WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Barack Obama announced Tuesday that his administration is launching a nationwide effort to identify non-profit organizations most likely to effectively use an additional $50 million in federal support.

The money comes from an "innovation fund" financed by the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, enacted earlier this year with the intention of strengthening national community service efforts.

The president said that the task of identifying the "most promising" non-profits would fall to Melody Barnes, head of the White House Domestic Policy Council.

"We'll examine their data, and rigorously evaluate their outcomes. We'll invest in those with the best results, that are most likely to provide a good return on our taxpayer dollars," Obama told a gathering of community organizers at the White House.

The president harkened back to his own days as a community organizer in Chicago in making the case for greater local activism to help solve some of the country's most entrenched social and economic problems.

"I spent hours going door to door, meeting with anyone who would talk to me, asking people about their struggles and what an organization could do to help," Obama said.

"It was slow, laborious going. We had plenty of setbacks and failed more often than we succeeded. But ... slowly, block by block, we began to turn those neighborhoods around, fighting for job training and better housing, and more opportunity for young people."

Obama said that the lesson he "learned then still holds true today: that folks who are struggling don't simply need more government bureaucracy. ... Ultimately, the best solutions don't come from the top down, not from Washington. They come from the bottom up, in each and every one of our communities."

The president highlighted a number of successful community organizers during the announcement at the White House, including Alfa Demmellash, the head of Rising Tide Capital, a New Jersey-based organization that helps small business entrepreneurs get loans and improve their profit margins.

Demmellash was recently featured on the program "CNN Heroes."

By Terry Frieden
CNN Justice Producer

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The two federal agencies most responsible for stemming the flow of firearms to Mexico agreed Tuesday to improve cooperation after they were sharply criticized by a congressional report for lack of coordination.

The agreement between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, (ATF) will result in a more effective fight against the flood of U.S. weapons that provide Mexican drug cartels with more than 90 percent of their firearms. Top federal law enforcement officials signed documents pledging to work together in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The agreement is expected to result in increased seizures of trafficked weapons and more prosecutions and convictions, said David Ogden, the deputy attorney general.

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (CNN) - Former Sen. Norm Coleman gave up his challenge to the November election results Tuesday, clearing the way for satirist Al Franken to take the state's remaining U.S. Senate seat.

(CNN) - Saying he poses a "serious flight risk," a federal court refused Tuesday to release billionaire financier Robert Allen Stanford on bond.

Stanford, 59, was indicted earlier this month on charges of criminal conspiracy to commit mail, wire and securities fraud. Prosecutors allege his actions earned his company, Stanford Group Co., an estimated $7 billion. He is charged in connection with a long series of alleged frauds outlined in a 21-count indictment.

A magistrate judge had set his bond at $500,000, with a $100,000 cash deposit. But prosecutors contested that, saying Stanford was a flight risk. A hearing on the matter was held Monday.

"Taken together, Stanford's longstanding ties to a country other that the United States - Antigua and Barbuda, his primary residence for the past 15 years - his access to an international network and financial resources, his familiarity with global travel and the severity of the punishment he may be subjected to if convicted of the charges alleged in the indictment against him compel the court's determination that Stanford poses a significant risk to flee the court's jurisdiction prior to trial," wrote U.S. District Judge David Hittner of Houston, Texas, in the Tuesday ruling.

Hittner ordered the magistrate judge's order reversed and committed Stanford to federal custody pending trial, saying he should be held in a facility separately from those serving sentences or held pending appeal, to the extent possible.

Three other Stanford Group executives and a former Antiguan official are also charged in the indictment.

Stanford has maintained his innocence. Dick DeGuerin, Stanford's attorney, said he and his client "are very disappointed, and we will appeal to the 5th Circuit" Court of Appeals.

But Lanny A. Breuer, assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice's criminal division, told reporters earlier this month that "Stanford and his co-defendants engaged in a scheme to defraud investors who purchased approximately $7 billion in certificates of deposit - CDs - administered by Stanford International Bank Ltd.," an offshore bank on Antigua.

"Stanford and his co-defendants allegedly misused and misappropriated most of those investment assets, including diverting at least $1.6 billion into undisclosed personal loans to Stanford himself," Breuer said.

Charged along with Stanford are Stanford Group executives Laura Prendergest-Holt, the chief investment officer; and Gilberto Lopez, the chief accounting officer; as well as Mark Kuhrt, who was the global controller for Stanford Financial Group Global Management, an affiliate of Stanford Group Co.

NEW YORK (CNN) - Fans of Michael Jackson lined the streets outside Harlem's Apollo Theater on Tuesday for a chance to pay their respects to the late King of Pop at the hall that helped launch his career.

The crowd stood eight to 10 abreast in the sun and 80-degree weather for 10 blocks, waiting for hours for a chance to enter the theater. Fans were allowed in 600 at a time, where they lay flowers and other mementoes at the foot of the stage and danced to Jackson's music as it played over the sound system.

"We left our house at 4 o'clock in the morning and got here at nine, and we were lucky to get here," said Angela Staples, who came to New York from Pennsylvania with her daughter Jasmine. "I'm so happy about the outpouring of love and the crowd and the people. It's so respectful to Michael."

The event was scheduled to run until 8 p.m. ET, with a moment of silence at 5:26 p.m. - the time Jackson was pronounced dead Thursday in Los Angeles.

(CNN) - Al Qaeda threatened to "take revenge" on France "by every means and wherever we can reach them" for its stance on the burqa, or Islamic women's covering, according to a statement posted on radical Islamist Web sites.

"We will not tolerate such provocations and injustices, and we will take our revenge from France," said the statement, signed by Abu Musab Abdul Wadud, calling himself "commander of al Qaeda in North Africa (Islamic Maghreb)."

(CNN) - Seven people, at least five of them students, were shot Tuesday at a bus stop in Detroit, Michigan, officials said.

"Two perpetrators, possibly three, pulled up in a vehicle, exited their vehicle with weapons, asked for a person by name and then opened fire onto the crowd," said Police Chief Roderick Grimes.

"They got back in their vehicle and exited the scene."

Police Officer Leon Rahmaan described the vehicle as a green minivan and said the incident occurred about a mile from Cody High School at 2:30 p.m., as summer-school classes were ending for the day.

Two of the victims were in critical condition; the others were in serious condition at area hospitals, Grimes said. The shooters - both of them male - covered their faces with either masks or T-shirts, he said.

Robert Bobb of the Detroit Public Schools said summer school would continue Wednesday as scheduled.

"Tomorrow, we'll have new leadership in place at the school," he told reporters. "We want parents to bring their children, have their children continue to come to summer school here tomorrow."

No one was immediately taken into custody, said police spokesman Dan Donakowski.

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) - Ousted Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya will return to his country this week despite warnings from the provisional government that he will be arrested, he said at a news conference at the United Nations on Tuesday.

"I am going to return on Thursday because they expelled me by force, and I am going to return as always: as a citizen and as president," Zelaya told reporters after the United Nations unanimously adopted a resolution stating that Zelaya should be restored to power.

Zelaya, speaking to the general assembly, called it a historic resolution.

"Your servant has several accusations against him in Honduras," he said. "But nobody has given me a trial. Nobody has convened a tribunal."

The deposed president said he would travel to Washington on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Organization of American States.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The U.S. military in recent weeks has resumed flying unmanned reconnaissance drones over Pakistan's tribal regions to help provide critical intelligence to Pakistan's security forces, two U.S. military officials confirmed to CNN Tuesday.

The officials would not be identified because the operation is not being publicly announced due to security concerns and Pakistan's sensitivity to any involvement with the U.S. military.

Cameras, sensors and other intelligence equipment on the drones are used to collect intelligence and data on potential insurgent targets the Pakistani military forces plan to attack. Pakistan has openly acknowledged the latest operations by the Pakistani military are aimed at South Waziristan, where the Pakistani military is targeting Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud. The U.S. drones provide video feeds and other data to a U.S.-Pakistani coordination center where the intelligence is then sent to Pakistani commanders.

All of the U.S. military flights are done at the request of the Pakistani government, the officials said. The U.S. drones may be armed but only so they also can fly over Afghanistan and strike targets there, officials say. There is no authority or plan for U.S. military drones to fire on targets in Pakistan. Dozens of drone missile attacks in Pakistan over recent years have been carried out by drones flown by the CIA.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Barack Obama said Tuesday that street celebrations in Iraq for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from cities and towns were a testament to the sacrifices of U.S. troops in the country.

In brief remarks at a White House event on technological innovation, Obama said the drawback meant that Iraq's future was now in the hands of its leaders and people.

"The Iraqis are rightly treating this day as a cause for celebration," Obama said, calling the "important milestone" the result of the good work by U.S. forces who first entered Iraq in 2003 and toppled the regime of former leader Saddam Hussein.

Obama warned of tough times ahead in Iraq, noting a bombing earlier Tuesday in Kirkuk that killed at least 30 people. He said the United States would continue to support Iraq as it works to become "a "sovereign, stable, and self-reliant" country.

The U.S. withdrawal was part of an agreement signed last year between former President George W. Bush's administration and the Iraq leadership. The agreement calls for all U.S. forces to leave Iraq by the end of 2011.

The remaining 130,000 U.S. troops in Iraq are now tasked with supporting Iraqi troops and police, and will require Iraqi permission to launch operations in the cities.