-seeded Li, who bested then-reigning champion Francesca Schiavone in last year’s finale, handled Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-2, 6-1 to...

Soccer player Adem Ljajic was banned from the Serbian national team for refusing to sing the national anthem, officials said Monday. Ljajic, who also plays for Italy’s Fiorentina team as a midfielder, was suspended from the Serbian team after telling coach Sinisa Mihajlovic that he would...

Top-ranked Novak Djokovic completed a first-round victory and Roger Federer tied Jimmy Conners’ record in Grand Slam events Monday at the French Open. Djokovic handled Italian Potito Starace 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 6-1, advancing to face Slovenian Blaz Kavic, who bested Lleyton Hewitt of...

Detroit Lions defensive tackle Nick Fairley was arrested Monday on charges of driving under the influence and attempting to elude police in Alabama. The arrest at 1:13 a.m. marked the second in less than two months for Fairley, the Lions’ first-round pick a year ago, the Detroit Free...

Johnny Tapia, a five-time world boxing champion, has died in Albuquerque, the Albuquerque Journal reported Monday. He was 45. Tapia died Sunday, a source close to the family said. Albuquerque police spokesman Robert Gibbs said police were called to Tapia’s house about 7:45 p.m. by a...

Luke Donald, for the third time in two months, has overtaken Rory McIlroy for the No. 1 spot in the men”s world golf rankings. Donald defended his 2011 title at the European Tour”s BMW PGA Championship Sunday in England. It was his second win of the year — he won the...