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AP - Days after the U.S. officially ended combat operations and touted Iraq's ability to defend itself, American troops found themselves battling heavily armed militants assaulting an Iraqi military headquarters in the center of Baghdad on Sunday. The fighting killed 12 people and wounded dozens.

Reuters - The Basque rebel group ETA called a halt to armed attacks on Sunday but the government said the declaration was not enough and urged the weakened organization to renounce violence once and for all.

Reuters - Up to six suicide bombers, some armed with rifles, tried to storm an army base in Baghdad on Sunday, killing 12 people and wounding 36 less than a week after Washington declared U.S. combat operations in Iraq over.

AP - Whenever companies start hiring freely again, job-seekers with specialized skills and education will have plenty of good opportunities. Others will face a choice: Take a job with low pay — or none at all.

Reuters - Oracle Corp has offered a job to Mark Hurd, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Co who resigned amid a scandal involving inaccurate expense receipts related to a female contractor, according to a source familiar with the situation.

AP - Investigators looking into what went wrong in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill are a step closer to answers now that a key piece of evidence is secure aboard a ship.

AP - It is a place of sacrifice. A place of mourning. A place people pass by on their way to grab lunch. It's a place where tourists crane their necks to snatch a glimpse around barriers walling off an enormous construction site — which is also what it is.

Mashable - This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

PC World - Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled an updated line of iPods this week, including the updated iPod Touch 4 which is essentially an iPhone 4 without the phone function. The range of gadgets available from Apple offer a degree of consistency that gives it a tactical advantage over competing smartphones and tablets.

Reuters - Strong aftershocks and gale-force winds buffeted New Zealand's second biggest city on Sunday as a clean-up got underway following the country's worst earthquake in 80 years.

AP - The powerful earthquake that smashed buildings, cracked roads and twisted rail lines around the New Zealand city of Christchurch also ripped a new 11-foot (3.5 meter) wide fault line in the earth's surface, a geologist said Sunday.

AP - With the NCAA lurking around Chapel Hill and some of its best players sitting in the stands, North Carolina found itself in a most improbable position.

AFP - South Korean telecom operator KT Corp said on Sunday it planned to begin selling Apple's iPhone 4 this week amid growing competition to expand in the potentially lucrative smartphone market.

AP - Frustrated, discouraged and just plain mad, a lot of people who have lost jobs — or know someone who has — now want to see the names of Democrats on pink slips. And that's jeopardizing the party's chances in Ohio and all across the country in November's elections.

AP - Paul Conrad used his pencil like a weapon. His long lines and jagged angles seemed to point directly at the leaders he deemed charlatans and fools in need of deflating.

AP - American Muslims are boosting security at mosques, seeking help from leaders of other faiths and airing ads underscoring their loyalty to the United States — all ahead of a 9/11 anniversary they fear could bring more trouble for their communities.

AP - In the end, Earl's worst damage in New England was to seasonal businesses hoping to end their summer on a high note.

AP - Sometimes there's no going back.

AFP - New Zealand braced for more destruction Sunday as aftershocks and an approaching storm threatened an area of the country hit by the most devastating earthquake in decades.

AP - Hip-hop star Kanye West is still feeling the pain over his ambush of Taylor Swift last year — and he's expressing his pain all over Twitter.