JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) _ Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke declared Friday that the U.S. economy is on the verge of a long-awaited recovery after enduring a brutal recession and the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
Economic activity in both the U.S. and around the world appears to be “leveling out,” and “the prospects for a return to growth in the near term appear good,” Bernanke said in a speech at an annual Fed conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo.
The upbeat assessment was consistent with the Fed’s observations earlier this month as it took a small step toward pulling back some emergency programs to revive the economy.
Still, Bernanke stressed Friday that despite much progress in stabilizing financial markets and trying to bust through credit clogs, consumers and businesses are still having trouble getting loans. The situation is not back to normal, he said.
Restoring the free flow of credit is a critical component to a lasting recovery.
“Although we have avoided the worst, difficult challenges still lie ahead,” Bernanke told the gathering. “We must work together to build on the gains already made to secure a sustained economic recovery.”
Strains in financial markets worldwide persist. Financial institutions face “significant additional losses” on soured investments and many businesses and households are experiencing “considerable difficulty” in getting loans, he said.
The Fed chief’s remarks come two years after the financial crisis broke out and nearly one year after it had deepened to the point of sending the nation into a near meltdown.
The bulk of Bernanke’s speech was a chronicle of the extraordinary events of the past year. Financial markets took a turn for the worst starting last September and into October, nearly shutting down the flow of credit. The crisis felled storied Wall Street firms and forced the government to take over mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as insurance titan American International Group Inc.

BC-US–Home Sales,0120 July home sales surge more than 7 percent Eds: APNewsNow. Moving on general news and financial services. By ALAN ZIBEL= AP Real Estate Writer=
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Home resales posted the largest monthly increase in at least 10 years last month as first-time buyers rushed to take advantage of a tax credit that expires this fall.
The National Association of Realtors says home sales rose 7.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.24 million last month, from a pace of 4.89 million in June.
It was the fourth-straight monthly increase and the highest level of sales since August 2007. Sales had been expected to rise to an annual pace of 5 million, according to economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
The median sales price was $178,400, down 15 percent from $210,100 in the same month last year.

PITTSBURGH - Pittsburgh’s not much of a fast-food town.So says Men’s Health magazine, which ranks Pittsburgh 98th out of 100 U.S. cities in terms of fast-food addiction.

Arlington, Texas is America’s fast-food capital, followed by Anchorage, Charlotte, N.C., Sioux Falls, S.D., and Raleigh, N.C., which each earned an “F” from Men’s Health for residents relying too much on fast-food, rather than more nutritious options.

Pittsburgh joins Miami and Hartford, Conn., as the three cities to earn “A” grades, though they were all topped by Buffalo, which nabbed the lone A+. Evidently, Men’s Health editors see nothing wrong with chicken wings.

To calculate fast-food fondness, Men’s Health tallied the number of McDonald’s, Burger Kings, Wendy’s and Taco Bells per capita, and then factored in the percentage of people in each city who visit fast-food restaurants.

Magazine editors then consulted SimplyMap data to determine where people consume fast-food seven or more times a month. Finally, the magazine looked at Center for Disease Control and Prevention statistics for the number of people who are obese, and to see who’s eating the fewest fruits and vegetables.

The complete list of cities will appear in the September issue of Men’s Health and on www.menshealth.com.

NEW YORK (AP) _ Former New York Giant Plaxico Burress pleaded guilty to a weapons charge and agreed to a two-year prison term for accidentally shooting himself at a Manhattan nightclub.
The ex-wide receiver pleaded guilty Thursday morning to one count of attempted criminal possession of a weapon, a lesser charge than he initially faced. Under a plea agreement, he agreed to a two-year prison sentence and two years of supervised release.
Burress was indicted earlier this month on two counts of criminal possession of a weapon and one count of reckless endangerment. He faced a minimum sentence of 3 1/2 years if convicted at a trial.
Burress’ sentencing is set for Sept. 22.

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) _ A plane carrying freed Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi has taken off from Glasgow Airport bound for Libya.
Scottish officials freed the former Libyan intelligence agent Thursday on compassionate grounds after eight years in jail. Al-Megrahi has terminal prostate cancer and has been given less than three months to live.
Al-Megrahi was taken from Greenock Prison to the airport in a police van. He walked slowly up the steps of the Airbus operated by Libyan airline Afriqiyah, unaided but leaning on a cane.
He was convicted in 2001 of taking part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 on Dec. 21, 1988 that killed 270 people.
The U.S. opposed the release and families of some Lockerbie victims reacted angrily to the decision.

By Joe Mandak, Associated Press Writer
PITTSBURGH (AP) - A former Nevada casino worker who accused Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger of rape in a civil lawsuit should drop the case because her own e-mails and text messages prove she wasn’t assaulted, his attorney said.
The woman “should abandon her lawsuit immediately and admit that Ben Roethlisberger did not rape her,” Roethlisberger’s attorney W. David Cornwell said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press. “We believe that (the woman’s) own words directly refute the scurrilous allegations made in her complaint.”
The woman contends in the lawsuit filed last month in Washoe County District Court in Reno, Nev., that Roethlisberger raped her in his room at Harrah’s in Lake Tahoe in July 2008 when he was there to play in a celebrity golf tournament.
The woman never went to authorities; her lawsuit says she didn’t file a criminal complaint because she feared Harrah’s would side with Roethlisberger and she would be fired. She also accused Harrah’s officials of orchestrating a cover-up.
Cornwell provided the AP and other news outlets with 18 pages of e-mails and texts purportedly between the 31-year-old woman and a male friend.
Cornwell wouldn’t say Wednesday how he obtained the e-mails and texts, but said he has a “good faith basis” to believe they are legitimate. Some of the e-mails were sent within a day of the alleged attack, including some just a couple of hours later, Cornwell said.
In an e-mail two days before the alleged rape, the woman tells her friend that she has been chosen to take care of the resort’s celebrity guests, including Roethlisberger, Cornwell said. She also tells him that he and the quarterback look alike.
On July 12, less than 24 hours after the alleged rape, the woman writes about how much she has enjoyed entertaining the celebrities and VIPs.
“The golf tournament has been really fun … I am really excited because we are all going to see Journey tonight and that will be soooooo much fun. Speaking of which I need to head over to dinner with your lookalike and a few others before heading out,” the e-mail said, according to Cornwell.
The Associated Press does not generally identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted.
The woman’s Reno-based attorney, Calvin Dunlap, didn’t return a message left by The Associated Press on Wednesday. Cornwell wouldn’t comment beyond his e-mailed statement.
In her lawsuit, the woman said she was distraught and left work after the assault, going to cry in her pickup truck.
But in an e-mail sent from her work station two hours after the alleged attack, she sounds as if nothing has occurred, Cornwell said. “Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh I finally got away,” she writes. Nine minutes later sent him a cute note filled with mock baby talk, Cornwell said.
In text messages sent in December, the man asked her what would happen if they broke up, Cornwell said.
“I would date Ben Roethlisberger,” she answered. “hahahahah.”

By Sara Lepro, AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - The stock market extended a streak of erratic trading Wednesday, rebounding from early losses and rising moderately after a drop in oil inventories lifted hopes for an economic recovery.
The day, which began with a sharp slide driven by a big drop in China’s biggest stock market, followed a trading pattern seen in markets around the world this week. Stocks have alternately advanced and retreated as investors shuttle between worries about the economy’s challenges, namely consumer spending and high unemployment, and nascent signs of healing.
While the surprising decline in crude inventories was reassuring, there is still plenty of caution among investors. Even as stocks recovered, Treasury prices held on to most of their gains. Government debt is a safe-haven investment in a struggling economy.
News from the Energy Department that the nation’s oil inventory fell by more than 8 million barrels in the past week sent oil prices and then stocks higher, as investors bet that the drop in stockpiles is an indication that energy demand is rising and the economy is indeed improving.
Stocks’ sharp turn shows just how sensitive investors are to the latest bits of news, hungry for any sign that the economy is indeed healing and that the more than 40 percent surge in stocks since March has been warranted.
Analysts say the financial markets are likely to bounce around in the near term as investors try to reconcile their hopes for an economic recovery with the reality that it might not come as fast or be as strong as many people expected.
“Volatility is creeping up,” said Brian Nick, investment strategist at Barclays Wealth. “For a while we were seeing volatility steadily declining and maybe we thought we were completely out of the woods when we were not completely out of the woods.”
The Dow Jones industrials rose 61.22, or 0.7 percent, to 9,279.16. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 6.79, or 0.7 percent, to 996.46, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 13.32, or 0.7 percent, to 1,969.24.
About three stocks rose for every two that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to a light 4.35 billion shares, up from Tuesday’s 4.28 billion.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 5.22, or 0.9 percent, to 561.65.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.46 percent from 3.52 percent late Tuesday. It was trading at about 3.44 percent before the oil report.
Light, sweet crude jumped $3.23 to $72.42 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Analysts said Wall Street’s gains on Wednesday were likely magnified by short-covering, in which investors have to buy stock after having earlier sold borrowed shares in a bet they would fall. That rush to cover ill-timed bets can quicken the market’s climb.
At the same time, money managers and investors are still afraid of missing out on a rally that began last March and has continued despite period setbacks.
“I think people would like to buy (stocks) lower, but as the market creeps higher, people are kind of forced to buy,” said Nick Kalivas, vice president of financial research at MF Global. “The action today especially has been much stronger than I would hope and it is making me nervous about my bearish view.”
Still, the advance in bond prices is one sign that investors don’t feel secure.
“There’s this pushing and pulling type of action because people aren’t so convinced that the consumer is going to come out and induce some spending because obviously employment remains weak,” said Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Banyan Partners.
In earnings news, BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc. said its second-quarter profit dipped 4 percent and sales declined because of falling gasoline prices. Still, the warehouse club’s results beat analysts’ estimates and it raised its full-year profit outlook. It rose 67 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $31.99.
Deere & Co., the world’s largest maker of farm equipment, reported a 27 percent drop in its fiscal third-quarter profit, but also did better than Wall Street expected. Deere tumbled $1.31, or 2.9 percent, to $43.78.
Hewlett Packard Co. slipped 13 cents to $43.83 after the company said late Tuesday its profit fell 19 percent in the latest quarter on weak sales. However, the computer company provided an outlook for the fiscal fourth quarter that was better than expected.
Merck & Co. rallied after a federal judge ruled in favor of the drugmaker in a patent fight with an Israeli company that wants to sell a generic version of its top-selling asthma drug. Shares rose 77 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $31.48.
Among energy stocks, Murphy Oil Corp. jumped $1.73, or 3.1 percent, to $58.05, while Exxon Mobil Corp. rose 2.3 percent, adding $1.51 to $68.
The dollar was mixed against other major currencies. Gold prices rose, while other metals prices fell.
Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 0.8 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 recovered from early losses to finish up 0.03 percent. Germany’s DAX index slipped 0.2 percent, while France’s CAC-40 fell 0.1 percent.
The Shanghai index plunged 4.3 percent, after being down as much as 5 percent. The index has lost nearly 20 percent this month on worries about the strength of China’s recovery and a possible clamp on Beijing’s easy credit policy that helped to fuel the rally in Chinese stocks earlier this year.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ Radisson Hotels & Resorts says its computer systems have been accessed without authorization.
Radisson says it has informed customers of the situation and that guest information may have been accessed, including credit card numbers. Social security numbers were not included.
Radisson did not say how many hotels have been affected but advised that all guests review their account statements. Unauthorized purchases should be reported.
The computers were accessed between last November and May.
Authorities are investigating the incident.
Radisson, which operates hotels worldwide, is based in Minneapolis

PITTSBURGH (AP) - The University of Pittsburgh says it’s not interested in an estimated $225,000 estate from the gunman who committed suicide after killing three women and wounding nine others at a Pittsburgh-area health club.
Court papers of the intended gift were filed Friday by the brother and executor for 48-year-old George Sodini, of Scott Township. A university spokesman rejected the offer on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, two women injured in the Aug. 4 shooting at the L.A. Fitness club in Collier Township intend to sue Sodini’s estate. Lisa Marie Fleeher and Ashley Ferragonio filed notices Tuesday in Allegheny County court. A message left for their lawyer wasn’t returned.
Sodini graduated from Pitt in 1992 and named the school as beneficiary in a 2007 will.

RENO, Nev. (AP) - A former Harrah’s employee has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit that accuses Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger of raping another worker.
Stacy Dingman is the former director of hotels at Harrah’s and one of nine defendants named in the lawsuit filed last month in Washoe County District Court. The suit also accuses managers of the hotel-casino at Lake Tahoe of covering up the alleged sex assault.
She also said she is the former best friend of the woman who claims Roethlisberger raped her at the hotel-casino during an annual celebrity golf tournament in July 2008.
Dingman said in her motion that the lawsuit is baseless and that she has been dragged into it without justification.