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WASHINGTON (AP) — First ladies typically avoid getting into public scraps, but Michelle Obama has jumped into perhaps her biggest battle yet.

She's fighting a House Republican effort to soften a central part of her prized anti-childhood obesity campaign and says she's ready "to fight until the bitter end."

Mrs. Obama even mocked the GOP effort in an opinion column and argued her case on Twitter.

"Remember a few years ago when Congress declared that the sauce on a slice of pizza should count as a vegetable in school lunches?" she wrote in The New York Times. "You don't have to be a nutritionist to know that this doesn't make much sense. Yet we're seeing the same thing happening again with these new efforts to lower nutrition standards in our schools."

Mrs. Obama lobbied largely behind the scenes four years ago for the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which requires more fruit, vegetables and whole grains in school meals, along with less sodium, sugar and fat. It was a major achievement, the first update to school lunch rules in decades designed to make school meals more nutritious.

The School Nutrition Association, an industry-backed group that represents school cafeteria workers and originally supported the standards, has now turned against them. The association says it fully supports getting kids to eat healthier but says many districts are losing money because students aren't buying the healthier lunches.

More than 1 million fewer students eat lunch at school each day since the first round of standards went into effect in 2012, following decades of steadily increasing participation, said Diane Pratt-Heavner, a spokeswoman for the association, citing federal data. A second round of rules, including standards for school breakfasts, took effect July 1.

"How can we call these standards a success when they are driving students away from the program?" she said.

Her group wants more flexibility for districts that are losing money. A House bill to fund the Agriculture Department next year would give districts a chance to apply to skip the requirements for one year.

Rep. Robert Aderholt of Alabama, the Republican author of that measure, said the lunch rules go too far and came too fast for school districts to handle.

"As well-intended as the people in Washington believe themselves to be, the reality is that from a practical standpoint these regulations are just plain not working out in some individual school districts," he said after a House panel approved the bill. A vote by the full House is expected after its July Fourth break.

The first lady and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, whose department runs the school meals program, oppose changing the law.

Critics of the association say the about-face is motivated not only by overburdened school officials but also by the food industry. Food companies are some of the association's highest-paying members and supply schools with most of their food. The industry largely has kept silent through the debate but will spend millions of dollars to reformulate many products to meet the new standards.

"The last thing that we can afford to do right now is play politics with our kids' health, especially when we're finally starting to see some progress on this issue," Mrs. Obama said at the White House, where she met with a group of school nutrition experts, all of whom were friendly toward the standards.

The association requested a meeting with Mrs. Obama and Vilsack. Instead it was invited to sit down next week with Vilsack and Sam Kass, a White House chef who is executive director of the first lady's anti-obesity initiative, along with representatives from a dozen other organizations that favor the standards.

The first lady's publicly aggressive approach against Congress and the school nutrition association stands in stark contrast to the quiet lobbying she did early on, and to her handling of earlier controversies. Her approach has been to bite her tongue and not comment in the heat of the moment.

"She very, very strongly believes in the anti-obesity initiative, and I think she sees the attempt by Congress to roll back the 2010 legislation as just being anathema after trying very hard to change the culture of what we see going into these institutional lunches," said Myra Gutin, who studies first ladies at Rider University.

Mrs. Obama says the requirements are based on sound science and that 90 percent of schools are meeting them. The association says districts are unprepared to meet the newest standards.

"I'm going to fight until the bitter end to make sure that every kid in this country continues to have the best nutrition that they can have in our schools," the first lady said at a White House event where she showcased elementary school students preparing and then eating a salad lunch using vegetables they had planted in her garden on the South Lawn.

The White House has threatened to veto the House bill. The Senate version does not include the one-year waiver.

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Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.

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Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap

BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (AP) — Brazil star Neymar says his World Cup may be over because of a fractured vertebra but his World Cup dream of celebrating the title with his teammates at the Maracana Stadium next Sunday is still alive.

In a video released by the Brazilian football confederation on Saturday, Neymar thanked fans and everyone else for the support in this "very difficult moment."

"I don't have words to describe what has been going through my head and my heart," said Neymar, trying to stay upbeat but still sporting a subdued look on his face. "I just want to say that I will be back as soon as possible. When you least expect I'll be back."

Wearing a black T-shirt and a black hat turned backward, he spoke in a low tone of voice, his eyes still heavy.

"My dream is not over yet," he said. "It was interrupted by one move, but it will continue and I'm certain that my teammates will do whatever possible so I can fulfill my dream of being a champion. I won't be able to fulfill the dream of playing in a World Cup final, but I'm sure they will win this one, they will become champions, and I will be there with them, and all of Brazil will be celebrating together."

It was the first time Neymar had spoken publicly since fracturing a vertebra late in Brazil's 2-1 win over Colombia in the quarterfinals on Friday.

The video was made just before the striker was airlifted from Brazil's training camp in a medical helicopter to be treated at home for the back injury that ruled him out of the last two games of the World Cup.

Brazil doctor Jose Luiz Runco guaranteed the injury will not have long-term effects on Neymar's career and said the player could even travel to Belo Horizonte to watch the semifinal against Germany on Tuesday if he is not feeling a lot of pain.

Runco said he believes Neymar can return to action in about 45 days, and that Barcelona doctors were informed of the player's conditions from the beginning.

"He was extremely moved when I gave him the news that he was out of the World Cup," Runco said. "He cried a lot, which was a natural reaction at that moment. But I told him that although his dream was being cut short, he was still a 22-year-old with a lot in front of him. It was still a 'good' type of injury."

Neymar was on a stretcher when he was transferred from an ambulance into the helicopter that took off Saturday afternoon from one of Brazil's practice pitches in the city of Teresopolis, about an hour from Rio de Janeiro.

Sports channels broadcast live as Neymar — who is a star on the field and a celebrity off of it — waved briefly from his stretcher inside the helicopter before the doors were closed and the aircraft flew away.

Medical staff spent several minutes securing the Brazilian striker inside the helicopter as his father and the president of the Brazilian football confederation, Jose Maria Marin, watched closely.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff published a letter of support to "a great warrior."

"Your expression of pain on the field yesterday (Friday) hurt my heart and the hearts of every Brazilian," she said. "I know that as a Brazilian you never give up, and sooner than expected you will be back filling our souls with happiness and our history with success."

Several players and many Brazilian celebrities also showed their support to the Brazilian star through social media.

Neymar had flown back to Rio de Janeiro with the rest of his Brazil teammates after the match in Fortaleza, then rode in an ambulance the rest of the way to the team's training camp in Teresopolis.

When the plane arrived in Rio early Saturday, teammates came one by one to embrace him as he sat in a wheelchair waiting to be taken into the ambulance.

The 22-year-old Neymar broke his third vertebra after being kneed in the back by Colombian player Juan Camillo Zuniga in the 86th minute at the Arena Castelao.

Neymar was carried off the field in tears on a stretcher and "screamed in pain in the dressing room" before being taken to a hospital for tests, the Brazilian confederation said in a statement.

Neymar had been one of the standout players of the World Cup, scoring four goals in the team's first three games.

Fans attending both of Saturday's quarterfinals chanted Neymar's name several times.

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Follow Tales Azzoni at http://www.twitter.com/tazzoni

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — An autopsy showed an Arab teenager who Palestinians say was killed in a revenge attack was burned to death, officials said Saturday, while Palestinian militants fired two rockets toward a major southern city deeper into Israel than any other attack in the current round of violence.

The Israeli military said its "Iron Dome" defense system intercepted the rockets that were aimed at Beersheba. The military also said at least 29 other rockets and mortars were fired from the Gaza Strip at Israel over the weekend. It said it had retaliated with airstrikes on militant sites in Gaza.

Clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters spread early Saturday from Jerusalem to Arab towns in northern Israel as hundreds of people took to the streets and threw rocks and fire bombs at officers who responded with tear gas and stun grenades, police said.

Palestinian Attorney General Abdelghani al-Owaiwi said he received initial autopsy results from a Palestinian doctor who was present at the autopsy in Tel Aviv. He said it shows that 16-year-old Palestinian Mohammed Abu Khdeir, whose death has sparked large protests in his east Jerusalem neighborhood, suffered burns on "90 percent of his body."

"The results show he was breathing while on fire and died from burns and their consequences," al-Owaiwi said.

His account provided the first details of the preliminary findings to be made public. The Israeli Health Ministry could not be reached for comment.

The autopsy found evidence that Abu Khdeir had breathed in the flames as burns were found inside his body, in his lungs, bronchial tubes and his throat, al-Owaiwi said.

He also said the young man had suffered wounds on the right side of his head apparently from impact with a rock or another hard object.

Abu Khdeir's charred body was found in a forest Wednesday after he was seized near his home. Palestinians immediately accused Israeli extremists of killing him to avenge the deaths of three Israeli teens who had been abducted and killed in the West Bank. Israeli police said an investigation is still underway and they have not yet determined who killed the boy or why.

Israeli leaders have widely condemned the killing of the Palestinian youth, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed those responsible would be brought to justice.

Palestinians took to the streets in protests after news of the boy's death on Wednesday and clashed with police in east Jerusalem. Riots erupted in east Jerusalem Friday as thousands of Palestinians massed for the boy's burial.

Near the town of Qalansawe, protesters also pulled over a car driven by an Israeli Jew on Saturday, pulled him out and set the vehicle on fire, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said. The driver was not injured. Several other Israeli cars were also torched, she said. Dozens of protesters were arrested across the country throughout the day.

Protests subsided by noon but resumed in the evening with violent demonstrations in several Arab towns in the north of the country, police said.

Israel's public security minister, Yitzhak Aharonovitch, visited areas of friction and said police would display "zero tolerance" toward those "who take the law into their own hands and harm innocent people."

Israeli Arabs, unlike Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, hold citizenship rights. But they often face discrimination and mostly identify with the Palestinians. Even so, violent riots like these are rare.

Palestinian protesters in Jerusalem also used an electric saw to damage the light rail that connects the heavily Arab populated eastern sector of the city with the mostly Jewish West, Samri said.

President Shimon Peres spoke with Arab leaders Saturday night in Israel urging calm. "We must unite to prevent tragedies and loss of life. Together we can lower the flames and protect the innocent people, he said.

The chaos began after three Israeli teenagers, one of whom was a U.S. citizen, were abducted in the West Bank on June 12, sparking a huge manhunt that ended with the gruesome discovery of their bodies earlier this week.

In a separate incident, relatives told The Associated Press that Abu Khdeir's 15-year-old cousin Tariq, a U.S. citizen who goes to school in Florida, was beaten by police during clashes on Thursday ahead of the funeral. The U.S. Consulate had no immediate comment on the report.

The Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations called on the U.S. Department of State to demand that Israel immediately release Khdeir.

In Washington, a State Department spokesperson said an official from the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem had visited Khdeir on Saturday.

"We are profoundly troubled by reports that he was severely beaten while in police custody and strongly condemn any excessive use of force," the spokesperson, Jen Psaki, said in a statement released Saturday. "We are calling for a speedy, transparent and credible investigation and full accountability for any excessive use of force."

She also expressed concern about "the increasing violent incidents" and urged Israelis and Palestinians "to take steps to restore calm and prevent harm to innocents."

Khdeir's parents, Suha and Salah, said Tariq was detained but had been treated at an Israeli hospital. They released photos showing his face swollen and badly bruised.

Samri, the Israeli police spokeswoman, said that Tariq Abu Khdeir had resisted arrest and attacked police officers. He was detained with a slingshot in his possession used to hurl stones at police, along with six other protesters, including some armed with knives, she said, adding that several officers were hurt in that specific protest, one of many that day.

Tariq's father said he witnessed his son's arrest and insisted the boy was not involved in the violence.

Amateur video of what he said was the beating aired on a local television station, and he said he could recognize his son from his clothing.

The channel that aired it, Palestine Today, is funded by Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad, a militant group that has carried out suicide bombings and other attacks aimed at civilians.

Other footage shows uniformed men dragging someone on the ground.

The face of the person cannot be seen in either video, and the circumstances leading up to the beating are not shown.

Israel's justice ministry said an investigation had been opened over the footage.

The rocket fire on Beersheba Saturday was the first since 2012, which came during intense fighting between Israel and Gaza militants.

Israel launched a massive crackdown on the Islamic militant group Hamas after the abduction of the Israeli teens, while retaliatory Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli airstrikes intensified. The military says Palestinian militants have fired more than 150 rockets at southern Israel, and it has responded with airstrikes on more than 70 targets in Gaza.

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Associated Press journalist Yousur Alhlou in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. trade deficit fell in May as U.S. exports hit an all-time high, helped by a jump in exports of petroleum products. Imports dipped slightly.

The trade deficit narrowed 5.6 percent in May to $44.4 billion after hitting a two-year high of $47 billion in April, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

Exports of goods and services rose 1 percent to a record $195.5 billion in May while imports fell a slight 0.3 percent to $239.8 billion.

A lower trade deficit boosts overall economic growth when it shows U.S. companies are earning more in their overseas sales. Economists are looking for a smaller trade deficit in the April-June quarter to help propel growth in output after the economy shrank in the first quarter at a 2.9 percent rate.

Many analysts expect growth will rebound to a healthy rate between 3 percent and 3.5 percent, helped in part by stronger exports.

In 2013, the trade deficit declined 11.3 percent to $476.4 billion. That reflected in part a boom in U.S. energy production that cut into America's dependence on foreign oil while boosting U.S. petroleum exports to a record high.

The larger trade gap in the first three months of this year, compared to the fourth quarter, shaved 1.5 percentage points from growth. That was a big factor in helping to push the economy into reverse. In addition to a higher trade deficit, the economy was held back by severe winter which dampened consumer spending.

In May, the U.S. trade deficit with China rose 5.4 percent to $28.8 billion. Through the first five months of this year, America's deficit with China is running 3.2 percent ahead of last year's record pace.

Officials from both countries will meet in Beijing next week for annual high-level talks covering economic and foreign policy issues. Previewing the discussions on Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said the Obama administration would push China to allow its currency to rise against the dollar. The Chinese yuan has declined by about 2.4 percent against the dollar so far this year.

American manufacturers contend the Chinese currency is undervalued by as much as 40 percent and the Chinese government is manipulating the value to gain trade advantages. A weaker yuan makes Chinese goods cheaper in the United States and U.S. products more expensive in China.

Lew said that computer security would be another issue discussed. In May, the Justice Department charged five Chinese military officers with hacking into U.S. companies' computer systems to steal trade secrets.