USA

In a court filing made public Monday in the Bernard Madoff case, federal prosecutors said they want his wife, Ruth, to forfeit roughly $70 million of the couple's assets, including homes and boats. Madoff pleaded guilty last week to securities fraud and perjury in a multi-billion-dollar scam operation.

President Obama was poised to boost lending to struggling small businesses, according to officials briefed on plans to unfreeze the secondary credit market, set to roll out Monday.

Space shuttle Discovery is expected to arrive at the International Space Station Tuesday. Besides delivering supplies, the crew will install the last pair of solar wings used to power the outpost.

Along the northeastern US coast, sea level could rise eight inches more than the possible two or three feet some scientists anticipate by 2100, predicts a new study in the journal Nature Geoscience. The impact of global warming will be intensified from the mid-Atlantic to New England states by a change in ocean currents, computer modeling indicates.

The recession appears to be giving new impetus to backyard and community gardening, based on spring seed sales and a telephone survey taken by the National Gardening Association. The group forecasts a 19 percent increase in home gardening this year. Some seed companies have run out of seeds for tomatoes, onions, peppers, and other basic vegetables.

Information about the origin of meats and some fruits and vegetables was added to food labels Monday in accordance with a new federal policy.

A tent city at the edge of downtown Sacramento, California's capital, has attracted as many as 400 residents to an area the size of several football fields, according to media reports. The makeshift community, which fuses newly homeless and chronically homeless populations, is growing as the recession deepens. Above, a woman sweeps in her tent.