Reuters - Consumer confidence halted a six-month slide in July, but barely climbed from its lowest level in more than a decade, while home prices continued their record decline in May.

Reuters - Several analysts, including Oppenheimer's Meredith Whitney, widened their loss view on Merrill Lynch , after the Wall Street investment bank and brokerage said it will take a $5.7 billion third-quarter writedown as it unloads risky debt and raises $8.5 billion in capital.

Reuters - Global trade talks collapsed on Tuesday after a clash over agriculture between the United States and emerging powers, including China, India and Indonesia.

AP - Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy was sentenced to 15 months in prison Tuesday for setting off a gambling scandal that tarnished the league's reputation and raised questions about the integrity of its officiating.

AP - Amy Winehouse was released from a London hospital Tuesday after an overnight stay to treat what her spokesman said was an adverse reaction to medication.

AP - Restaurant chains Bennigan's and Steak & Ale have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection and stores owned by its parent company will shut their doors.

AP - Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine isn't adding to talk that he's on Barack Obama's shortlist of potential running mates.

AP - Home prices tumbled by the steepest rate ever in May, according to a closely watched housing index released Tuesday, as the housing slump deepened nationwide.

AP - U.S. and Iraqi forces launched a new operation Tuesday aimed at clearing al-Qaida in Iraq from the volatile Diyala province, considered the last major insurgent safe haven near the capital.

AP - Sen. Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator and a figure in Alaska politics since before statehood, was indicted Tuesday on seven counts of failing to disclose thousands of dollars in services he received from a company that helped renovate his home.

AFP - China is using the Beijing Olympics as a pretext to pursue -- and in some cases tighten -- a crackdown on human rights, notably ridding the capital of "undesirables," Amnesty International charged Monday.