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Ford Motor Co. saw an increase in domestic sales this July over last, a Ford official told CNN Radio on Sunday. It was the first monthly sales gain claimed by a major automaker since the financial crisis began last year.
Ford Motor Co. saw an increase in domestic sales this July over last, a company official said. Ford will release its official U.S. sales figures on Monday. While details were not immediately available, Ken Czubay, the automaker's U.S. sales and marketing chief, said retail and vehicle sales increased over July of last year. And the government's new "cash for clunkers" program, which encourages consumers to trade in less fuel-efficient vehicles for new vehicles that get better fuel economy, may have given Ford the boost it needed.
"We've been looking at our forecasting model, and we thought that as a result of President Obama's stimulus actions and basically the consumer getting his feet on the ground a little bit more, that in the fall of this year we'd start to see an increase in business," Czubay said. source: cnn.com

A superb 123 by Mahela Jayawardene set up a comfortable six-wicket win for Sri Lanka over Pakistan which gave them an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series.
The tourists made 288-8 in their 50 overs, including 66 from Umar Akmal, brother of wicket-keeper Kamran.
But Jayawardene's belligerent ton - which included 14 fours and a six - coupled with Upul Tharanga's 76, set up a 202-run opening wicket partnership.
Despite losing wickets, Sri Lanka eased home with 21 balls to spare.
Pakistan had made their highest total of the series, despite a middle-order slide in which three wickets fell for 27 runs.
Muttiah Muralitharan, who had ended Shahid Afridi's exciting cameo, then removed Umar, the ball after being hit for six by the 19-year-old right-handed batsman.
All-rounder Abdul Razzaq hit two sixes in a rapid 30, and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, back in the fold after ending his association with the rebel Indian Cricket League was unbeaten on 30 after also slamming two maximums.source: bbc.com

England gave themselves a fighting chance of victory in the rain-hit third Ashes Test after claiming the prize wicket of Australian captain Ricky Ponting late on the penultimate day at Edgbaston.
Batting hero Flintoff shakes the hand of Swann after he dismissed Ponting.
Ponting came to the wicket after Graham Onions removed Simon Katich and did not last long as he was bowled for five by a sharply spinning off-break from Graeme Swann.
Makeshift opener Shane Watson and Michael Hussey battled to the close on 88 for two wickets, still trailing by 25 runs.
Earlier, retiring England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff found his best form with the bat with a near run a ball 74 to boost the home side to 376, a first innings lead of 113.
Stuart Broad also chipped in with a quickfire half century as England's high scoring rate saw them move into a winning position despite most of the first and and the whole of the third day being lost to the weather.
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Onions, who took four wickets in the first innings, got Katich to edge a full length ball to Matt Prior, but Swann's dismissal of Ponting at the end of a superb over capped a fine day for the home side.
Australia had enjoyed the better of a truncated morning session with the wickets of Andrew Srauss and Paul Collingwood and when Ian Bell went to an improved Mitchell Johnson for 53, England were 168 for five wickets.
But Flintoff, playing his final series before quitting Test cricket, shared a scintillating 89-run partnership with Prior, who made 41 before mishooking Peter Siddle to be caught in the outfield. source: bbc.com

The US military has found the remains of the last American still officially missing in action from the Gulf War.
Capt Michael Scott Speicher, an F18 pilot, was shot down over Iraq on the first day of the war in January 1991.
Last month, an Iraqi citizen took US marines, based in Anbar Province, to the crash site. He told them where the remains had been buried in the desert.
Subsequent excavations recovered bones and bone fragments. Capt Speicher was identified through his dental records.
Adm Gary Roughead, Chief of Navy Operations, said in a press statement: "Our Navy will never give up looking for a shipmate, regardless of how long or how difficult that search may be."
The crash site is in a remote, sparsely-inhabited area of western Iraq. Witnesses told the US investigators that Capt Speicher - who was 33 at the time - was found dead by Bedouin, who buried his remains.
He was the first American combat casualty of the war, Operation Desert Storm.
The Navy initially declared Capt Speicher killed in action, but after a series of conflicting intelligence reports, changed his status to missing in action in 2001.
In 2002 it was changed again, to "missing/captured".
His disappearance was one of the great mysteries of the Gulf War, and rumours persisted until this year that he might still be alive, and a captive in Iraq. source: bbc.com

Bolivia has become the first country in the history of South America to declare the right of indigenous people to govern themselves.
The country's first indigenous president, Evo Morales, launched his so-called "indigenous autonomy" policy in the eastern lowlands.
Peasant and indigenous communities will be entitled to vote for more autonomy in referendums next December.
The provisions are contained in a constitution passed earlier this year.
The new charter was bitterly opposed by Bolivia's traditional elite.
On Sunday, the provisions allowing for indigenous autonomy were presented in a special event in the eastern region of Santa Cruz.
Mr Morales said it was "a historic day for the peasant and indigenous movement".
"Your president, your companion, your brother Evo Morales might make mistakes but will never betray the fight started by our ancestors and the fight of the Bolivian people," he said.
Mr Morales has championed Bolivia's indigenous people, who for centuries were banished to the margins of society. source: bbc.com

Michael Phelps wrested back his world 100-meter butterfly record after another titanic showdown with Milorad Cavic at the world swimming championships in Rome on Saturday evening.
Michael Phelps, below, was neck and neck with Serbian rival Milorad Cavic in the closing stages of the race.
Olympic champion Phelps, who saw his Serbian rival beat his leading mark in Friday's semifinals with a time of 50.01 seconds, came home to win in a stunning 49.82.
Cavic, who controversially finished second behind the American in a photo-finish in Beijing last year, also went below the previous best as he was runner-up in 49.95.
It was Phelps' second world record of the meeting, and his fourth gold medal -- despite racing without the revolutionary polyurethane swimsuits that have allowed 39 records to tumble this week.
Cavic, who did wear one of the new-generation suits -- which will not be allowed next year -- finished ahead of Spain's Rafael Munoz (50.41).
Phelps came from seventh to triumph in China as he claimed a record eight gold medals, but this time overhauled Cavic from fourth place at the 50m mark.
"You can tell after my celebration that it satisfied me a little bit," Phelps told reporters. "It doesn't matter about the suit, it's about how you train. source: cnn.com

Israeli police are searching for a gunman who killed two people and wounded at least 10 at a gay support centre in the city of Tel Aviv.
Gay leaders say it is Israel's worst hate crime against the community.
Most of the victims were gay teenagers who were meeting at the centre on Nachmani street when the gunman entered and started firing indiscriminately.
Police have ordered the temporary closure of the city's gay clubs and are releasing few details of the search.
That's actually the surprising issue, there is not at all any homophobic activity in Tel Aviv
Yaron Arad
Tel Aviv hotel worker
Hundreds of police are reported to be involved in a door-to-door hunt for the masked, black-clad gunman, who witnesses said fired in all directions with a handgun.
At one point, three deaths were being reported but later accounts spoke only of two fatalities - that of a young man and a young woman. source: bbc.com

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran's reformist former President Mohammad Khatami Sunday blasted the trials of people arrested in demonstrations as an "insult" to Iran and Islam.
Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami says the trials of election protesters are damaging.
"Such play-acting ... damages the system and reduces public trust," he said in a statement provided by his office.
Nearly 100 Iranians arrested in the aftermath of the disputed June 12 presidential elections went on trial Saturday, two Iranian news agencies reported.
But Khatami said the trials were unconstitutional, contrary to "the law and the rights of citizens."
The real crimes had been committed by the authorities, he said.
He condemned "the atrocities committed at certain detention centers as well as those committed during arrests which, in some cases, resulted in murder."
He dismissed the reported confessions of the accused, as did another influential ex-president, Ali Akhbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, according to Iran's government-funded Press TV.
Among the charges the detainees are facing are:
-- Attacking military facilities using firearms, cold weapons and fire bombs
-- Attacking government facilities and setting fire to them
-- Destruction of public property
-- Creating panic in public
-- Beating up members of the security forces
Among the nearly 100 defendants are several members of the reformist Mosharekat Party and a member of the central committee of the Kargozaran Party, which is close to Rafsanjani, the semi-official FARS news agency reported. source: cnn.com

Three American soldiers died on Sunday after coming under attack in eastern Afghanistan, the international peacekeeping force, Isaf, says.
Six foreign soldiers were killed on Saturday, making it one of the worst weekends for foreign forces since the ousting of the Taliban in 2001.
The casualties come as concern grows over the aims of the Isaf mission.
On Sunday British parliamentarians said the UK mission in Afghanistan lacked a realistic strategy.
'Very tough day'
The three US soldiers were killed on Sunday in an incident in eastern Afghanistan, Isaf says. Their patrol was hit by a roadside bomb and then came under gun attack from militants.
It has now been confirmed that six soldiers died in various incidents on Saturday:
•Three US soldiers died in roadside bomb blasts in the southern province of Kandahar
•A French soldier was killed in a gun battle in Kapisa province north of the capital, Kabul
•Two more soldiers, whose nationality has not been disclosed, died in the south
source: bbc.com

Three men who escaped from prison in Belgium in a daring helicopter escape committed a string of robberies on Saturday, a police spokesman said.
Ashraf Sekkaki is considered to be one of Belgium's most dangerous criminals.
The escapees, who include a man considered to be one of the country's most dangerous criminals, robbed a bank, a gas station and two storage facilities, said the Bruges police spokesman Sunday.
"In two hours they did four robberies," said the officer, who declined to give his name. "We think they need money."
He added that he did not know if the alleged crimes were captured on CCTV, and that police have no idea where the fugitives are now.
The fugitives are Mohammed Johry, Abdel Had Kahjary Mulloul and Ashraf Sekkaki.
Sekkaki is considered one of Belgium's most dangerous criminals, Interpol said, with more than 16 convictions for violence, including bank robbery and kidnapping.
Accomplices of the three inmates hijacked a helicopter on July 24 and forced the pilot to land in the prison courtyard, Interpol said.
"It was just like in a film," helicopter pilot Ludwig Louwagie told the Belga news agency.
He said a couple had booked a sightseeing tour of the Bruges region. While in flight, the man suddenly pressed a weapon against his temple, Louwagie told Belga.
The man took away his headset so the pilot couldn't talk to ground control and forced Louwagie to land in the prison courtyard, he said.
"I tried to land next to the prison, but the weapon was still pressed hard against my temple," he said. "I had no choice."
He was unhurt, Belga reported.source: cnn.com