Politics

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House Speaker John A. Boehner frequently holds up a card embossed with a list of more than two dozen "jobs" bills passed by the House to support his call for cooperation. (Associated Press)

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"Today's report is further evidence that Congress should be focusing on creating jobs and helping the middle class, not re-fighting old battles for political gain." - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat

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Iraqi Vice President Tariq Hashemi speaks during a news conference in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, May 4, 2012.

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Zainab Abbas inspects her destroyed house June 29, one day after a car bomb attack in the Washash neighborhood of Baghdad. June was the second-deadliest month in Iraq since U.S. troops pulled out Dec. 18, 2011, with a major bombing or shooting occurring about twice a week. The possibility of civil war is a concern. (Associated Press)

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Rep. Barney Frank (left), Massachusetts Democrat, 72, on Saturday wed Jim Ready, 42, in Newton, Mass., with the state's Democratic governor officiating. (Associated Press)

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Mitt Romney bolstered Massachusetts' graduation exams during his time as governor, adding a science, technology and engineering portion to the English and math tests taken by all 10th-graders for graduation. (Associated Press)

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Departed president of the German domestic spy service, Heinz Fromm, arrives to be quizzed by a parliamentary investigation committee in Berlin on Thursday about the failure of the spy agency to detect a small neo-Nazi group operating in Germany. (Associated Press)

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People attend a real estate fair in Nanjing, China, earlier this year. China's economy may slow further despite stimulus measures, Premier Wen Jiabao said Sunday. A rise in real estate prices, driven in part by government stimulus spending and bank lending, has fueled political tensions. (Associated Press)

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Libyans hold up their ink-marked fingers showing that they have voted as they celebrate in Martyrs' Square in Tripoli, Libya, on Saturday. Jubilant Libyan voters marked a major step toward democracy after decades of erratic one-man rule, casting their ballots Saturday in the first parliamentary election after last year's overthrow and killing of longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi. But the joy was tempered by boycott calls, the burning of ballots and other violence in the country's restive east. (Associated Press)

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Supporters of the Difah-e-Pakistan Council sit on the top of vehicles with party flags as they take part in a rally in Lahore, Pakistan, on Sunday. Prominent hard-line Islamists led thousands of people in a protest against Pakistan's decision to allow the U.S. and other NATO countries to resume shipping troop supplies through the country to Afghanistan. (Associated Press)

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Singer Susan Boyle received an honorary doctorate on Friday from Scotland's Queen Margaret University in recognition of her "contribution to the creative industries." (Associated Press)

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President Obama arrives July 6, 2012, on the South Lawn of the White House after campaigning for two days in Ohio and Pennsylvania. (Associated Press)

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Nia Bailey (left), 8, of Washington, and Amari Swint, 8, of Philadelphia, throw water balloons while in an inflatable pool July 7, 2012, during a block party northwest Washington, D.C., during record heat with temperatures in the triple digits. (Associated Press)

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Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi (right) meets July 8, 2012, with Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr (left) and U.S. Undersecretary of State William Burns at the Presidential palace in Cairo. Morsi is the country's first democratically-elected president, first Islamist, and civilian to take office in Egypt. (Associated Press/Maya Alleruzzo)

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**FILE** Abdus Salam, Pakistan's only Nobel laureate, is seen here on Oct 15, 1979, in London after receiving the news that he was joint winner of that year's Nobel Prize for physics. Salam, who belongs to a minority Muslim sect, helped develop the theoretical framework that led physicists to discover the "God particle," is not celebrated by his country and schoolchildren are rarely even taught his name. (Associated Press)