It sounds like a dangerous blow-up between arch-enemies. But the opponents in this fight are just testy neighbors: Spain and the British domain of Gibraltar.

In question is an artificial reef that Gibraltar created offshore to block what it calls excessive Spanish fishing in its waters, a move that caused Spain to retaliate by beefing up border security, creating excruciating delays for cars going in and out of the tax-free haven. At the heart of the dispute is a longstanding row surrounding Spain's claims to sovereignty over Gibraltar, an issue that invariably stirs Spanish passions and boils over every decade or so with arguments such as the one over the reef.

Gibraltar's chief minister, Fabian Picardo accusing Spain of bullying the tiny enclave like a belligerent North Korea claims that Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is using the fishing issue to fan nationalist sentiment so Spaniards will forget their economic misery and a corruption scandal slamming his party, a charge echoed by Spanish opposition politicians. If that's Rajoy's strategy, it appears to be working: The Gibraltar flap has become Spain's top news story, dominating front pages and television newscasts bumping the scandal off the agenda.

Amid the noise, experts say one thing appears certain: The Gibraltar tussle won't ruin relations between Spain and Britain even as the two countries remain at loggerheads over ownership.

"I think Gibraltar is and will continue to be a point of friction but I doubt that it will strain relations between the two countries to the point of a breakup," said Antonio Barroso, a London-based analyst with Teneo Intelligence political and business risk firm. "Spain and the U.K. have far too many interests in common to let Gibraltar be the defining issue of their relationship."

The dispute erupted last month when barge workers dumped 70 boulder-sized concrete blocks into the sea just off of Gibraltar's lone airport runway creating an artificial reef in the name of environmental protection. It triggered the most notable British-Spanish crisis over "The Rock" since 2004, when Spain protested festivities celebrating the 300th anniversary of the Anglo-Dutch invasion of Gibraltar.

Spanish Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz called the artificial reef "abhorrent" and "a very clear environmental crime," while Picardo said "hell will freeze over" before the blocks are removed.

In addition to the security checks, Rajoy's conservative administration has threatened to impose a Gibraltar entry tax and regulate Gibraltar's lucrative ship refueling industry. He has also demanded a stop to smuggling into Spain of cheap cigarettes bought in Gibraltar and warned of possible tax fraud investigations targeting Gibraltar residents who own homes in southern Spain.

The European Commission said this week that it hopes Britain and Spain will be able to resolve their latest dispute over Gibraltar by themselves, but agreed to send a fact-finding team to the territory of 30,000 people next month to investigate, while saying Spain's idea of a Gibraltar entry fee would be illegal. But experts doubt a resolution will happen anytime soon because London is committed to Gibraltarians' desires to remain a British territory.

"This is a classic escalation of tensions, you have a macro issue of sovereignty with a mid-level fishing issue problem," said Barroso. "Tensions will continue because it is very difficult to find a solution."

Underlying the dispute is the Treaty of Utrecht signed by Britain and Spain on July 13, 1713, which saw Spain buckle following the War of Spanish Succession and gave Gibraltar to Britain "with all manner of right for ever, without any exception or impediment."

The treaty also mandated never-enforced clauses requiring Britain to prevent "Jews or Moors" from living in Gibraltar and barring "Moorish ships of war" from entering the harbor so Spain's coast would not "be infested by the excursions of the Moors."

But it didn't mention anything about control over its waters and Gibraltar's insistence that its territorial waters extend 3 nautical miles (5.6 kilometers) has never been accepted by Spain. That has led to low level cat-and-mouse skirmishes since 2009, with Gibraltarian patrol boats chasing Spanish vessels casting nets in places Gibraltar says are its own. The latest twist was the creation of the reef.

"What is interesting is that the current dispute is about fishing but it is being used to discuss territorial waters and what those limits are for Gibraltar," said Chris Grocott, a historian at Britain's University of Leicester and co-author of "Gibraltar: A Modern History."

"It is being used as an opening to the larger issues."

While Rajoy has managed to appear tough to the Spanish public over Gibraltar, he now runs the risk of triggering a new round of bickering with Morocco over the North African kingdom's longstanding claims that Spain should give up its North African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, which are surrounded by Morocco and the Mediterranean Sea much in the way Gibraltar is tucked into Spain.

To many non-Spaniards, "it seems ridiculous that Spain has territory there," said Pablo Perez Lopez, a history professor at Spain's University of Navarra. "But the position of Spain is that it was in North Africa hundreds of years before the British arrived in Gibraltar."

In a letter to clergy, Archbishop John J. Myers defends himself in the case of a man who sued the Diocese of Peoria, Ill., which Myers helmed from 1990 to 2001. In a 2010 deposition that a lawyer for the accuser recently released, Myers said he did not know of other allegations against Monsignor Thomas Maloney. The diocese of Peoria reached a $1.35 million settlement in the case this month.

The deposition said diocesan correspondence recorded one allegation of abuse and another of inappropriate behavior against Maloney, but Myers said they may have been lost in the diocese's slipshod filing system and did not cross his desk. Myers said he wasn't alerted to the allegations and didn't see them when reviewing Maloney's files while recommending him for a promotion in 2000. Maloney died in 2009.

"At no time was I ever aware that some people thought him to be a threat to children or young people," Myers wrote, noting the case that recently settled was brought to the attention of the Diocese of Peoria in 2007, years after he left.

He reserved his harshest words for his most vocal critics, namely former priests, and questioned their motives.

"For any who set out to claim that I or the Church have had no effective part in the love and protection of children is simply evil, wrong, immoral, and seemingly focused on their own self-aggrandizement," Myers wrote.

"God only knows their personal reason and agenda," the letter continued. "And God will surely address them in due time."

Myers also excoriated New Jersey media for their coverage of the story, saying it provided "deceitful and misleading information." Myers said he has a duty to denounce impressions "presented as false and harmful to many people."

Myers also suggested that priests could be falsely accused of abuse.

"One can understand when family difficulties lead parents, even by conjecture, to blame someone outside the family," he wrote. "But conjecture is no reason to undermine the ministry of individual priests."

Jeff Anderson, a lawyer for the man who accused Maloney of abuse, said the letter is proof that Myers has a clerical mindset that he's above the law.

"His comments reflect a mentality that goes back to a different century and is a reflection of the depths and the breadth of the problem at the top of the Archdiocese of Newark," Anderson said.

Such strongly worded messages from high-ranking Catholic officials are rare. In 1992, Cardinal Bernard F. Law in Boston called for God's power to come down on the media, particularly The Boston Globe. He resigned 10 years later, nearly a year after the newspaper exposed the cover-up of clergy sexual abuse in the archdiocese.

Myers has been under fire in Newark for his handling of the case of the Rev. Michael Fugee, who confessed to grabbing a boy's crotch but returned to the ministry under an agreement between prosecutors and the archdiocese that he be kept from unsupervised contact with minors.

Instead, authorities say, Fugee became a fixture at a youth group. He resigned in June, and some have called for Myers to resign in the wake of the case.

The president's philosophy of limited engagement is facing perhaps its toughest test in Egypt, where the nation's first democratically elected president was ousted by military forces with deep, decadeslong ties to the U.S.

The White House has refused to declare Mohammed Morsi's removal from power a coup a step that would require Obama to suspend $1.3 billion in annual aid even after the military-backed interim government led crackdowns last week that left more than 600 people dead and thousands more injured.

Obama's resistance to suspending U.S. support for Egypt's military leaves the White House with little leverage, effectively relegating the president to the role of a bystander issuing strongly worded statements. The U.S. position has also stirred up anti-American sentiment in Egypt, with Morsi supporters accusing the U.S. of failing to live up to its own democratic values by allowing an elected leader to be pushed aside.

The president insists that the U.S. stands with Egyptians seeking a democratic government. But he says America could not determine Egypt's future and would not "take sides with any political party or political figure."

"I know it's tempting inside of Egypt to blame the United States or the West or some other outside actor for what's gone wrong," Obama said Thursday in remarks from his rented vacation house in Massachusetts on Martha's Vineyard. "We've been blamed by supporters of Morsi. We've been blamed by the other side, as if we are supporters of Morsi."

"That kind of approach will do nothing to help Egyptians achieve the future that they deserve," Obama added.

Steven Cook, a Middle East analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations, said that Obama's "middle-splitting" approach for Egypt undercuts U.S. support for democracy in the region.

"The idea that we can influence the trajectory of the politics is foolish," Cook said. "But to have not been consistent in emphasizing our own values in this situation is a mistake. We should stick to the principles of democracy and recognition for the rule of law."

However, the U.S. relationship with Egypt has long required Washington to ignore the country's repressive politics in exchange for regional stability. For 30 years the U.S. propped up Egyptian autocrat Hosni Mubarak in part to ensure that he maintained Egypt's peace treaty with Israel, one of only two such accords in the Arab world.

But Obama abandoned Mubarak in 2011, when millions of Egyptians took to the streets to demand an end to his rule. Mubarak eventually resigned, clearing the way for Egypt's first democratic elections and inspiring pro-democracy protests in other countries throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

The U.S. has consistently voiced support for the popular uprisings and in some cases demanded that autocratic leaders leave power. In Libya, the U.S. joined with allies to set up a no-fly zone to help opposition forces oust longtime leader Moammar Gahdafi. And in Syria, the U.S. has levied economic sanctions and approved light weaponry for rebels fighting President Bashar Assad's government, though it has done little to stop the civil war that has left more than 100,000 people dead.

But throughout the Arab Spring, the White House has been wary of getting too deeply involved in setting up new governments in the region.

Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser, said the president does not believe it is his role to "engineer a political process."

"The challenge for us is that picking winners and seeking to engineer a solution puts us right in the middle of the situation and ultimately makes the U.S. the issue," Rhodes said.

The president's approach was shaped in part by his opposition to the Iraq War, a conflict that was first built as an anti-terrorism campaign but became a U.S.-led exercise in democracy-building. Obama oversaw the end of the war in his first term and has since tried to keep the war weary, economically strapped U.S. out of other lengthy foreign conflicts.

Obama's philosophy is also driven in part by concerns that the governments formed after the Arab Spring uprisings may be more detrimental to American interests than the autocratic regimes they replace.

Before Morsi's ouster, U.S. officials were worried that the Egyptian leader fit into that category. A senior leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Morsi was accused of giving the Islamist political movement undue influence in the government after he took power. Egyptians also blamed him for failing to make good on promised economic reforms.

The military removed Morsi from power last month following massive street protests that drew comparisons to the demonstrations that ousted Mubarak in 2011. The military has promised to roll back Morsi's Islamist constitution and hold free elections next year.

___

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The Grammy-winning rapper, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, wore a suit and stood silently at the hearing stemming from a June incident at the condominium of his former girlfriend, model Daphne Narvaez, who is the mother of his child.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Bernard Kamins ordered 50 Cent to have no contact with Narvaez and to turn over any firearms he might have to police or sell them.

The 38-year-old rapper was charged last month with one count of misdemeanor domestic violence and four counts of vandalism after he allegedly kicked open a door at Narvaez's condo in the Toluca Lake community of Los Angeles, kicked her and destroyed a piece of furniture, a chandelier and a television. The property damage was valued at $7,100.

The rapper faces a maximum penalty of five years in jail and $46,000 in fines if convicted on all counts.

The city attorney's office has said that the altercation started over an allegation of relationship Narvaez had.

50 Cent shot to fame with his 2003 debut studio album "Get Rich or Die Tryin'," which has sold about 15 million copies globally, making it one of the best-selling rap albums of all time.

He also starred in the 2005 semi-autobiographical film of the same name. He has had roles in the 2006 war drama "Home of the Brave" and the upcoming crime-thriller "The Frozen Ground," which stars Nicolas Cage and John Cusack.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Bill Trott)

The inquiry, to be held alongside two internal Fonterra investigations and another by the country's agricultural regulator, will examine how the potentially contaminated products entered the international market and whether adequate regulatory practices were in place to deal with the issue.

"This will provide the answers needed to the questions that have been raised about this incident, both domestically and internationally," said Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy, who is leading the inquiry along with Food Safety Minister Nikki Kaye.

"It is also an important step in reassuring our trading partners that we take these issues seriously," he said in a statement.

The contamination announced earlier this month has led to product recalls in countries from China to Saudi Arabia. Fonterra, the world's largest dairy exporter, has come under attack at home and abroad for dragging its feet in disclosing the discovery of the bacteria.

Fonterra Chief Executive Theo Spierings welcomed the inquiry, saying in the statement that the company would provide all necessary information.

The inquiry will be expected to provide an interim report in around three months.

New Zealand depends on the dairy industry for a quarter of its total exports. China is a major export market for New Zealand's dairy products.

Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully is visiting Beijing this week in to smooth relations with the country's biggest milk powder customer, and Prime Minister John Key has said he plans to visit China later this year to discuss the contamination issue after the inquiry results are complete.

(Reporting by Naomi Tajitsu; Editing by Chris Gallagher)

- - - -

Yankees 9, Red Sox 6

Alex Rodriguez had a dramatic response to being hit by a pitch: He homered later in the game, helping the New York Yankees come from behind for a win over the Boston Red Sox.

Rodriguez was hit in the second inning by Boston pitcher Ryan Dempster, prompting the benches and bullpens to empty and plate umpire Brian O'Nora to issue warnings to both teams.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi was ejected by O'Nora for arguing.

Rodriguez led off against Dempster in the sixth to spark a four-run inning that rallied New York out of a 6-3 deficit.

- - - -

Phillies 3, Dodgers 2

Hanley Ramirez's error on Michael Young's grounder in the bottom of the ninth - Ramirez's second error of the inning - allowed the winning run to score as the Philadelphia Phillies ended the Los Angeles Dodgers' 10-game win streak.

With the score tied 2-2 and one out in the ninth, Casper Wells reached on Ramirez's throwing error. Carlos Ruiz, who went 4-for-4, singled while Ramirez made another misplay two batters later to bring in Wells.

The Dodgers lost for only the ninth time in their last 51 games.

- - - -

Cardinals 6, Cubs 1

Adam Wainwright got his groove back, allowing one run on five hits in seven efficient innings as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs.

Wainwright (14-7) picked up his first win in five starts while Jon Jay doubled home one run and added a three-run homer for the Cardinals.

- - - -

Diamondbacks 4, Pirates 2 (16 innings)

Adam Eaton's two-run single in the top of the 16th inning, his fourth hit of the game, gave the Arizona Diamondbacks a dramatic victory over the Pittsburgh.

The outfielder came into the game hitting just .216 after missing the first three months of the season because of a sprained elbow.

Pittsburgh saw their lead in the National League Central shrink to one over St Louis.

- - - -

Mariners 4, Rangers 3

Kyle Seager delivered his second go-ahead hit of the series to propel the Seattle Mariners past Texas.

Seager, who had hit a two-run homer in Friday's 3-1 win, lifted the Mariners with a two-out double in the ninth off of Joe Nathan to bring home Endy Chavez.

The Rangers lead in the American League West was trimmed to just a half-game over Oakland.

- - - -

Braves 2, Nationals 1

The Atlanta Braves stretched their lead in the National League East to 15 1/2 games with a victory over second-place Washington.

Julio Teheran (10-6) claimed the victory with six scoreless innings as Atlanta won its seventh straight series.

- - - -

Reds 9, Brewers 1

Homer Bailey struck out eight and the Reds took advantage of nine walks to earn a series split with the Brewers.

Cincinnati did its damage in two innings, opening the second with four straight singles and taking a 5-0 lead on Brandon Phillips' two-run single off Brewers starter Wily Peralta.

- - - -

Orioles 7, Rockies 2

Baltimore's Chris Davis hit his major league-leading 45th home run and Adam Jones also went deep, leading the Orioles to a victory over the Colorado Rockies.

Davis went 4-for-5 and the Orioles took the three-game series to carry some momentum into an upcoming matchup against division rival Tampa Bay.

- - - -

Rays 2, Blue Jays 1 (10 innings)

Jose Lobaton blasted the first walk-off home run of his career and his second walk-off hit in three days, leading the Rays to a win over the Blue Jays.

Rays starter Chris Archer was perfect after three innings and allowed only one run over seven innings, a game-tying solo shot by Edwin Encarnacion in the seventh.

- - - -

Tigers 6, Royals 3

Miguel Cabrera and Max Scherzer improved on their Major League leading totals, as Cabrera drove in three more runs to reach 120 RBIs and Scherzer tallied his 18th win.

Cabrera, who ended Saturday night's game with a leadoff home run in the ninth inning, hit the first pitch he saw for his 40th homer of the season.

Scherzer (18-1) had held the Royals to two hits until Kansas City set up a two-run seventh, but he nevertheless joined Roger Clemens (2001) and Rube Marquard (18-0, 1912) as pitchers with the best starts in baseball history.

- - - -

Marlins 6, Giants 5

In a game that featured five lead changes, the Miami Marlins rallied to beat the San Francisco Giants.

The Marlins trailed 5-4 in the seventh where Donovan Solano tied it with an RBI double before Jeff Mathis hit the go-ahead RBI double in the eighth.

- - - -

White Sox 5, Twins 2

The Chicago White Sox won their third straight game by beating the Minnesota Twins.

White Sox starter Hector Santiago scattered nine hits across six innings of work, giving up two runs (one earned) to lead the way.

- - - -

Astros 7, Angels 5

Matt Dominguez's three-run home run in the seventh inning snapped a 3-3 tie and lifted the Houston Astros to a victory over the Los Angeles Angels.

Dominguez's home run was one of four hit by both teams on a day the ball carried well. L.J. Hoes homered for the Astros while Josh Hamilton and Mark Trumbo homered for the Angels.

- - - -

Padres 4, Mets 3

Will Venable delivered a game-winning solo home run with no outs in the ninth as the San Diego Padres rallied for win over the New York Mets.

Venable, who went 2-for-5 with two RBI, drilled a 1-2 pitch off Pedro Feliciano (0-2), allowing the Padres (56-68) to split the four-game series with the Mets (56-66).

- - - -

A's 7, Indians 3

Chris Young and Alberto Callaspo hit solo home runs in the fifth inning, powering the Oakland A's to a victory over the Cleveland Indians.

Young sent left-hander Scott Kazmir's 3-2 fastball high and deep into the left-field seats with one out, breaking a 3-3 tie.

Two batters later, Callaspo hit his first home run as an Athletic and sixth of the season. (Compiled by Jahmal Corner; Editing by Nick Mulvenney/John O'Brien)

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By Havovi Cooper

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Friday, following the largest one-day drop in almost two months a day earlier, as retailers took a beating after reporting lackluster earnings and high-dividend names were hurt by rising interest rates.

Nordstrom (NYS: - ) became the latest department store chain to miss revenue estimates, prompting it to cut its full-year sales and profit forecasts. Shares fell 3 percent to $57.

Other retailers' earnings have also disappointed. From Wal-Mart (WMT.N) and Gap (GPS.N) to Macy's (M.N) and McDonald's (MCD.N), chains that cater to middle- and lower-income Americans are feeling the pinch of an uneven economic recovery.

"Consumers are spending money at record levels, but the incremental growth rate for spending has slowed down, reflecting the increase in taxes and higher prices at the pump," said Fred Dickson, chief market strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co in Lake Oswego, Oregon.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite indexes were on track for the largest weekly declines since late June, and the Dow industrials headed for its biggest weekly drop since April.

Among the sectors down the most were consumer staples and utilities, industries that did well earlier in the year as investors were attracted by high dividend yields. As interest rates have risen, those stocks have struggled. The 10-year Treasury note yield rose to 2.86 percent, a two-year high, reducing the appeal of dividend payers.

Adding to the market's concern, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's preliminary reading on consumer sentiment in August slipped from July's six-year high.

"We are unlikely to see a large-scale correction in the market right now, but it certainly is losing the momentum that took it to strong highs earlier this year," said Rick Meckler, president of investment firm Liberty View Capital Management in Jersey City, New Jersey.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 41.20 points, or 0.27 percent, at 15,070.99. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 6.16 points, or 0.37 percent, at 1,655.16. The Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 1.43 points, or 0.04 percent, at 3,607.54.

U.S. housing starts rose 5.9 percent in July, compared with a 9.9 percent drop in June. Homebuilders Pulte Group (NYS: - ) and Lennar Corp (NYS: - ) rallied on the news and were among the top percentage gainers on the S&P 500.

Pulte rose 2.7 percent to $16.37, while Lennar advanced 2.6 percent to $34.17.

J.C. Penney shares fell 3.3 percent to $13.60 as the retailer entered into an agreement with former board member and largest shareholder, Bill Ackman, that paves the way for him to sell his stake.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (NSQ: - ) shares rose 3 percent to $75.11 after Nasdaq OMX said the company will replace Life Technologies (LIFE.O) in the Nasdaq 100 index on August 22.

Airline stocks gained some ground, with U.S. Airways (LCC.N) shares rising 2 percent to $16.04, but the sector is still lower for the week following a lawsuit from the Department of Justice to block the merger of US Airways and American Airlines.

(Additional reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

A White House official said the administration started installing "American made" solar panels on the First Family's residence this week.

The move is part of a so-called energy retrofit that also includes better temperature controls and variable speed fans to save power, the New York Daily News reports.

The report said that it is part of the administration's bid to "lead by example" by cutting federal energy use.

Former President Jimmy Carter had solar panels put on the White House after his 1976 election, but Ronald Reagan had them removed in 1981, the report added. (ANI)