A document on housing starts released by the Central Bureau of Statistics showed that building in the West Bank jumped from 313 housing starts between January and March last year to 865 the same period this year.

The rise in building starts elicited criticism from the Palestinians, who insist they won't return to peace talks unless Israel halts all settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, areas they claim, along with the Gaza Strip, for a future state. Israel, which captured those areas in the 1967 Mideast war, says talks should resume without any conditions.

The statistics bureau's report detailed housing starts country-wide. The West Bank housing represents the highest relative spike since last year compared to other regions in Israel, but it made up the smallest portion of new building compared to overall construction around the country.

The report, released at the end of May, comes days before Kerry is set to arrive to Israel in his bid to persuade both sides to return to negotiations. Kerry has been shuttling between the sides in recent months in hopes of finding a formula to restart negotiations. He is expected in the region this week on what would be his fifth visit since becoming Secretary of State early this year.

The issue of Jewish settlements has been at the heart of a nearly five-year impasse in peace efforts. Negotiations broke down in late 2008 and have remained stalled since then. The Palestinians condemned the rise in housing starts.

"It's clear not only to us Palestinians but also to the American administration and John Kerry that the current Israeli government is not interested in the peace process," said Nimr Hamad, an adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "The Palestinian position is clear. Israel has to be forced to stop the settlement activity."

An Israeli government official said the housing starts were in response to the Palestinian move last year to seek state recognition at the United Nations. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

Kerry will face several other challenges. On Sunday, a senior Israeli official said that the ruling Likud Party will not accept a Palestinian state with the borders favored by the Palestinians and the international community, presenting a new hurdle to Kerry's effort to restart peace talks.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu moved to distance himself from the comments by his deputy defense minister, Danny Danon.

In a TV interview, Danon said "there is certainly no majority" in the Likud for establishing a Palestinian state based on Israel's borders before the 1967 Mideast war.

"A Palestinian state on the 1967 lines is something dangerous for Israel, and therefore I oppose that idea," Danon told Channel 2 TV. He said it was possible that the broader coalition government, which includes other hard-line parties, also opposes a return to the 1967 lines.

Officials in Netanyahu's office said that Danon had stated a personal opinion, and his comments did not reflect government policy.

In a veiled reference to Danon, Netanyahu told his Cabinet on Sunday "the government must function as one unit" in order to confront the many challenges facing the country.

Netanyahu linked the recent troubles along Israel's front with Syria to the Palestinian issue, telling his Cabinet that the planned withdrawal of Austrian peacekeepers from the Golan Heights shows that Israel cannot rely on others to protect its security. Austria announced the pullout from a U.N. peacekeeping force along the Israeli-Syrian frontier after rebels briefly overran a border crossing.

The incident "underscores the fact that Israel cannot depend on international forces for its security," Netanyahu said. "They can be part of the arrangements. They cannot be the basic foundation of Israel's security."

Israel's chief negotiator with the Palestinians, Tzipi Livni, said Sunday that she is working with the U.S to restart talks, despite those within the government that oppose it.

"It is true that within the Likud there are radical elements and within the government there are those that oppose an agreement," Livni told Israel Radio. "The prime minister is the one who will have to decide whether he surrenders to radical elements or will promote his policy that he declared," she said.

Livni said Danon's comments "look bad."

The top Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said Danon's remarks reflect Israel's policy. "I believe that a government that continues to tender settlements and rejects the two state solution will not go for peace," he said.

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Associated Press writers Josef Federman in Jerusalem and Dalia Nammari in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed reporting.

Most of all, they claimed he had failed to carry out a single spectacular operation, despite the resources at his disposal.

The employee, international terrorist Moktar Belmoktar, responded the way talented employees with bruised egos have in corporations the world over: He quit and formed his own competing group. And within months, he carried out two lethal operations that killed 101 people in all: one of the largest hostage-takings in history at a BP-operated gas plant in Algeria in January, and simultaneous bombings at a military base and a French uranium mine in Niger just last week.

The al-Qaida letter, found by The Associated Press inside a building formerly occupied by their fighters in Mali, is an intimate window into the ascent of an extremely ambitious terrorist leader, who split off from regional command because he wanted to be directly in touch with al-Qaida central. It's a glimpse into both the inner workings of a highly structured terrorist organization that requires its commanders to file monthly expense reports, and the internal dissent that led to his rise. And it foreshadows a terrorism landscape where charismatic jihadists can carry out attacks directly in al-Qaida's name, regardless of whether they are under its command.

Rudolph Atallah, the former head of counterterrorism for Africa at the Pentagon and one of three experts who authenticated the 10-page letter dated Oct. 3, said it helps explain what happened in Algeria and Niger, both attacks that Belmoktar claimed credit for on jihadist forums.

"He's sending a message directly north to his former bosses in Algeria saying, 'I'm a jihadi. I deserve to be separate from you.' And he's also sending a message to al-Qaida, saying, 'See, those bozos in the north are incompetent. You can talk to me directly.' And in these attacks, he drew a lot of attention to himself," says Atallah, who recently testified before Congress on Belmoktar's tactics.

Born in northern Algeria, the 40-something Belmoktar, who is known in Pentagon circles by his initials MBM, traveled to Afghanistan at the age of 19, according to his online biography. He claims he lost an eye in battle and trained in al-Qaida's camps, forging ties that would allow him two decades later to split off from its regional chapter.

Over the years, there have been numerous reports of Belmoktar being sidelined or expelled by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb. The letter recovered in Timbuktu, one of thousands of pages of internal documents in Arabic found by the AP earlier this year, shows he stayed loyal to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, until last year, and traces the history of their difficult relationship.

The letter, signed by the group's 14-member Shura Council, or governing body, describes its relationship with Belmoktar as "a bleeding wound," and criticizes his proposal to resign and start his own group.

"Your letter ... contained some amount of backbiting, name-calling and sneering," they write. "We refrained from wading into this battle in the past out of a hope that the crooked could be straightened by the easiest and softest means. ... But the wound continued to bleed, and in fact increasingly bled, until your last letter arrived, ending any hope of stanching the wound and healing it."

They go on to compare their group to a towering mountain before raging storms and pounding waves, and say Belmoktar's plan "threatens to fragment the being of the organization and tear it apart limb by limb."

They then begin enumerating their complaints against Belmoktar in 30 successive bullet points.

"Abu Abbas is not willing to follow anyone," they add, referring to him by his nom de guerre, Khaled Abu Abbas. "He is only willing to be followed and obeyed."

First and foremost, they quibble over the amount of money raised by the 2008 kidnapping of Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler, the highest-ranking United Nations official in Niger, and his colleague. Belmoktar's men held both for four months, and in a book he later published, Fowler said he did not know if a ransom was paid.

The letter says they referred the case to al-Qaida central to force concessions in the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, a plan stymied when Belmoktar struck his own deal for 700,000 euros (about $900,000) for both men. That's far below the $3 million per hostage that European governments were normally paying, according to global intelligence unit Stratfor.

"Rather than walking alongside us in the plan we outlined, he managed the case as he liked," they write indignantly. "Here we must ask, who handled this important abduction poorly? ... Does it come from the unilateral behavior along the lines of our brother Abu Abbas, which produced a blatant inadequacy: Trading the weightiest case (Canadian diplomats!!) for the most meager price (700,000 euros)!!"

The complaint reflects how al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, initially considered one of the group's weaker wings, rose to prominence by bankrolling its operation with an estimated $89 million raised by kidnapping-for-ransom foreign aid workers and tourists. No less than Osama bin Laden endorsed their business model, according to documents retrieved in the terror leader's hideout in Pakistan.

The letter also confirms for the first time that payments from European governments went directly toward buying arms to carry out attacks against Western targets, as long speculated by experts. The council chides Belmoktar for not following this practice.

"(The chapter) gave Abu Abbas a considerable amount of money to buy military material, despite its own great need for money at the time. ... Abu Abbas didn't participate in stepping up to buy weapons," the letter says. "So whose performance deserves to be called poor in this case, I wonder?"

The list of slights is long: He would not take their phone calls. He refused to send administrative and financial reports. He ignored a meeting in Timbuktu, calling it "useless." He even ordered his men to refuse to meet with al-Qaida emissaries. And he aired the organization's dirty laundry in online jihadist forums, even while refusing to communicate with the chapter via the Internet, claiming it was insecure.

Sounding like managers in any company, the Shura leaders accuse Belmoktar of not being able to get along with his peers. They charge that he recently went to Libya without permission from the chapter, which had assigned the "Libya dossier" to a rival commander called Abou Zeid. And they complain that the last unit they sent Belmoktar for backup in the Sahara spent a full three years trying to contact him before giving up.

"Why do the successive emirs of the region only have difficulties with you? You in particular every time? Or are all of them wrong and brother Khaled is right?" they charge.

The letter reveals the rifts not only between Belmoktar and his superiors, but also the distance between the local chapter and al-Qaida central. The local leaders were infuriated that Belmoktar was essentially going over their heads, saying that even AQIM has had few interactions with the mother brand in Pakistan and Afghanistan, a region they refer to by the ancient name of Khorasan.

"The great obstacles between us and the central leadership are not unknown to you. ... For example, since we vowed our allegiance, up until this very day, we have only gotten from our emirs in Khorasan just a few messages, from the two sheiks, bin Laden (God rest his soul) and Ayman (al-Zawahri)," they write. "All this, despite our multiple letters to them."

Belmoktar's ambition comes through clearly not only in the bitter responses of his bosses, but also in his own words: "Despite great financial resources ... our works were limited to the routine of abductions, which the mujahedeen got bored with."

In another quote, he calls bin Laden and al-Zawahri "the leaders of the Islamic nation, not the leaders of an organization alone. We love them and we were convinced by their program. ... So it's even more now that we are swords in their hands."

To which AQIM replies with more than a hint of sarcasm: "Very lovely words. ... Do you consider it loyalty to them to revolt against their emirs and threaten to tear apart the organization?"

Belmoktar's defection was a long time in the making, and dates back to his time as a commander of Algeria's Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, or GSPC. When the Iraq war started in 2003, his ambition created friction between younger Algerian fighters like himself, who wanted to join the global jihad, and an older generation whose only goal was to create an Islamic state in Algeria, according to Islamic scholar Mathieu Guidere, a professor at the University of Toulouse.

The younger faction won, but Belmoktar felt slighted because his contemporary, Abdelmalek Droukdel, was named emir of the GSPC, instead of him.

Soon after, the group petitioned to join al-Qaida. The terror network announced a "blessed union" on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks in 2006.

Both Belmoktar and Droukdel wrote "candidacy letters" to bin Laden asking to be emir, according to Guidere's book on the subject. Again, Droukdel won.

Frustrated, Belmoktar drifted farther south. He set up in the ungoverned dunes of neighboring Mali, took a Malian wife and tapped into the smuggling routes that crisscrossed the Sahara, amassing arms and fiercely loyal fighters who called themselves, "The Masked Brigade."

His fighters killed more than a dozen soldiers at a military garrison in Mauritania in 2005 and gunned down four French tourists there in 2007. On multiple occasions Belmoktar was declared dead, including most recently in March, and each time, he re-emerged to strike again.

The sharpest blow in the council's letter may have been the accusation that, despite this history of terrorism, Belmoktar and his unit had not pulled off any attack worthy of mention in the Sahara.

"Any observer of the armed actions (carried out) in the Sahara will clearly notice the failure of The Masked Brigade to carry out spectacular operations, despite the region's vast possibilities there are plenty of mujahedeen, funding is available, weapons are widespread and strategic targets are within reach," the letter says. "Your brigade did not achieve a single spectacular operation targeting the crusader alliance."

In December, just weeks after receiving the letter, Belmoktar declared in a recorded message that he was leaving the al-Qaida chapter to form his own group. He baptized it, "Those Who Sign in Blood."

With that name, he announced his global ambition. "Those Who Sign in Blood" was also the name of an Algerian extremist unit that hijacked an Air France flight leaving Algiers in 1994. Though their goal to fly the plane into the Eiffel Tower in Paris was thwarted, the unit foreshadowed the terrorist vision that led to the fall of the Twin Towers in New York.

On Jan. 11, French warplanes began bombarding northern Mali, the start of a now 5-month-old offensive to flush out the jihadists, including Belmoktar's brigade. Five days later, suicide bombers took more than 600 hostages in Ain Amenas in far eastern Algeria and killed 37, all but one foreigners, including American, French and British nationals. Belmoktar claimed responsibility in a triumphant recording.

It was no accident that he chose Ain Amenas, Guidere said. The area is in the home province of Abou Zeid, Belmoktar's longtime rival who commanded a different Saharan brigade and was always in step with the Algeria-based emirate.

"It's a punch in the gut," Guidere said. "It's saying, 'You've never been able to do anything even in your native region. Watch me. I'll carry out the biggest hostage operation ever in that very region. ... Ain Amenas is the illustration of his ability to do a quality operation, when he is under no authority other than his own, when he doesn't have to turn in expense reports or answer to anybody."

As if to turn the knife even further, last week Belmoktar also claimed responsibility for a May 23 attack at a French-owned uranium mine in Arlit, Niger. It was in Arlit in 2010 that Abou Zeid carried out his boldest operation and seized seven foreign hostages, including four French nationals who are still in the hands of AQIM.

In an apparent attempt to raise the stakes, Belmoktar's men slipped past a truck entering the mine and detonated explosives inside. More than 100 miles to the south, a different unit of fighters under his command killed 24 soldiers at a military camp, with help from another local al-Qaida off-shoot, called the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa.

Jean-Paul Rouiller, the director of the Geneva Center for Training and Analysis of Terrorism, compared the escalation in attacks to a quarrel between a man and a woman in which each tries to have the last word. "They accused him of not doing something," Rouiller said. "His response is, 'I'll show you what I can do.'"

Belmoktar might have seen a certain justice in the coverage of the last week's attack in Niger in the leading French daily, Le Monde. Among the adjectives used to describe the event: "Spectacular."

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Rukmini Callimachi, AP's West Africa bureau chief, reported this article in Dakar, Senegal and Timbuktu, Mali. Lee Keath, AP's Mideast enterprise editor in Cairo, translated the Arabic letter into English. The letter can be found in Arabic and English at:

http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_international/_pdfs/al-qaida-belmoktar-letter-english.pdf

http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_international/_pdfs/al-qaida-belmoktar-letter.pdf

___

Callimachi can be reached at www.twitter.com/rcallimachi

MOORE, Oklahoma (Reuters) - In deeply religious Moore, Oklahoma, God and prayer are frequently mentioned as sources of strength for residents reeling from the fourth damaging tornado in 15 years.

"My family and God is what's helping us through this," said Vickie Myers, 39, whose husband Brent, a disabled military veteran, is now recovering after he was pulled unconscious from the rubble of their home on Monday.

The tornado was the strongest in the United States in nearly two years and devastated large swaths of Moore, a suburb of Oklahoma City, which was hit by another huge tornado in 1999. Smaller tornadoes hit the area in 1998 and 2003.

The tornado killed 24 people on Monday, a remarkably small number considering the ferocity of the storm, officials said, and at least 377 were injured.

Oklahoma is among the states of the so-called "Bible Belt" where church attendance is highest. A Gallup survey published in 2012 found that 77 percent of people in Oklahoma described themselves as strongly or moderately religious - the only state outside the southern region of the country among the 10 most religious states.

There are 82 churches listed on the website of the city of Moore, which has a population of about 55,000 people. All are Christian denominations, including 26 Baptist congregations. There are no Jewish synagogues or Muslim mosques, although there is a synagogue in the nearby town of Norman.

Churches have mobilized to provide food and shelter for homeless people as well as for first responders and volunteers helping with the cleanup. Local officials said this is one reason, along with families and friends taking people into their homes, that only 29 people were in Red Cross shelters by Wednesday out of an estimated 33,000 affected by the tornado.

Governor Mary Fallin announced a community memorial service will be held on Sunday at First Baptist Church in Moore, which seats 1,800 people, to: "honor those we have lost, pray for those they left behind and begin to heal together."

Moms in Prayer, a nondenominational Christian group, is one group that sprung into action after the tornado, sending out a call to mothers and grandmothers across the nation to pray for the families and staff of Plaza Towers and Briarwood Elementary Schools in Moore, which were flattened by the powerful tornado.

Seven children at Plaza Towers were killed by the storm, and the first funeral for one of the students was held on Thursday.

Sherry Langston, 42, the Moore coordinator for the group, who works at the Briarwood school, said many people have told her prayer is the only way they got through the ordeal.

Mothers in Prayer plans to hold a community prayer meeting and hopes to establish a prayer group at each school in Moore.

Joseph Salinas, 25, said he prayed for safety as he rode out the tornado in a friend's shelter in Moore, along with his mother, and his two children, Andrew, 2, and Faith, 3.

They lost most of their possessions in the storm but Salinas does not despair. "As long as we have God, we have everything," he said.

(Reporting by Alice Mannette; Editing by Greg McCune and Lisa Shumaker)

The gunmen boarded the MT Matrix I some 40 nautical miles off the coast of Nigeria's Bayelsa state early Saturday morning, the officials said, taking a number of the crew hostage. It wasn't immediately known what happened to the rest of the crew. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as the Nigerian government was not speaking publicly about the hijacking.

A military spokesman in the delta referred calls for comment Tuesday to Nigeria's navy. Commodore Kabir Aliyu, a navy spokesman, said there had been no report of a hijacking made to officials.

Some shippers in the region don't report hijackings publicly, out of fears of having their insurance premiums rise.

Telephone numbers for Pakistan's High Commission in Abuja, Nigeria's capital, could not be immediately connected Tuesday.

Nigerian naval authorities listed the ship as one of several allowed to bring subsidized gasoline into the country in May as part of a program costing the nation billions of dollars a year.

Naval officials listed the ship as being operated by a company called Integrated Shipping Services Nigeria Ltd. A telephone number for the company could not be immediately found. Other registries listed the ship as being operated by Val Oil Trading SA of Athens, Greece. A number for that company could not be immediately found. Officials at Matrix Energy Ltd., a Nigerian company listed as doing business with Val Oil Trading, did not immediately return a call for comment.

The Gulf of Guinea, which follows the continent's southward curve from Liberia past Nigeria to Gabon, has seen an escalation in violent pirate attacks from low-level armed robberies to hijackings and cargo thefts. London-based Lloyd's Market Association an umbrella group of insurers has listed Nigeria, neighboring Benin and nearby waters in the same risk category as Somalia, where two decades of war and anarchy have allowed piracy to flourish.

Oil tanker hijackings have happened more and more in recent months, with pirates stealing the fuel onboard, as opposed to kidnapping sailors for ransom. Estimates suggest pirates likely are able to make as much as a $2 million profit for offloading 3,000 tons of fuel. Foreign hostages still draw tens of thousands of dollars in ransoms, with nearly all released unharmed after their companies pay for their freedom.

The piracy and kidnappings have grown around Nigeria's oil delta, despite a 2009 government amnesty program for militants there.

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Jon Gambrell can be reached at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP .

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Louisville won the 75th edition of the NCAA men's basketball championship on Monday, beating Michigan 82-76 in a pulsating final in front of more than 74,000 fans at the Georgia Dome.

The Cardinals overcame a slow start, in which they twice trailed by 12 points in the first half, to outscore Michigan 45-38 in the second and capture their third national title after previous wins in 1980 and 1986.

Luke Hancock came off the bench and scored a career-best 22 points, including five three-pointers, while Peyton Siva added 18 points and Chane Behanan 15 for Louisville.

"We went into a war today against a great Michigan team," said Hancock, who was named the outstanding player of the tournament. "We needed to rally and we have done it a couple of games."

Trey Burke, the national player of the year, scored 24 points in a losing effort for the Wolverines while Spike Albrecht contributed 17 after coming off the bench, all in the first half.

"We fought for 40 minutes, there was never a time when we gave up," said Burke. "Louisville was just a really solid team at the end of the game."

Michigan made a flying start and built a double-digit lead before the Cardinals took control, matching the second biggest comeback in an NCAA final in the same massive building where the 'Dream Team' won Olympic gold in 1996.

Inspired by their team mate Kevin Ware, who broke his leg earlier in the tournament in a horrific fall, Louisville's players burst into celebration when the clock ran out and confetti rained down on the Georgia Dome court.

'GETTING A TATTOO'

Louisville went into the championships as the number one seeds and stretched their winning streak to 16 games with Monday's victory under the guidance of Rick Pitino, who became the first coach to win NCAA titles at different universities after steering Kentucky to the 1996 title.

"For a young basketball team, to play that well is absolutely fantastic," Pitino said.

"These guys ... they said if you win the national championship, 'Coach, you are getting a tattoo'. I said, 'Hell, yeah, I am getting a tattoo.'"

Michigan were making their first appearance in the final since 1993 when they were beaten by North Carolina after a bizarre ending to the game.

The Wolverines were trailing by two points with just 11 seconds to go when Michigan's Chris Webber called a time-out even though his team did not have any left, resulting in a technical foul that effectively ended his team's hopes of winning.

Michigan coach John Beilen thought his team did not perform the way they could have on Monday but paid tribute to the "terrific" Cardinals.

"We feel bad about it, we could have done some things better, every one of us," said Beilen.

"At the same time, Louisville is a terrific basketball team. I have not seen that quickness anywhere, it's incredible."

(Editing by Ian Ransom/Peter Rutherford)

U.S. markets plummeted immediately after the opening bell Thursday following a global slump prompted partly by an unexpected slowdown in Chinese manufacturing. Concern that the Federal Reserve might ease back on its economic stimulus program sooner than expected had also riled investors.

The dip gave investors who missed this year's stock market surge an opportunity to get into the market, and by midday the market had recouped most of its early loss. Stocks even climbed into positive territory by midday, then ended the day marginally lower.

"Most institutions, most hedge funds and most individuals have watched the market go up without them, so the dips are being bought," said Jim Russell, regional investment director at U.S. Bank. "There's a very strong case for U.S. stocks."

For the most part, the U.S. stock market has been going up steadily since the beginning of the year, with only infrequent declines. Investors' optimism has been stoked by a pickup in hiring at U.S. employers, a recovery in the housing market and record profits at U.S. corporations.

All that has helped push the Dow up 16.7 percent this year. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is 15.7 percent than at the start of 2013.

On Thursday, however, trading was volatile.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended the day just 12.67 points lower, or 0.1 percent, at 15,294.50. It fell as much as 127 points during the first hour of trading.

A sell-off in global markets came after minutes from the latest Fed meeting, released Wednesday afternoon, indicated that several policymakers were leaning toward slowing the central bank's bond-buying program as early as June if the economy continues to recover.

The central bank is spending $85 billion a month buying bonds. That program has been keeping interest rates low in an effort to encourage borrowing, spending and investing. It's also meant to encourage investors to buy risky assets like stocks.

Investors were also unsettled by the report that showed manufacturing in China, the world's No. 2 economy, unexpectedly shrank this month. HSBC Corp. said the preliminary version of its monthly purchasing managers index had dropped to a seven-month low. China's booming economy has been a major driver of global growth in recent years and investors worry when they see signs that it's slowing down.

Stocks fell sharply in Asia Thursday. Japan's Nikkei index dropped 7.3 percent after news was released about the slowdown in Chinese manufacturing. The declines extended to Europe, where Germany's DAX index, which has been at a record high, slid 2.1 percent.

The sell-off looked set to continue when trading opened in New York, but the market quickly hit bottom and reversed course.

Some investors also reevaluated the concern about the Fed easing, or tapering, its economic stimulus program.

Any pullback of the Fed's stimulus should be seen as a positive signal because it would mean that the U.S. economy is getting stronger, said Joe Quinlan, chief market strategist at U.S. Trust.

"When the Fed starts to taper, the fundamentals of the U.S. economy have improved even further than we have already seen," said Quinlan. "The Fed tapering is actually a good story for U.S. equities and the economy."

Encouraging news about the U.S. economy also helped the case for stock market bulls Thursday.

Sales of new homes rose in April to the second-highest level since the summer of 2008, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. Also, the median price for a new home hit a record high, another sign that housing is recovering.

There was good news on the labor market, too.

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell 23,000 last week to 340,000, a level consistent with solid job growth, the Labor Department said. That suggests employers are laying off fewer workers. The decline in claims has coincided with steady job growth over the past six months.

In other U.S. stock trading, the Standard & Poor's 500 index closed down 4.84 points to 1,650.51, or 0.3 percent. The Nasdaq composite fell 3.88 points, or 0.1 percent, to 3,459.42.

In commodities trading, the price of crude oil fell 3 cents to $94.25 a barrel. Gold rose $24.40, or 1.8 percent, to $1,391.80 an ounce. The dollar fell against the euro and the yen.

In U.S. government bond trading, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note edged down to 2.02 percent from 2.04 percent. The yield on the note falls when the bond's price rises.

Among stocks making big moves, Ralph Lauren fell $4.37, or 2.3 percent, to $183.69. The apparel seller reported revenue that fell short of what financial analysts were expecting. Sluggish economic conditions and the decision to cut certain businesses reduced sales.

PC maker Hewlett-Packard surged $3.63, or 17.1 percent, to $24.86 after the company delivered second-quarter earnings that topped the estimates of both its own management and financial analysts.

Dollar Tree rose $1.82, or 3.8 percent, to $50.19 after the discount store chain said its earnings climbed 15 percent as customers spent more. The earnings beat the expectations of Wall Street analysts who follow the company.

In a televised address, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah also said Hezbollah members are fighting in Syria against Islamic radicals who pose a danger to Lebanon, and pledged that his group will not allow Syrian militants to control areas along the Lebanese border. He pledged that Hezbollah will turn the tide of the conflict in Assad's favor, and stay as long as necessary to do so.

"We will continue this road until the end, we will take the responsibility and we will make all the sacrifices," he said. "We will be victorious."

The Hezbollah leader's comments offered the clearest public confirmation yet that the Iranian-backed group is directly involved in Syria's war. They also were Nasrallah's first remarks since Hezbollah fighters have pushed to the front lines of the battle for the strategic Syrian town of Qusair near the Lebanese frontier.

The fighting in Qusair, which government troops backed by Hezbollah pounded with artillery on Saturday, has laid bare the Lebanese Shiite group's growing role in the Syrian conflict. Hezbollah initially tried to play down its involvement, but could no longer do so after dozens of its fighters were killed in the town and buried in large funerals in Lebanon.

Nasrallah, who was speaking on the anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000, used his speech in part to brace the community for the possibility of more of its men returning home in coffins.

The fight in Qusair has proven a deadly grind for both sides. On Saturday, government forces backed by Hezbollah militants shelled the town in the heaviest barrage yet of a week-long assault to dislodge rebels from the opposition stronghold, activists said.

Since the regime offensive began Wednesday, Syrian state media has said government forces have steadily gained ground. Local activists deny that pro-Assad forces have made headway and say rebel fighters are defending their positions.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 30 people, including 27 rebels, were killed and dozens wounded Saturday in the town, which holds strategic importance for both the regime and the opposition.

For Assad, Qusair's value lies in its location along a land corridor linking two of his strongholds, the capital of Damascus and towns on the Mediterranean coast, the heartland of his minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. For the rebels, holding Qusair means protecting a supply line to Lebanon, 10 kilometers (six miles) away.

Saturday's barrage of rockets, mortar rounds and tank shells began after daybreak, said Qusair activist Hadi Abdullah and the pro-opposition Observatory. Both said it was the most intense shelling since the regime launched its offensive there a week ago.

Hezbollah has come under harsh criticism at home and abroad for sending its gunmen to Qusair, and Nasrallah's gamble in Syria primarily stems from his group's vested interest in the Assad regime's survival. The Syrian government has been one of Hezbollah's strongest backers for decades and the militant group fears that if the regime falls it will be replaced by a U.S.-backed government that will be hostile to Hezbollah.

Nasrallah on Saturday defended his group's deepening involvement and sought to frame the fight next door as part of a broader battle against Israel.

"Syria is the back of the resistance, and the resistance cannot stand, arms folded while its back is broken," Nasrallah told thousands of supporters from a secret location via a video link.

"If Syria falls into the hand of America, Israel and takfiris, the resistance (Hezbollah) will be besieged and Israel will enter Lebanon and impose its will," Nasrallah said. Takfiri Islamists refers to an ideology that urges Sunni Muslims to kill anyone they consider an infidel.

Syria's fall, he said, would mean "Palestine will be lost" and "the people of our region and its nations will enter a bad and dark period."

Along with Iran, Syria has been the main backer of Hezbollah. Much of the group's arsenal, including tens of thousands of rockets, is believed to have come from Iran via Syria or from Syria itself.

Hezbollah's role has drawn intense criticism from Syria's main opposition group.

"Some Lebanese are being sent to Syria as invaders in order to return back home in coffins draped with shame," said George Sabra, the acting head of the Syrian National Coalition.

More than 70,000 people have been killed and several million displaced since the uprising against Assad erupted in March 2011 and morphed into a civil war. The Syrian government and Hezbollah deny there is an uprising in Syria, portraying the war as a foreign-backed conspiracy driven by Israel, the U.S. and its Gulf allies.

The Syrian conflict poses a threat to the stability of Lebanon, whose sectarian divide mirrors that of Syria, and the fighting next door has repeatedly spilled over the border. For the past week, Assad's opponents and supporters have been clashing in the Lebanese port city of Tripoli, using mortars, grenades and machine guns to attack densely populated areas.

Sniper fire in Tripoli killed four people on Saturday, bringing the week's death toll to 29 including three Lebanese soldiers, according to a Lebanese official who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations. More than 200 people have been wounded.

Nasrallah said Lebanon should be spared the fighting over Syria's crisis and called upon rivals to go fight in Syria.

"You are fighting in Syria and we are fighting in Syria. Let's fight there. Let's keep Lebanon away from the fighting," Nasrallah said referring to Lebanese Sunni militants who are fighting alongside the Syrian opposition.

Hezbollah is also facing repercussions in Europe over its support for the Syrian military.

Earlier this week, France and Germany joined a push by Britain to have the EU declare Hezbollah's military wing a terrorist organization. Such a move, long sought by the U.S., would hamper Hezbollah operations in Europe.

Nasrallah said the threats by the EU "is all ink on paper" adding that this will not affect the group.

"We have been under pressure for 30 years and it did not affect our morale," he said.

Meanwhile, Syria's fractured political opposition failed Saturday after three days of intense deliberations to reach a decision on whether to attend an international conference brokered by the U.S. and Russia aimed at ending the conflict in Syria.

The U.S. and Russia want to bring together representatives of the opposition and the Syrian government at an international conference in Geneva for talks on a possible transition government. Much remains up in the air, including the date, the agenda and the list of participants.

The Syrian National Coalition meetings started Thursday and were scheduled to end Saturday but discord among the fractured opposition delayed the discussions. The talks now were expected to continue Sunday, opposition figures said.

On Friday, Syria ally Russia said the Assad regime has accepted in principle to attend talks in Geneva, though there has been no official statement from Damascus.

The opposition is deeply suspicious about Assad's intention to hold serious peace talks, and senior opposition figures have ruled out attendance unless Assad's departure tops the agenda of such negotiations.

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Associated Press writers Karin Laub in Beirut and Umut Colak in Istanbul contributed to this report.

Julien's Auctions said on Monday that it expects a signed white training robe, worn by Ali in November and December 1981 while he prepared for his final bout against Trevor Berbick, to sell for between $25,000 and $35,000 during a two-day auction starting May 31.

Ali, 71, shot to international recognition by winning the gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the Rome Olympics at age 18. He later won the world heavyweight championship in 1964 and became a socially conscious cultural icon by refusing to fight in the Vietnam War in the 1960s.

Also on offer from Ali's early career is a "Most Outstanding Boxer" trophy from the 1960 American Athletic Union's boxing championships, which is expected to sell for $20,000 to $30,000.

A signed commemorative torch from the 1960 Rome Summer Games is estimated to sell for between $25,000 and $35,000.

The loquacious boxer signed the torch's light blue cannister as Cassius Clay, his birth name and Muhammad Ali, the name he adopted in 1964 after joining the Nation of Islam.

The items are from the collection of Harlan Werner, a longtime memorabilia dealer and former agent for the Ali family.

Other Ali items up for auction are autographed boxing trunks, globes and photos of the boxer with other American sports heroes, including long-time boxing rival Joe Frazier, baseball Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio and basketball star Magic Johnson.

Other notable items in the auction include a baseball signed by Hall of Fame players Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig ($8,000-$10,000), and a signed match-used cricket bat of Indian Sachin Tendulkar ($8,000-$10,000).

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Bill Trott)

Their second innings score, sparked by Stuart Broad's career-best figures of seven for 44, was New Zealand's ninth-lowest in their 83-year test history.

Unlike the furore that enveloped the team when they were bundled out for 45 by South Africa in January, however, the outcry on Monday was more restrained.

No doubt the fact Brendon McCullum's team had actually competed, if not held a slight advantage for the first three innings before "one hour of madness" on Sunday when Broad ran through the visitors lineup, helped lessen the criticism.

"In a flash, it was gone," Fairfax Media's senior cricket writer Mark Geenty wrote. "New Zealand boldly dared to dream of a rare test win at Lord's but in the space of one horror hour it became a nightmare.

"Memories of the Cape Town collapse for 45 in January had almost faded. This pavilion procession revived them as New Zealand slumped to 29-6 at lunch, with Broad taking five of the first six.

"The question is now, what kind of psychological damage this causes to New Zealand heading into Friday's second and final test at Leeds."

The New Zealand Herald's Andrew Alderson, however, was slightly more critical.

"If New Zealand's second innings capitulation was a classified ad it might read something like this: 'For sale. 2013 New Zealand second innings at Lord's. Promises much, but runs out of gas in a shade under two hours on the brink of history. Dial 196058 for disappointment'," he wrote.

Alderson, however, agreed the onslaught from Broad and James Anderson, who were the only two bowlers used in the 22.3 overs in the New Zealand's second innings was world class.

"Broad claimed the spoils but Anderson offered as much scrutiny as they swung the ball from a full length anywhere from off to an imaginary fourth stump," Alderson wrote.

"Any international batsman would have found it formidable."

Both reporters, who are following the team in England, however, found some positives from the New Zealand performance, notwithstanding the fourth innings collapse.

"Despite the loss it wasn't a completely hopeless experience for the Black Caps," Geenty wrote.

"There were positives to cling to, particularly the bowling where Tim Southee had his name etched on the Lord's honours board with his second innings 6-50 to give him 10 wickets for the match.

"Trent Boult and Wagner were excellent foils as the New Zealand pace attack continued to cause problems for England's batting lineup."

(Writing by Greg Stutchbury in Wellington; Editing by Patrick Johnston)

The Stolen Valor Act, sponsored by Nevada Republican Joe Heck, is a second attempt by the House to revive a law on fraudulent claims to medals that was struck down by the Supreme Court in June last year. The legislation is identical to a measure that passed the House overwhelmingly last September but saw no Senate action before the last session of Congress ended. The vote Monday was 390-3.

The Supreme Court, in invalidating the Stolen Valor Act of 2006, ruled that while making false statements about receiving a military medal might be contemptible, such lies were protected by First Amendment free speech rights. The case involved a former California politician who lied about being a decorated military veteran. It has long been a crime to wear, manufacture or sell military declarations or medals without proper authorization.

As rewritten, the bill more narrowly focuses on those who lie about receiving medals "with intent to obtain money, property or other tangible benefit." That could include those who claim medals in order to receive veterans benefits, land a government contract or get a job reserved for veterans. Offenders face fines and up to a year in prison.

The bill, said Heck, "resolves these constitutional issues by clearly defining that the objective of the law is to target and punish those who represent their service with the intent of profiting personally or financially."

After the Supreme Court ruling, the Pentagon announced it would establish a database of military valor awards and medals, making it easier to validate claims.

The site, http://valor.defense.gov/, lists individuals who were awarded the Medal of Honor or a Service Cross prior to or after Sept 11, 2001. It also lists Silver Star recipients for actions since Sept. 11.

Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., has similar legislation pending in the Senate.