USA

The US Supreme Court will not review the conviction of American Ahmed Omar Abu Ali for joining Al Qaeda and plotting to assassinate then-President George W. Bush, the court said Monday. The conviction was challenged when a judge allowed jurors, but not Abu Ali, to see classified evidence against him.

In a breakthrough for the Detroit auto industry, Ford Motor Co. reached a tentative agreement Monday with the United Auto Workers Union to modify retiree healthcare. The concessions, if approved by local union leaders, could help protect jobs by ensuring the company's long-term viability.

The federal government might increase its stake in Citigroup Inc. to 40 percent in further efforts to prop up the struggling bank, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. Citigroup has already received $45 billion in bailout funds. It declined to comment on the report that the government may be contemplating converting its preferred stock into common stock as an alternative to nationalizing the bank.

A three-night FBI sweep of alleged teenage prostitution netted more than 50 arrests nationwide of suspected pimps and rescued more than 45 teens, ages 13 to 17, entangled in the illegal sex trade, the agency has reported.

The average price of a gallon of regular gas rose 2.6 cents to $1.94 during the past two weeks, according to the national Lundberg Survey.

The Coast Guard is only about 20 percent effective in stopping drug shipments made by Colombian traffickers using small submarines, says Rear Adm. Joseph Nimmich, who heads up a task force targeting the "narco-sub" trade. Some 75 semisubmersibles are built each year in jungle hideaways.

The owner of Philadelphia's two major newspapers, the Inquirer and Daily News, became the second publisher in two days to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. On Monday, it followed the Journal Register Co., which owns 179 newspapers, including 20 dailies in the East and Midwest.