it's monday, august 3rd. in the news, three americans being held by iran. they strayed across the border from iraq straight into an international incident. finally found, the remains of the first u.s. casualty of the persian gulf war have been recovered in iraq. michael scott speicher's family waited 18 years. and extreme caution. amid signs of economic recovery. but the obama administration isn't saying the tax hikes are but the obama administration isn't saying the tax hikes are off the table. captions paid for by abc, inc. good morning. thanks for being with us. i'm vinita nair. >> and i'm andrea canning filling in for jeremy hubbard. there are intense diplomatic efforts to learn more about the fate of three americans being held in iran. they were captured after hiking in a dangerous region on the border between iraq and iran. abc's sonia gallego is in london with the latest. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. the families of the americans are still coming to terms with the news of their capture. and their arrest comes at a time of increased strain between iranian and the u.s. governments. the three, shane bauer from minnesota, a freelance journalist based in the middle east, sarah shourd, a writer and teacher from california also based in the middle east and joshua fattal, an environmental worker from oregon were visiting northern iraq. they had gone hiking in the mountains near the iranian border, an area which has no clear border markings, a region that they had accidentally wandered into. a fourth american who stayed with them stayed behind in the hotel. he sat out the hike and later received a phoning call from the group saying they were surrounded by troops before being detained. on iranian state tv there were reports that the group did not listen to warnings given by border guards ahead of their arrest. swiss diplomats in tehran acting as mediators between the u.s. and iranian governments are working to gain access to the americans, but so far those efforts have not been positive. a meeting that was supposed to take place yesterday was postponed until today. now the worry is that the three will face accusations of spying. earlier this year american journalist roxana saberi was detained in iran then jailed for being an american spy. she has since been released. at this time of heightened tension between iran and america, the iranian government blames the u.s. for fueling the protests that have engulfed the country since the controversial election of president mahmoud ahmadinejad, a cause for concern as the state department follows it closely. >> sonia gallego, thanks, sonia. a top official in saddam hussein's government has been convicted of helping plan the forced removal of thousands of iraqi kurds. tariq aziz was given seven years in prison yesterday on top of a 15-year sentence he's already received for crimes against humanity. aziz served as his foreign minister and deputy prime minister. in afghanistan, the taliban is claiming responsibility for a deadly bombing this morning. the remote controlled bomb went off in the western city of herat. at least ten were killed in the blast including women and children. dozens others also injured. a local police chief -- a local police chief was apparent target critically wounded. in a separate attack militants killed three more u.s. troops with gunfire after attacking their convoy with a roadside bomb. that brings the death toll to six. three troops died saturday in a different roadside bombing. a mystery from the first gulf war has been solved. the remains of navy pilot michael scott speicher have been recovered 18 years after his disappearance. in a statement president obama said "my thoughts and prayers are with his family and i hope the recovery of his remains will bring them a needed sense of closure." for more here's jeremy hubbard. >> i'm scott speicher of the f-81 out here on the "saratoga." >> reporter: the first american killed in "desert storm" is now the last to come home. >> we have positive identification that the remains are those of captain speicher. >> reporter: captain michael scott speicher, a navy pilot was flying a combat mission on the first night of the first gulf war when he was shot down by a surface-to-air missile. then dick cheney went on tv to declare him the first casualty of the war. >> all i can give you at this time is that the total u.s. losses are one aircraft and one individual. >> reporter: but his remains were never found and for years rumors persisted that he survived and was taken captive. then just last month an iraqi citizen came forward. the informant said speicher's remains were respectfully buried by bed win tribesmen in the desert of west central iraq. it was there that a team of u.s. investigators found his skeletal remains. >> i guess you could use the word bittersweet. you could certainly say it's good that there is closure, because the family has been up and down all these years. >> reporter: for the navy and the nation, speicher's return is both a sad and proud moment. >> captain speicher was our shipmate and we wanted to bring him home and today we did that. >> reporter: jeremy hubbard, abc news. president obama attends a celebration today for the new g.i. bill, the first since the 9/11 attacks. the government will spend nearly $80 billion in the next decade to offer veterans full college tuition at a state university, housing and a thousand dollar annual textbook allowance, the most extensive education assistance program authorized since the original bill was designed in 1944. torrential rains triggered flash flooding in northeast on sunday. some of the heaviest rain fell on the philadelphia suburb of gladwyn. an entire month's of rainfall drenched the area when an expressway was closed by much of the day by rivers of hud and debris. for this morning's weather from around the nation, late day thunderstorms in the midwest. golf ball-size hail, gusty winds and flooding in iowa, missouri and illinois. heavy rain in florida, georgia and the carolinas. scattered thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds in parts of arizona, new mexico and colorado. still very hot out west. 100 in boise, 98 in salt lake city and 90 in portland. upper 80s in chicago and detroit and 90s in st. louis and omaha. 86 here in new york and 89 in atlanta. miami and new orleans top 90 and dallas hits 100. now when we come back, the wildly popular cash for clunkers program could be out of gas as early as today without a quick government fill-up. jobs or the lack of them, the main reason everyone is being cautious about the economic recovery. the business news is next. these days, wouldn't it be great if saving moey happened as automatically as everything else? at bank of america, t practically does. use the bankamericard power ewards visa credit card and earn rewards like cash back with every purchase. cash you can put into savings. or even use o help ay down your credit ard balance. it's one of the many ways we make saving money in tough times a whole lot easier. announcer: no surprises. no shocks. dulcolax stool softener provides stimulant-free constipation relief that's grdual and comfortable, like nature intended. dulcolax stool softener. feeling free to be. singers: feelin' free. shopping online can hep save. doing it with bank of america ca help save a lot more. up to 20% cash back from over 300 online retailers with our add it up program. just sign up and use your bank of america debit or credit card when .you shop online. it's one of the many ways we make saving money in tough times a whole lot easier. overseas stock markets are mixed. tokyo's nikkei average ticked down four points today. hong kong's hang seng is higher. in london the ftse opened higher. wall street opens the books on august after the dow had its best july in 20 years. the benchmark added another 79 points last week to close the month at 9,171. the nasdaq climbed 12 points to close at 1978. the stock market is one of several encouraging signs that better days are ahead for the economy. but any recovery is expected to be slow and it is already very costly. as abc's john cochran explains that is raising new questions about higher taxes. >> reporter: with encouraging economic news this week, everyone wonders if the worst is behind us. >> is it over? >> not quite, but we're getting very close. >> we still have a ways to go before we hit bottom and certainly it's going to be a long hard shlog getting out of this. >> reporter: that hardly cloudy forecast might surprise some. after all, manufacturing activity jumped up this past week. the drop in economic growth slowed dramatically, and new home sales had their biggest monthly increase in eight years. so why are experts so cautious? in a word, jobs. >> i'd be really surprised if we see any noticeable improvement in the unemployment rate before late next year, quite possibly into 2011. >> reporter: that's bad news for americans who rely on unemployment benefits to get by. a new study shows that by the end of this year, 1.5 million workers will have used up their benefits. >> one of the first things congress should do when it returns is to extend unemployment benefits for these millions of folks who will be running out of their benefits by the end of the year and will lose that vital lifeline of support. >> reporter: congress and the white house are expected to extend benefits, but the cost will further add to the nation's ballooning deficit. and the red ink is so scary, that administration officials are refusing to rule out tax increases even for the middle class. >> you can't rule it out. >> i think what the country needs to do is understand we're going to do what it takes. >> reporter: during the campaign, candidate obama pledged he would not raise taxes on 95% of americans. look for the white house to be pressed further on that promise this week. john cochran, abc news, washington. the troubled auto industry could show some signs today that it is on the road to recovery. the carmakers release their june sales number and should get a boost from the government's cash for clunkers program. ford says it will report its first monthly sales increase in two years. overall july is expected to be the strongest month of the year for car companies. but the government's popular rebate program could be suspended as early as tomorrow if the senate does not act quickly. the house voted last week to add another $2 billion to cash for clunkers after it burned through its budget in roughly a week. now the senate must give it the green light, or it will run out of money. it was a relatively quiet weekend at the movies. the comedy "funny people" took the top spot with a modest $23 million in ticket sales. the movie stars adam sandler as a terminally ill comedian. "harry potter and the half-blood prince" finished in second followed by "g-force." remember, you can get the latest business news any time at our website, abcnews.com. and when we come back the legal questions left behind by michael jackson's death begin being unraveled today. details straight ahead. some new classical. we're talking about mozart in modern times. stay tuned. 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already facing 15 years on another conviction. and the pentagon confirms that the remains of navy pilot michael scott speicher have been discovered in iraq some 18 years after his disappearance during the persian gulf war. it should be an intriguing day at los angeles superior court as attorneys and a judge come to grips with several of the legal questions brought about my michael jackson's death. we get the details from shuba ravindra. >> reporter: on monday morning a string of financial and legal matters surrounding michael jackson's death will finally be discussed in court. the biggest issue at stake, who will get to control the pop singer's estate. in his will jackson has given temporary control to an attorney and a music executive. his mother katherine jackson gets a 40% share. on monday it's likely she'll ask the judge for a bigger cut. legal analyst james blan carty says she runs the risk of being cut out completely. >> reporter: some say if you challenge it you're left out. she can't have it both ways. she wants more control how does she avoid challenging the will, how does she avoid being left out. >> reporter: court documents show his estate is worth about $100 million. but it could grow substantially. jackson's executors say they're in the process of making several multi-million dollar deals with his muse music. what is clear is that katherine jackson will retain full custody of her son's three children. she struck a deal with debbie rowe who will get visitation rights. monday's court hearing will clear things up so investigators can focus on the real issue at hand, jackson's death. he says it's just a matter of time before dr. conrad murray is named a suspect in the case. you don't issue search warrants for people's private homes for their lockers unless you expect to find or think you might find evidence more than circumstantial evidence that he was involved somehow in the death of michael jackson. and jackson's death investigation will likely not be discussed in court later this morning. the judge will likely decide on several pending business deals. one decision he's already approved is the re-release of jackson's 1988 autobiography "moonwalk." shubr ara. vindra. a 35-year-old was killed when a giant speaker was blown over on top of her. 7 aothers were injured. two of them critically. concert officials say the storm hit with very little warning. and strong winds are fanning the flames for a second day on the spanish canary island of la palma. firefighters were forced to retreat as the blaze raged out of control near two towns. flames destroyed about 50 homes and forced 4,000 to evacuate. a new strain of the aids virus has been discovered and for the first time hiv appears to have crossed from gorillas to humans. researchers say the newest virus is similar to several chimpanzee strains that infected humans who may have eaten the chimps. scientists say the latest shows hiv is still evolving. and kids are getting more exercise in phys ed class but a 100% in gym injuries since 1987. girls were more likely to suffer sprains and boys had more broken bones. a tragic head-on collision in eastern missouri, five people were killed late saturday night when two cars crashed on a rural two-lane highway. a couple who just left church was in one car. police say they were hit by a car going the wrong way. it was carrying a woman and a couple in their late 50s who were all returning home from a high school reunion. and a freak accident left three people injured at a church in east texas. an suv crashed in the auditorium just as sunday service was about to begin. the driver accidentally hit the gas instead of the brake, police say. classical musical lovers are enjoying two newly identified works left behind by one of the world's most famous child project dis. >> researchers say mozart wrote the pieces when he was just 7 or 8 years old. they believe mozart's father transscribed the notes as his young son played them. they were performed yesterday at mozart's childhood home and they were played on his own piano. coming up on "america this morning," tiger woods didn't have it all his way at a tournament in michigan. could he hold off the field and take another fightle? sports is straight ahead. weight and keep it off with alli. food was always my comfort for whatever happened to be going on in my life. i have been taking alli for ten months and i have lost 75 punds so far., it doesn't do it for you. it works with you to take some of the fat you eat out ofyour system., you can still eat all f your favorite food, but you can learn how o eat them. it's been a really long time since i actually looked intothe mirror and liked what i saw. it really, truly has changed my entire life. (announcer) start losing weight today. alli. discover a smoothie like no ther! new activia smoothies. creamy, delicious, and above all, and istains clinically proven new activia smoothies.te your digestive system./ ♪ activiaaa! michael phelps and the team put quite a cap on the world swimming championship in rome. >> they blew away the field and won the event setting a new world record along the way, their gold medal was phelps' fifth of the competition and the record was the 43rd of the entire meet. another one of the most recognizable personalities in sports was also doing what he does best yesterday. >> talking about tiger woods, of course. will selva at espnews as our sports highlights. good morning. we head to the links where tiger woods was at it again. woods entered the final round of the buick open as the leader at 17 under par hunting for birdie on 4. that putt gave tiger his first birdie of the final round and the outright lead. now on the par 5 13. second shot from behind a tree. and in the drink. tiger, stupid! the next shot, he would like. 59 yards out. look at the spin on this ball. packed inside five feet. woods would tap in for par remaining at 19 under for the tournament and remains a two-shot lead. putting for birdie. a three-stroke lead with just two holes to play. 18th hole, a mere formality as he wins the buick open for the third time. baseball now. buehrle on the hill for the white sox. took on the yankees. this game belonged to melky cabrera. every bit of that pitch. three-run shot. 3-0, yankees, top nine, yankees up 7-5. melky only needs a triple for the cycle and drives that pitch over the head of jermaine dye hustling around the bases and he is safe at third with a triple. first cycle for the yankees since 1995. that will do it for this espnews update. i'm will selva. the implosion of an old factory in turkey didn't go as planned over the weekend. >> you have to see this. it was supposed to be blown to smithereens. instead it keeled over like a matchbox. the top half landed on its roof