LOS ANGELES - Prehistoric creatures and robots are in a photo finish for the Fourth of July box-office crown. The studios behind "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" are reporting their movies in a tie for the No.

HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe has promised to withdraw its soldiers from diamond fields in the east, an official newspaper reported Sunday - a week after a rights group alleged the military was committing killings and abuses in the area.

PARIS - A submarine scouring the Indian Ocean on Sunday picked up the signal beacons of the two black boxes of a Yemenia Airways flight that crashed off the Comoros Islands, the French aviation agency said.

BEIJING - China will likely push for a bigger voice for developing countries in international monetary policy at the G8 meeting this week, but a top Chinese diplomat said it won't raise its proposal for a new global currency to replace the dollar.

CHICAGO - Credit the recession for "staycations" and bringing us more game-night parties at home. But also give it a shout for spurring more first dates.

WASHINGTON - Vice President Joe Biden said the Obama administration "misread how bad the economy was" but stands by its stimulus package and believes the plan will create more jobs as the pace of its spending picks up.

WASHINGTON - The Washington Post's publisher apologized to readers Sunday for a plan to charge business leaders and lobbyists for intimate dinner discussions with government officials and the newspaper's journalists.

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - When he hired Itzhak Perlman as artistic director of the Westchester Philharmonic in 2007, Joshua Worby thought he'd hit a grand slam.

NEW YORK - When owners of the Empire State Building decided to blanket its towering facade this year with thousands of insulating windows, they were only partly interested in saving energy.

LONDON - As President Barack Obama pushes to overhaul the American health care system, the role of government is at the heart of the debate.

LIMON, Colo. - For Joe Kiely, the drone of thousands of trucks passing his Colorado plains town signals economic prosperity. The caravans carrying billions of dollars worth of goods move along a 2,300-mile, mostly rural, two-lane trade route from Mexico to Canada, and frequently stop in on towns like Limon (LY-min) and bring business to their hotels, truck stops, gas stations and fast food restaurants.

MENLO PARK, Calif. - Last November, more than 60 percent of voters on the San Francisco Peninsula supported a $9.9 billion bond measure to help pay for a high-speed rail line between San Francisco and the Los Angeles area.

BELMAR, N.J. - Roll up to an intersection in many places and the sign you see might not only tell you to stop, yield or turn in a certain direction, it might also feature unwanted ads for a taco joint, surf shop, miracle diet, a political candidate, or urge tourists to go home.

NEW YORK - That old saying "cash is king" certainly rings true these days. Investors can't seem to get enough of it, which ultimately could be bad news for the stock market and the economy.

SANTA MONICA, California - Think of the most popular brands in celebrity news, and you'll probably come up with a small list that includes Entertainment Tonight, US Weekly and People.

LONDON - Telecoms company BT Group PLC is offering staff a year off work in return for a 75 percent cut in that year's pay. BT is one of Britain's biggest companies, with more than 100,000 employees.

ST JOHN'S, Antigua - A firm appointed by Antiguan authorities to liquidate the assets of R. Allen Stanford's offshore Caribbean bank has won control of assets in the U.K.

HONG KONG - Hong Kong lawmakers said Saturday they would be unwilling to approve a plan to expand the city's Disneyland unless the government and Walt Disney Co.

INDIANAPOLIS - The Saturday Evening Post, a centuries-old publication that helped make illustrator Norman Rockwell a household name and showcased some of America's greatest writers, is returning to its roots to show readers the value of a quiet read in an increasingly frenetic digital age.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - The economic downturn is allowing Malaysia's leader to chip away at an affirmative action program for Malay Muslims that has been considered virtually untouchable in the past.

WASHINGTON - The Founding Fathers left one legacy not celebrated on Independence Day but which affects us all. It's the national debt.

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez's government assumed control of Venezuela's third-largest bank on Friday - making the state the largest player in the nation's banking system.

Millions of mosquito eggs laid across southern Texas after Hurricane Ike hit the coast last summer are waiting for the little bit of rain and hot summer days they need to hatch.

ATLANTA - Colin Daymude was out of work last year after his business failed and eagerly filed his taxes in mid-January, figuring he'd get his refund sooner.