Troops under Confederate General George Pickett begin a massive attack against the center of the Union lines at Gettysburg on the climactic third day of the Battle of Gettysburg, the largest engagement of the war. General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia encountered George Meade's Army of the Potomac in Pennsylvania and battered the Yankees for two days. The day before Pickett's charge, the Confederates had hammered each flank of the Union line but could not break through.

Now, on July 3, Lee decided to attack the Union center, stationed on Cemetery Ridge, after making another unsuccessful attempt on the Union right flank at Culp's Hill in the morning. The majority of the force consisted of Pickett's division, but there were other units represented among the 15,000 attackers.

After a long Confederate artillery bombardment, the Rebel force moved through the open field and up the slight rise of Cemetery Ridge. But by the time they reached the Union line, the attack had been broken into many small units, and they were unable to penetrate the Yankee center.

The failed attack effectively ended the battle of Gettysburg. On July 4, Lee began to withdraw his forces to Virginia. The casualties for both armies were staggering. Lee lost 28,000 of his 75,000 soldiers, and Union losses stood at over 22,000. It was the last time Lee threatened Northern territory.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is expected to announce Friday that she will not seek a second term, and resign from office at the end of July.  h

Palin has scheduled a news conference at her home in Wasilla. The governor’s office offered no further details about the subject of the news conference, but the sources tell CNN that Palin will announce her decision to forgo another run.

"She thinks she has accomplished goals she has set forward," one of the sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said. "She sees what a positive influence she has had on people's lives from traveling the country in the last year."

As the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, Palin is considered one of the frontrunners for the GOP nomination in 2012. Her decision not to seek another term as governor is sure to stoke speculation that Palin is seriously eyeing a run for the White House.

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The UN's top health official has opened a forum in Mexico on combating swine flu by saying that the spread of the virus worldwide is now unstoppable.

World Health Organization head Margaret Chan added that the holding of the meeting in Cancun showed confidence in Mexico, which has been hard hit.

The WHO says most H1N1 cases are mild, with many people recovering unaided.

As the summit opened, the UK alone was projecting more than 100,000 new cases of H1N1 a day by the end of the summer.

As the peak of the flu season approaches in South America, some areas have declared a public health emergency.

El Salvador reported its first death from swine flu, a day after Paraguay reported its first fatality.

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A Washington kindergarten teacher who sent a 5-year-old student home with a bag of feces tucked in his backpack has been formally reprimanded.

A West Valley School District official warned teacher Sue Graham in a letter that similar behavior in the future will result in disciplinary action, including termination.

The boy's father had said his son arrived home in April with the plastic bag of feces and a note that read "This little turd was found on the floor in my room."

The boy was moved out of Graham's classroom after the incident.

The May letter was released Thursday in response to a public disclosure request from KIMA-TV. The district had previously said "appropriate action" was taken against the longtime teacher.

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The startling spike in oil prices to their highest level this year on Tuesday was caused by a rogue broker who placed a massive bet in the Brent oil market, triggering almost $10m of losses for his company.

PVM Oil Associates, the world’s largest over-the-counter oil brokerage, said on Thursday it had been the “victim of unauthorised trading”. The privately owned company said that as a result of the unauthorised trades it had been forced to close substantial volumes of futures contracts at a loss.

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Workers at Nepal's international airport will soon be issued uniforms without pockets in an attempt to crack down on rampant bribery.

The BBC reports the country's anti-corruption agency has decided that pocket-less pants will help "curb the irregularities," says spokesman Ishwori Prasad Paudyal of Nepal’s Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority.

If it works.....I know 535 people who need their pockets sewn shut.

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The investigation of Michael Jackson's death is widening as questions intensify about the drugs he took, the doctors who provided them and the actions of police.

Why didn't police seal the mansion where he had been living? Why were moving vans seen at the home, and were any items removed before police wrapped up their search? Why didn't they get immediate search warrants? Why did they tow away a doctor's car right after the death but not declare the home a crime scene?

RAW DATA: Click here to read the Last Will of Michael Joseph Jackson

Los Angeles police say proper procedures were followed based on the circumstances officers encountered when they were called to the home at 12:21 p.m. on June 25. A doctor was attending to Jackson and stayed with him when he was placed in an ambulance at 1:07 p.m. There was no sign of foul play.

Others say police should have assumed it was possible a crime occurred and taken precautions to ensure the scene was not disrupted so evidence wasn't lost or tainted.

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A federal judge tentatively threw out the convictions of a Missouri mother for her role in a MySpace hoax directed at a 13-year-old neighbor girl who later killed herself.

In his ruling Thursday, U.S. District Judge George Wu acquitted Lori Drew of misdemeanor counts of accessing computers without authorization.

Wu says his ruling will become final when he issues it in writing.

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With concerns rising about a possible North Korean long-range missile test this weekend, two independent scientists say the regime may be using an old Soviet ballistic missile to boost a rocket capable of reaching the West Coast of the United States.

North Korea is not known to have nuclear warheads and faces years of research and testing before building such a reliable weapon.

But the scientists say that if North Korea does have such a Russian-made ballistic missile in its arsenal, it could modify the rocket into a two-stage missile that could reach Seattle, Wash., carrying a 900-kilogram warhead, or San Francisco carrying a 700-kilogram charge.

The design of a long-range missile tested by North Korea last April "represents a very significant advance in rocket technology," said Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Ted Postol and Union of Concerned Scientists' David Wright in a June 29 assessment published in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

Using data and imagery from North Korea's April 4 launch, Postol and Wright calculated that the second stage of the North Korean rocket had the external dimensions, engine power and key features of an SS-N 6, a Soviet submarine-launched ballistic missile first deployed in 1968.

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Concert promoter AEG Live's chief executive said Thursday that insurance will help cover any losses on the now-canceled Michael Jackson concert series if the pop star died accidentally — including of a drug overdose — but not if he died of natural causes.

Randy Phillips said the company took out $17.5 million in insurance coverage through Lloyd's of London.

That would fall short of the $25 million to $30 million Phillips said AEG Live spent on Jackson's advance, producing the 50-date series at The O2 arena, covering some of Jackson's debts, and paying his staff and rent on the Holmby Hills mansion where he lived.

Phillips added, however, that 40 percent to 50 percent of concert ticket-buyers have so far decided to receive tickets as memorabilia in lieu of a full refund, a pace that is on track to help the company at least break even on its expenses.

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Vice President Biden landed Thursday in Baghdad on a surprise visit to meet with Iraqi and U.S. military officials.

The trip comes two days after the White House announced the vice president would be assigned to oversee political reconciliation efforts among Iraqi factions, including the Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds.

(Please!  Take him hostage, we don't want him!)

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Employers cut  467,000 jobs in June, driving the unemployment rate up to a 26-year high of 9.5 percent.

The Labor Department report showed that even as the recession flashes signs of easing, companies likely will want to keep a lid on costs and be wary of hiring until they feel certain the economy is on a solid ground.

June's payroll reductions were deeper than the 363,000 that economists expected.

Many economists predict the jobless rate will hit 10 percent this year, and keep rising into next year, before falling back.

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Congress's Travel Tab Swells 

Spending on Taxpayer-Funded Trips Rises Tenfold; 

Spending by lawmakers on taxpayer-financed trips abroad has risen sharply in recent years, a Wall Street Journal analysis of travel records shows, involving everything from war-zone visits to trips to exotic spots such as the Galápagos Islands.

The spending on overseas travel is up almost tenfold since 1995, and has nearly tripled since 2001, according to the Journal analysis of 60,000 travel records. Hundreds of lawmakers traveled overseas in 2008 at a cost of about $13 million. That's a 50% jump since Democrats took control of Congress two years ago.

The cost of so-called congressional delegations, known among lawmakers as "codels," has risen nearly 70% since 2005, when an influence-peddling scandal led to a ban on travel funded by lobbyists, according to the data.

Although complete travel records aren't yet available for 2009, it appears that such costs continue to rise. The Journal analysis shows that the government has picked up the tab for travel to destinations such as Jamaica, the Virgin Islands and Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

Lawmakers frequently bring along spouses on congressional trips. If they take commercial flights, they have to buy tickets for spouses. If they fly on government planes -- as they usually do -- their spouses can fly free.

Paris Air Show 

In mid-June, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D., Hawaii) led a group of a half-dozen senators and their spouses on a four-day trip to France for the biennial Paris Air Show. An itinerary for the event shows that lawmakers flew on the Air Force's version of the Boeing 737, which costs $5,700 an hour to operate. They stayed at the Intercontinental Paris Le Grand Hotel, which advertises rooms from $460 a night.

Often, lawmakers combine trips to war zones with visits to more tranquil spots. In February, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a delegation of Democratic lawmakers to visit U.S. troops in Afghanistan for a day. Before landing in Kabul, the eight lawmakers and their entourage of spouses and aides spent eight days in Italy, spending $57,697 on hotels and meals.

Many congressional trips have been to Iraq or Afghanistan. In 2008, lawmakers and aides took 113 trips to Iraq, according to the Journal analysis, down slightly from the prior year. Not much money is spent in the war zones. Lawmakers are not allowed to stay overnight in Iraq and receive only minimal spending allowances for their one-day visits.

In mid-February, for example, six House lawmakers traveled to Kuwait, Iraq, Bahrain and Afghanistan. Each lawmaker reported spending $1,500 on hotels and meals in Kuwait, $400 in Bahrain, and $25 in Afghanistan. They reported no expenses in Iraq.

Scores of lawmakers are spending this week abroad on taxpayer-funded trips. Congressional offices say they won't release details of the trips for security reasons. Disclosure rules require lawmakers to print some information about their taxpayer-funded travel in the Congressional Record within 30 days of returning home.

Congressional Fleet 

The congressional trips are possible thanks in part to an unlimited fund created by a three-decade old law. Nearly two dozen government officials work full-time organizing the trips. Much of the costs are not made public, including the cost of flying on government jets. The Air Force maintains a fleet of 16 passenger planes for use by lawmakers.

Documents obtained by the Journal show that the cost of flying a small group of lawmakers to the Middle East is about $150,000. Larger trips on the Air Force's version of the Boeing 757 cost about $12,000 an hour. Two federal agencies pay for most of the travel -- the Defense Department and the State Department.

Exotic Locales

In October, Rep. Bud Cramer (R., Ala.) spent two weeks in Europe on government business. Reports show that Mr. Cramer spent $5,700 on hotels, meals and incidentals. Mr. Cramer wasn't running for re-election and left office just two months later.

"Knowing that I was leaving with my 18 years of seniority, I wanted to conclude some issues that I was working on," Mr. Cramer said. He now works for a lobbying firm in Washington.

Some of the most expensive travel is to exotic locales.

Last summer, Rep. Brian Baird (D., Wash.) took a four-day trip to the Galápagos Islands with his wife, four other lawmakers and their family members. The lawmakers spent $22,000 on meals and hotels, records show. Mr. Baird, a member of the House Science Committee, said the trip was to learn about global warming.

On the first day, lawmakers toured a breeding center for giant tortoise and land iguanas before dining with scientists, according to an itinerary for the trip. The next morning, lawmakers headed to the Galápagos National Park while their family members had the option of hiking, swimming or shopping. That afternoon, the group boarded a boat to visit a sea-lion colony and search for white-tip sharks.

Mr. Baird didn't respond to a request for comment.

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Employers cut a larger-than-expected 467,000 jobs in June, driving the unemployment rate up to a 26-year high of 9.5 percent, suggesting that the economy's road to recovery will be a bumpy one.

Economists had expected 363,000 job cuts last months, and that the jobless rate would rise to 9.6 percent from 9.4 percent in May.

If laid-off workers who have given up looking for new jobs or have settled for part-time work are included, the unemployment rate would have been 16.5 percent in June, the highest on records dating to 1994.

Out-of-work with no place to land, the legions of America's unemployed are growing.

Still, if economists' forecasts are correct, it would be consistent with the belief that the worst of employers' payrolls cuts have occurred. Companies are expected to keep shedding jobs through the rest of this year, but economists hope the pace will continue to taper off.

"Employers were very quick to pull the trigger on job cuts last year, and most of the biggest cuts are behind us. But companies are going to be very cautious about hiring," said economist Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics.

The deepest job cuts of the recession came in January, when 741,000 jobs vanished, the most in any month since 1949.

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reportedly spent two days urging President Obama to toughen his language on Iran's post-election crackdown before he finally took her advice. The Washington Times writes that the president resisted Clinton's initial counsel, and that when he finally relented, he did not tell her first.

The president had been criticized for his cautious tone on the situation. Then at last week's news conference, Mr. Obama said he was "appalled and outraged," and he "strongly condemned" the violence.

An administration official called it "a happy surprise. It was echoing the line the secretary had been pushing for a couple of days."

But the Times characterized it as — "the first known example of awkwardness between the two former rivals" — since Clinton took the job.

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The Social Security Administration is paying millions of dollars in benefits to dead Americans, while other elderly people who are incorrectly said to be deceased, get nothing.

McClatchy Newspapers reports one study revealed at least 88 of 305 Social Security recipients listed as deceased were still receiving checks. And at least 140 of the 305 supposedly dead people, were in fact still very much alive.

Overall, investigators say more than 6,700 people currently receiving Social Security benefits have master files that include a date of death. They estimate more than $40 million may have been improperly paid out to deceased beneficiaries.

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Insurgents have captured an American soldier in eastern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said Thursday.

Spokeswoman Capt. Elizabeth Mathias said the soldier went missing Tuesday.

"We are using all of our resources to find him and provide for his safe return," Mathias said.

Mathias did not provide details on the soldier, the location where he was captured or the circumstances.

"We are not providing further details to protect the soldier's well-being," she said.

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The New York City Council is at odds with Mayor Michael Bloomberg over a resolution calling for the school system to observe two Muslim holidays. 

The council overwhelmingly passed the resolution Tuesday, citing the city's growing Muslim population and the fact that the system observes comparable Jewish and Christian holidays. 

But Bloomberg has spoken out against the measure, saying the school year will get too short if the calendar includes too many holidays. 

Now it's unclear whether the proposal will become policy, as the council does not have direct authority over the school year -- yet Bloomberg just relinquished control of the school system to a newly appointed board of education. 

"Right now the degree of control the mayor has over the education system is completely unclear," said Councilman G. Oliver Koppell, the only council member to vote against the resolution Tuesday. 

Bloomberg could still block the measure. Though the city just reappointed its board of education, the state Senate could take action soon to hand Bloomberg back the reins. 

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California officials said Wednesday they are trying to avert the federal government's threat to seize six parks that could be closed to help reduce the state's ballooning budget deficit.

National Park Service Regional Director Jonathan Jarvis warned in a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that all six occupy former federal land that could revert to the U.S. government if the state fails to keep the parks open.

The sites are Angel Island, a former federal military and immigration facility in San Francisco Bay; the top of Mount Diablo east of San Francisco, where the Navy once operated a microwave relay station; Point Sur State Historic Park in coastal Big Sur; and three beaches -- Fort Ord Dunes near Monterey, Point Mugu State Park near Malibu, and Border Fields along the Mexican border.

The properties are among the 220 state parks Schwarzenegger has proposed closing to save $143 million. Legislators are considering the move as part of efforts to close a $26 billion budget deficit.

The Republican governor has rejected Democratic proposals to add a $15 fee to annual vehicle registrations to raise money to run the parks.

"Lands conveyed to the State under the Federal Lands to Parks Program must be open for public park and recreation use in perpetuity as a condition of the deed," Jarvis warned in a June 8 letter to Schwarzenegger made public Wednesday. "Any parkland thus conveyed, if it is found to be unavailable to the public for parks and recreation use, may revert to federal ownership for re-disposal."

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Karl Malden, an Oscar- and Emmy-winning actor perhaps best remembered for his role as Detective Lt. Mike Stone on the '70s TV series The Streets of San Francisco, has died of natural causes. He was 97.

Born Mladen Sekulovich, the former steel-mill worker and World War II vet with an average-Joe mug (and bulbous nose) emerged in the 1950s in a number of notable film performances. He received an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Blanche's earnest suitor Mitch in the 1951 adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire (he'd previously played the part on Broadway), and won the Best Supporting Oscar as streetwise Father Barry in 1954's On The Waterfront. He followed with acclaimed turns in Baby Doll (1956), How the West Was Won (1962), Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), and Patton (1970).

In 1972, Malden successfully switched mediums with a full-time gig on the ABC drama The Streets of San Francisco. As Lt. Stone, the gruff, widowed homicide detective who was partnered with Michael Douglas' Inspector Keller, he nabbed four Emmy nominations. Audiences also got to know him during commercial breaks: In the '70s and '80s, he starred in ads for American Express Travelers Cheques, uttering the famous line: "Don't leave home without them." Malden, who claimed an Emmy in 1984 for the TV movie Fatal Vision, also served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1989 to 1992; he last appeared on screen in a 2000 episode of The West Wing. In his personal life, Malden was married to actress Mona Graham for more than 70 years, which stands as one of Hollywood's longest marriages. 

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Paul Newsom, long-time advertising spokesman for AUTOMAX and other car dealerships, who also did some acting and an outdoor show, has died from cancer.

He was a Bixby Public Schools board member.

Newsom was the President of Newsom Productions, Inc., a full-service advertising, marketing, and television video production company established in 1985, with offices in Oklahoma City and Bixby.  Newsom Productions has clients that spread across the United States.