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Funding for specially trained meth lab cleanup crews is drying up as state budgets are tightening. Police forces are learning how to handle the dangerous job themselves.

Ryan Lochte won the first U.S. gold at the London Games, in the 400m individual medley. And on the first day of full competition in the 2012 Summer Olympics, the U.S. men's archery team won a silver medal, after a tense final with Italy.

The head of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau says he wants to "extend new protections to consumers against the kind of shabby customer service and law-breaking by mortgage servicers that has been so thoroughly documented." The bureau has proposed new rules to help homeowners facing foreclosure. But housing advocates say it will all depend on enforcement.

Bollywood film director Yash Chopra died Sunday. NPR's Bilal Qureshi explains what Chopra meant to South Asia — and to his own family.

While the front lines in the eastern part of the country have been static for months now, rebels in the west are making headway. The rebel offensive in Libya's western mountains has emerged as a threat to Gadhafi's hold on the capital, Tripoli, and other strategic cities.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Pentagon got the money it asked for. Now, with hundreds of billions in cuts proposed, the Defense Department is faced with basic questions about its priorities.

On Thursday, a bid to extend the payroll tax cut failed in the Senate, and Republicans blocked the president's nominee to head a new financial watchdog agency. But the White House is still convinced President Obama is winning the broader political argument.

France was among nine European countries that saw their sovereign debt ratings cut Friday. The move could boost borrowing costs in Paris and undermine a plan to contain the European debt crisis. But the loss of France's AAA rating is also likely to play a role in President Nicolas Sarkozy's re-election bid.

A group representing victims of abuse by clerics of the Catholic Church are asking the International Criminal Court to investigate the Vatican. The group says high-level officials should be prosecuted for what it calls a "widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population."

Big banks announced around 60,000 job cuts in 2011. With businesses and consumers still focused on reducing debt, there isn't the same need for financial services as there was before, says one banking analyst. The outlook in the years ahead is for a smaller, more stable and less profitable industry.