Guantanamo prisoner says former US man who reached plea deal now has a cat

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- A former Maryland resident who is detained at Guantanamo Bay seems to have acquired a cat at the isolated prison on a U.S. base in Cuba, a fellow prisoner says in a letter released Friday.

Majid Khan has not been seen in public since he pleaded guilty in February to aiding al-Qaida in a deal that requires him to testify against others at Guantanamo. Details of his confinement are shrouded in secrecy as he is one of about a dozen men the Pentagon calls "high-value detainees," who are kept apart from others.

The letter from prisoner Rahim al-Afghani has one intriguing bit of information and little else: "Majid Khan has a cat," he writes to his lawyer, Carlos Warner, a federal public defender in Cleveland, Ohio.

Fake social media followers newest ploy, accusation in today's political campaigns

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Forget ballot box irregularities. There's a virtual dust-up under way over how Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney amassed more than 100,000 new Twitter followers in just one weekend.

It may seem trivial, but not to social networking junkies or campaigns mindful of the need to project a digital image of popularity and power.

An analysis by the technology firm Barracuda Labs found most of the Twitter users who followed Romney over that July weekend were probably fake, although it's impossible to know who's behind the spike: Romney's campaign, a supporter or an opponent. Romney went from 673,000 to 814,000 followers during that time, though that number has since risen to more than 861,000. President Barack Obama has more than 18 million followers.

Moody's: More Calif. cities at risk of bankruptcy

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- One of the nation's top credit rating agencies said Friday that it expects more municipal bankruptcies and defaults in California, the nation's largest issuer of municipal bonds.

Moody's Investors Service said in a report that the growing fiscal distress in many California cities was putting bondholders at risk.

The service announced that it will undertake a wide-ranging review of municipal finances in the nation's most populous state because of what it sees as a growing threat of insolvency.

The report has both investors and government leaders worried.

Douglas, Wieber enjoy celebrity sparkle after gold

NEW YORK (AP) -- They've been on a whirlwind tour since the Olympics - from "Late Night With David Letterman" to the Empire State Building and the New York Stock Exchange - but gold-medal gymnasts Gabby Douglas and Jordyn Wieber have one more stop to make before they can truly take a breath: the White House.

President Barack Obama made the invitation in a phone call. "We'll definitely take him up on it," Douglas said.

The girls say they are trying to get the most out of this post-London euphoria. Long days of interviews, autographs and photo ops haven't left them jaded. "Were enjoying every step of the way," said Wieber, who with Douglas, McKayla Maroney, Kyla Ross and Aly Raisman gave the United States its first Olympic team title in women's gymnastics since 1996.

Disappointing numbers: UK trade body says tourism slumped during London Olympics

LONDON (AP) -- The Olympics brought less tourist money to recession-hit Britain than businesses had hoped for, a trade group said Monday, with a majority of tourist companies reporting losses from last year.

A survey of more than 250 tour operators, hoteliers and visitor attractions found that tourist traffic fell all over Britain, not just London, said UKinbound, a leading trade association representing British tour operators and other businesses dependent on tourists.

"A lot of people thought London would be very busy and very expensive at this time," said Mary Rance, the group's chief executive. "We weren't completely surprised but we were a bit disappointed that (the Olympics) seem to have had an impact around the U.K., not just London."

UK PM: Officials face athletic honors overload

LONDON (AP) -- British athletes' Olympic success means the people charged with doling out the country's knighthoods and other honors will have their work cut out for them, Prime Minister David Cameron said Sunday.

As of Sunday afternoon, Britain had scored 29 gold medals, a haul made especially sweet because London is the host of the 2012 games. So there should be an abundance of options when officials decide who Queen Elizabeth II will reward in her semiannual honors list, Cameron told reporters.

"How they're going to cope I'm not quite sure," he joked.

Brazil turns Olympic volleyball court into a party after denying US women its 1st gold

LONDON (AP) -- A second-straight volleyball gold inspired summersaults from Brazil. It brought tears to the United States.

The Brazilians turned Earls Court into a carnival with a 3-1 upset victory over the U.S. women in the final at the London Games on Saturday. As they danced into the medal ceremony, the team sang "The champion is back!" in Portuguese.

What a run up to Rio.

US gas prices spike; refinery problems cited

NEW YORK (AP) -- A surprise surge in gasoline prices is taking some of the fun out of summer.

The national average for a gallon of gas at the pump has climbed to $3.67, a rise of 34 cents since July 1. An increase in crude oil prices and problems with refineries and pipelines in the West Coast and Midwest, including a fire in California, are mostly to blame.

Analysts don't expect gas prices to get as high as they did in April, when 10 states passed $4 a gallon and the U.S. average topped out at $3.94. But this is still unwelcome news in this sluggish economy, since any extra money that goes to fill gas tanks doesn't get spent on movies and dinners out.

Former Congressman Hoekstra wins Mich. GOP primary in bid to unseat Democratic Sen. Stabenow

DETROIT (AP) -- Former Michigan Congressman Pete Hoekstra has won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, overcoming a challenge from two Republicans who questioned his record as a conservative.

The Holland former lawmaker defeated Clark Durant of Grosse Pointe and former Kent County Judge Randy Hekman of Grand Rapids Tuesday in the GOP primary. He'll advance to a November matchup with Democratic U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow.

Macy's posts 16 percent hike in 2Q net income

NEW YORK (AP) -- Macy's reported a nearly 16 percent increase in net income for its second quarter, helped by cost-cutting and its strategy to tailor its merchandise to local markets.

The department chain, which operates stores under its namesake and upscale Bloomingdale's names, also raised its annual earnings guidance. Its shares rose almost 3 percent Wednesday.

Macy's Inc., which has been a standout among its peers throughout the economic recovery, is the first in a series of major retailers that will report second-quarter results that will provide insight into how Americans are spending. The results from Macy's may reassure economists concerned that shoppers may pull back just as the crucial back-to-school selling season begins.

Jordan, NBA players to hold basketball-themed fundraisers for Obama in New York

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is joining NBA legend Michael Jordan and an array of basketball stars to raise money for his re-election campaign later this month.

The Obama campaign is planning a fundraising "shoot-around" and dinner in New York on Aug. 22 featuring several NBA stars, including Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks, Rajon Rondo of the Boston Celtics, John Wall of the Washington Wizards and others. Jordan, who played for the Chicago Bulls, Obama's favorite NBA team, and NBA Commissioner David Stern are co-hosting a $20,000-per person fundraising dinner with the president later in the day.

Obama is a longtime basketball fan who regularly plays pickup games with friends and aides. His campaign held a fundraiser last February at the Orlando-area home of NBA player Vince Carter, who is also involved in the New York events.

Former Atlanta Hawks All-Star Dan Roundfield drowns in Aruba while aiding struggling wife

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Dan Roundfield, an NBA veteran who had three consecutive All-Star seasons, has drowned off the Caribbean island of Aruba while helping his wife as she struggled in rough water. He was 59.

Roundfield, who played 11 professional seasons with Indiana, Atlanta, Detroit and Washington, had been swimming with his wife, Bernie, off the southeastern tip of Aruba on Monday when they became caught in rough water beyond a protected reef area, said John Larmonie, a police spokesman on the southern Caribbean island.

The former All Star was apparently swept away in a strong current as he tried to help his struggling wife, Larmonie said. Police, firefighters, the Coast Guard and volunteers searched for him, finding his body about 90 minutes later, trapped by rocks underwater.

Tigers score 5 runs with 2 out in 10th, beat Indians 10-8 on Cabrera's homer

DETROIT (AP) -- Miguel Cabrera's towering fly ball was headed toward left-center field - and at first, the Detroit slugger couldn't tell if it would clear the fence.

When it did, the Tigers celebrated perhaps the most spectacular comeback of the 2012 baseball season.

Cabrera hit a two-run homer to cap a stunning five-run rally by Detroit with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning, giving the Tigers a 10-8 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Sunday. Cleveland has lost nine straight, and this one slipped away in unthinkable fashion.

Doctors: Japan nuclear plant workers face stigma

TOKYO (AP) -- A growing number of Japanese workers who are risking their health to shut down the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant are suffering from depression, anxiety about the future and a loss of motivation, say two doctors who visit them regularly.

But their psychological problems are driven less by fears about developing cancer from radiation exposure and more by something immediate and personal: Discrimination from the very community they tried to protect, says Jun Shigemura, who heads a volunteer team of about ten psychiatrists and psychologists from the National Defense Medical College who meet with Tokyo Electric Power Co. nuclear plant employees.

They tell therapists they have been harangued by residents displaced in Japan's nuclear disaster and threatened with signs on their doors telling them to leave. Some of their children have been taunted at school, and prospective landlords have turned them away.

Sweden remembers WWII hero Raoul Wallenberg

STOCKHOLM (AP) -- Sweden on Saturday commemorated the life of a diplomat credited with saving thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Nazis in World War II, but whose fate remains one of the country's greatest war-time mysteries.

Crowds gathered in the town of Sigtuna, 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Stockholm to celebrate the centennial of the birth of Raoul Wallenberg, whose defiance of the Nazis has been commemorated worldwide in statues, streets names, and on postage stamps.

Wallenberg served as Sweden's envoy in Budapest from July 1944 - where he saved the lives of at least 20,000 Jews by giving them Swedish travel documents, the so-called "shutzpass," or moving them to safe houses. He is also credited with dissuading German officers from massacring the 70,000 inhabitants of the city's ghetto.

Parents of US gold-medal Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte facing foreclosure in Florida

DELAND, Fla. (AP) -- The parents of U.S. Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte are facing foreclosure in Florida.

According to a lawsuit filed in May in Volusia County, CitiMortgage is suing to foreclose on Steven and Ileana Lochte. The bank is seeking to recoup $250,000. The news was first reported by TMZ.

Court records show that Ileana Lochte asked the court to dismiss the case last month. Messages left Saturday for her attorney were not immediately returned.

Romney says he has paid 'a lot of taxes,' has never had a year without them

NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. (AP) -- Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney declared Friday that he has "paid taxes every year - and a lot of taxes" as he rejected an anonymous claim that he hadn't paid taxes for a decade on his vast personal wealth.

Democrats have tried to make Romney's personal wealth and how he's managed it a key issue in the presidential contest. The former Massachusetts governor, who would be among the richest presidents ever elected, is aggressively competing with President Barack Obama for the support of middle-class voters.

Romney has refused to release more than one year of personal tax returns, despite calls from Democrats and some Republicans to do so, saying his critics would distort the information and use it against him. He has promised to release a second year of returns.

Tough test: LeBron does it all, helps US men's Olympic basketball team beat Lithuania 99-94

LONDON (AP) -- It's a collection of superstars with MVP trophies, scoring titles and all sorts of impressive statistics. And it wasn't until the U.S. men's basketball team was finally challenged that it found its leader.

Lithuania was on the verge of an Olympic-sized upset when LeBron James made four big baskets in the final four minutes Saturday, finishing with 20 points in a 99-94 victory that kept the Americans unbeaten but cracked their aura of invincibility.

There's one player who has done everything for the star-studded United States. Not surprisingly, it's the NBA MVP.

Through three games, James did little things that went unnoticed - played center, ignited runs and deferred to his teammates - as the Americans cruised to easy wins. James had more time to rest than shoot.

WHO official: Ebola under control in Uganda

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) -- Doctors were slow to respond to an outbreak of Ebola in Uganda because symptoms weren't always typical, but a World Health Organization official said Friday that authorities are halting the spread of the deadly disease.

Joaquim Saweka, the WHO representative in Uganda, told reporters in the capital Kampala that everyone known to have had contact with Ebola victims has been isolated. Ugandan health officials have created an "Ebola contact list" with names of people who had even the slightest contact with those who contracted Ebola. The list now bears 176 names.

"The structure put in place is more than adequate," Saweka said. "We are isolating the suspected or confirmed cases."

Bollywood gets racy with provocative new movie

MUMBAI, India (AP) -- It stars a hard-core adult film actress and has a title that would appear to leave little to the imagination. But it's not a porn movie - Bollywood is certainly not ready for that.

"Jism 2" - the word means "body" in Hindi language - will be released across India on Friday, promising to be one of the most graphic films in Bollywood history. It shows no frontal nudity - government censors monitoring a film industry that long refused to show onscreen kissing would never clear that. But with its oil massages and fantastic lingerie, the film is pushing the ever-widening sexual boundaries enjoyed by many in urban India.

At the same time, growing sexual freedom has sparked a backlash by traditionalists who have torn down its risque poster, led a crackdown on bars in Mumbai and even advocated an informal curfew for women.

Argentina pays debt crisis bond's last $2.2b quota

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- Argentina's president Cristina Fernandez says international banks have played her people for fools.

Her government paid its final $2.2 billion quota Friday to cancel a bond issued a decade ago when money fled the country as Argentina's economy collapsed. People who lost savings were given a ten-year bond instead, and most lost again when they sold them prematurely to get at least some of their cash back.

Who bought them? Mostly international banks, whose analysts are among the government's strongest critics. And that criticism increased the relative value of the bond over time.

"What great business!" Fernandez said Thursday night as she described her government's efforts to pay down international debt as key to keeping Argentina strong and independent.

European bank willing to buy bonds to save euro

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- The European Central Bank is preparing to unleash its financial might and buy government bonds to help drive down borrowing costs in debt-ridden countries like Spain and Italy, caught in the grip of what president Mario Draghi called a "worsening crisis."

Draghi urged leaders of the 17 countries that use the euro to use their bailout fund to take the same action, sending a clear message: Europe's financial crisis requires more forceful remedies than leaders have so far been able to muster.

The move towards bond buying came a day after the Federal Reserve hinted it was leaning toward further action to stimulate U.S. growth, highlighting the growing pressure on central bankers to rescue weak economies across the globe.

Sony's loss grows, cuts earnings forecast

TOKYO (AP) -- Sony's red ink worsened in the April-June quarter and it lowered its full-year earnings forecast as it battles a strong yen and declining sales of liquid crystal display TVs and video game machines.

The Japanese electronics and entertainment company Thursday reported a quarterly loss of 24.6 billion yen ($316 million) compared with a 15.5 billion yen loss a year earlier.

Sales edged up 1.4 percent to 1.52 trillion yen ($19.4 billion), helped by cameras, professional broadcasting products and mobile phones.

Tokyo-based Sony Corp. lowered its earnings forecast for the business year through March 2013 to a 20 billion yen ($256 million) profit, down from 30 billion yen projected in May, citing uncertainty in foreign exchange rates and global demand.

Comcast: Olympics far exceeding expectations

NEW YORK (AP) -- Television viewers are so excited about the Olympics that NBC's corporate owners said Wednesday they now expect to break even on the London games after once predicting they'd take a $200 million loss.

Through five days of events, ratings are some 30 percent higher than what NBC had privately predicted, said NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke. That means NBC can sell more commercial time than anticipated and charge higher prices for it.

Despite social media complaints about NBC's policy of filling its prime-time with events taped earlier in the day, it hasn't dissuaded television viewers. There are even indications that it may have helped: 38.7 million people tuned in Tuesday night, when Americans could have easily learned by dinnertime that the country's women's gymnastics team won a gold medal that day and swimmer Michael Phelps set a record for career medals earned. On Monday, when the men's gymnastics team finished without medals, 31.6 million people watched.

Apple claims Samsung copied iPhone technology

SAN JOSE, California (AP) -- Apple Inc. designer Christopher Stringer spent many of his 17 years at the company developing the company's iconic iPhone and iPad.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Apple designer wrapped up the first day of testimony in a closely watched patent trial proudly discussing his accomplishments in support of his employer's lawsuit alleging Samsung Electronics Co. ripped off Apple's technology to market its own products.

Dressed in a tan suit, the bearded and long-haired Stringer said because of Apple's desire to create original products, he and his co-workers surmounted numerous engineering problems such as working with the products' glass faces in producing both products over a number of years. Stringer said he was upset when he saw Samsung's Galaxy products enter the market.

Is your problem gluten? Or faddish eating?

ATLANTA (AP) -- It sounds like an unfolding epidemic: A decade ago, virtually no one in the U.S. seemed to have a problem eating gluten in bread and other foods. Now, millions do.

Gluten-free products are flying off grocery shelves, and restaurants are boasting of meals with no gluten. Celebrities on TV talk shows chat about the digestive discomfort they blame on the wheat protein they now shun. Some churches even offer gluten-free Communion wafers.

"I don't know whether there's more people getting this or that more people are noticing" they have a problem, said the Rev. Richard Allen, pastor at Mamaroneck United Methodist Church, north of New York City.

Pedestrians distracted by electronic devices stumble into danger, raising safety concerns

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A young man talking on a cellphone meanders along the edge of a lonely train platform at night. Suddenly he stumbles, loses his balance and pitches over the side, landing head first on the tracks.

Fortunately there were no trains approaching the Philadelphia-area station at that moment, because it took the man several minutes to recover enough to climb out of danger. But the incident, captured last year by a security camera and provided to The Associated Press, underscores the risks of what government officials and safety experts say is a growing problem: distracted walking.

On city streets, in suburban parking lots and in shopping centers, there is usually someone strolling while talking on a phone, texting with his head down, listening to music, or playing a video game. The problem isn't as widely discussed as distracted driving, but the danger is real.

In Tunisia, birthplace of Arab Spring, hardline Islam emerges as threat to democratic gains

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) -- Thousands of hardcore Muslims chant against Jews. Youths rampage through cities at night in protest of "blasphemous" art. A sit-in by religious students degenerates into fist fights and the desecration of Tunisia's flag.

In the birthplace of the Arab Spring, the transition from dictatorship to democracy has been mostly smoother than in neighboring countries, with no power-hungry military or armed militias to stifle the process. But as a moderate Islamist party rules with the help of secular forces, an unexpected threat has emerged: the increasing boldness of ultraconservative Muslims known loosely as Salafis, who want to turn this North African country of 10 million into a strict Islamic state.

Tunisia's hardcore Salafis are estimated to number only in the tens of thousands. But their organized and frequent protests against perceived insults to Islam, especially by artists, have rocked the country and succeeded in mobilizing disaffected and angry youth much more effectively than secular opposition parties.

Eurogroup chief sees decisions soon in debt crisis as Merkel, Monti pledge to protect eurozone

BERLIN (AP) -- The German and Italian leaders issued a new pledge to protect the eurozone, while the influential eurogroup chairman was quoted Sunday as saying that officials have no time to lose and will decide in the coming days what measures to take.

The weekend comments capped a string of assurances from European leaders that they will do everything they can to save the 17-nation euro. They came before markets open for a week in which close attention will be focused on Thursday's monthly meeting of the European Central Bank's policy-setting governing council.

Last Thursday, ECB President Mario Draghi said the bank would do "whatever it takes" to preserve the euro - and markets surged on hopes of action.

In Israel, Romney declares Jerusalem to be capital, takes aggressive stand against Iran

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Standing on Israeli soil, U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Sunday declared Jerusalem to be the capital of the Jewish state and said the United States has "a solemn duty and a moral imperative" to block Iran from achieving nuclear weapons capability.

"Make no mistake, the ayatollahs in Iran are testing our moral defenses. They want to know who will object and who will look the other way," he said. "We will not look away nor will our country ever look away from our passion and commitment to Israel."

The presidential election hovered over the speech. The Old City formed a made-for-television backdrop behind Romney, while some of his campaign donors listened in the audience.