Senior Labour politicians urge fresh inquiries into phone hacking claims surrounding the News of the World newspaper. Link

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair tells the BBC that radical Islam is the greatest threat facing the world. Link

A state of emergency is declared in Christchurch after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake strikes New Zealand's South Island, injuring two people seriously. Link

Police question the three Pakistan players accused of corruption, while the ICC says that trio implicated have a disciplinary case to answer. Link

Some 77% of Britons think taxpayers should not help pay for Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Scotland and England, a survey suggests. Link

A fire that damaged construction equipment at the site of a Tennessee Islamic centre was arson, investigators say. Link

Banks are accused of leaving some customers in 'dire poverty' after taking money out of their accounts without permission. Link

A Hare Krishna temple in Leicester was evacuated seconds before an explosion almost destroyed the building, it emerges. Link

A bomb kills at least 50 people at a Shia Muslim rally in the south-western city of Quetta, the second attack on Pakistan's religious minority in days. Link

Fugitive tycoon Asil Nadir is remanded on bail at the Old Bailey at his first court appearance on fraud and theft charges. Link

The security contractor created dozens of shell companies or subsidiaries in part to obtain U.S. contracts after it was criticized for its conduct in Iraq, officials and investigators said. Link

The country, which had sought to show solidarity with Islamic groups and allow religious figures a greater role in public life, has reversed course. Link

American businesses added more jobs in the last three months than originally estimated, but the wheels of the economic recovery are still spinning in place. Link

A diminished Hurricane Earl on Friday churned north through the Atlantic toward the communities along Cape Cod. Link

A family business with roots in Italy steps away from some long-held traditions to survive and grow in a modern world. Link

After recent food riots in poor countries, United Nations officials said that a watchful eye must be kept on prices. Link

After being flooded with complaints, the agency said it would continue to allow the sale of the drug midodrine. Link

The rapid spread of the U.S. Open brawl video is another example of the power of citizen-shot footage, regardless of its quality. Link

A major earthquake hit west of Christchurch early Saturday morning, causing no immediate reports of casualties but widespread damage, authorities said. Link

After only two seasons, Kara DioGuardi is exiting 'American Idol,' setting the stage for an announcement later this month about a new panel of judges for the show. Link

Some men get buildings named after them; others, streets. Ron Hillyer is getting a hallway. Such tributes are often reserved for the dead or the famous. Hillyer is neither. He is a former D.C. school custodian, a man whose job involved scrubbing human waste off a playground at one school and... Link

If all goes according to plan this fall, a girl somewhere in China's Yunnan Province will tell her boyfriend she can't have sex with him. And he'll have an abstinence program from the United States to thank. Link

With less than two months until the November elections, the White House is weighing a package of business tax breaks potentially worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Link

The Obama administration formally inaugurated its foray into Middle East peacemaking on Thursday, bringing together the Israeli and Palestinian leaders for face-to-face talks and securing their pledge to meet every two weeks to pursue an end to the decades-old conflict. Link

The federal government awarded $330 million Thursday to two groups that are developing new student assessment systems for the District, Maryland and dozens of other states in an effort to upgrade their much-maligned standardized tests. Link

No description provided Link

Speculation is rampant that North Korea's Kim Jong-il will go public with plans to name his son his heir at a rare political conference. Link

Abu Abbas oversees one of Baghdad's overstretched police stations whose employees have increasingly been targeted by insurgents. He says Iraqi rule of law has been neglected. Link

The Indonesia volcano eruption is only smoke and ash and not life-threatening so far. But some warn that more earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are on the way. Link

In France, a movement from within the Gypsy community could temper what have been bad relations with European governments amid a hot immigration debate. Link

Vodacom's M-Pesa mobile phone banking service is all the rage in Kenya, where in 3 years it jumped to 10 million customers in a country of 37 million. But as M-Pesa launches in South Africa, it will find a market full of similar services, from cash-transfer windows at grocery stores to Western Union. Link

South African President Jacob Zuma has asked for more China investment in infrastructure, which would create new jobs amid 25 percent unemployment. Link

The small town of Guca becomes the site of a spirited gypsy music festival for a week every year. Link

Kenya allowed Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is facing war crime charges, to visit. The move was smart for domestic and regional politics, although it brought international criticism. Link

Nigeria's privatization plans for its power grid don't consider the role of the generator and diesel fuel industries, which may have an interest in holding up improvements. Link

The Kabul Bank is a bedrock for a stable Afghan society. Its collapse could spell disaster for the country already battling a resurgent Afghan Taliban. Link

Hurricane Earl held on to its Category 1 status as it spread wind and rain over Long Island and southeastern New England. The storm weakened during the day. Link

A powerful predawn earthquake hit New Zealand, causing water mains to break and some buildings to crumble, though there were no immediate reports of deaths. Link

The sham marriage trial of actress Fernanda Romero, which the judge has likened to a soap opera, appeared threatened with a mistrial Friday after a dramatic turn a day earlier. Link

Six job recruiters have been indicted in federal court in what the FBI has called the largest human-trafficking operation ever to result in charges in the United States. Link

A cargo plane has crashed in an uninhabited area near the Dubai airport, according to the official WAM news agency in the United Arab Emirates. Link

A Florida judge sentenced Rachel Wade, the 20-year-old woman convicted of second-degree murder for fatally stabbing her romantic rival in a fight last year, to 27 years in prison Friday. Link

European scientists say they've figured out the recipe for water in space: Just add starlight. Link

A shootout between soldiers and suspected drug dealers in northeast Mexico left 25 of the suspects dead, the regional military said Thursday. Link

Bethany Storro doesn't usually wear sunglasses, but she got a surprise paycheck and bought a pair earlier this week. Those sunglasses, she is convinced, saved her eyesight when a woman threw a cup of acid in her face 20 minutes later. Link

After physicist Stephen Hawking's claim that God didn't create the universe, the head of the Church of England says that 'physics on its own will not settle the question of why there is something rather than nothing.' Link

Mohammed Saqar from Gaza and Dana Levy from Israel met when they were teenagers at a peace camp in the U.S. They once both believed in peace in the Middle East. Now, 14 years later, they are still friends -- but both have lost hope for Israel and Gaza. Link

In his first public speech in four years, a military-clad Fidel Castro stood on the steps of the University of Havana and addressed thousands of students. He warned them U.S. and Israeli tensions with Iran are pushing the world toward nuclear war. Link

London Mayor Boris Johnson, is a great believer in the idea of cycling to work, and since taking office, he's done a lot to encourage Londoners to take their commute on two wheels. NPR's new London correspondent, Philip Reeves, also likes the idea of riding his bicycle to work -- but is finds his fellow cyclists seem to take the whole thing far too seriously. Link

The United Nations has delayed the release of a report detailing a decade of gruesome attacks against civilians in the Congo after Rwanda protested the findings. Drafts of the report leaked to the media last week and accused Rwandan troops of slaughtering Hutus in Congo in the 1990s. Link

Melissa Block speaks with Miel Hendrickson, regional coordinator for International Medical Corps in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Hendrickson's team has treated more than 200 women who were raped in rebel attacks a month ago. The area is known for its gold and mineral deposits, and attacks on villages in the area is frequent. Link

For the first time in decades, North Korea is set to hold a Workers' Party Conference -- as early as this weekend. Observers say North Korea's ailing ruler, Kim Jong Il, could be set to pass the reins of the world's only communist dynasty to a third generation, his third son, Kim Jong Un. Link

The magnitude 7.4 temblor hit 19 miles west of the southern city of Christchurch on South Island and shook a wide area in the middle of the night. The extent of the damage was still unclear. Link

A suicide bombing killed more than 40 people at a Shiite procession in Quetta on Friday, sharply driving up the toll of sectarian assaults in a country already battered by massive flooding. Link

As a long Congo River barge journey ends, so, too, does a unique glimpse into the heart of a poor but potentially rich nation grappling with conflict. Despite the hardship, the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo draw great inspiration from the inescapable and mighty river. Link

President Obama brought two key players together this week to talk about Mideast peace: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Robert Malley of the International Crisis Group talks to Steve Inskeep about both sides' motivation to sit down to try to work out a peace agreement. Link

Noticed the drumbeat of stories on this? View our critically acclaimed report on the topic, with a parents' guide-- and more. Link

He converted from Catholicism to Mormonism. But evangelical and fundamentalist Christians maintain Mormons aren't Christians. More on that, from our report -'The Mormons.' Link

On my most recent trip to Tehran in April, I saw a tall, thin man wearing Thom Browne on a not-so-chic downtown street. Or at least that's what it looked like.... Link

Nokia Siemens, meet the Alien Tort Statute. Could this lawsuit potentially prove more damaging than sanctions? Link

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, a chief organizer of the planned Muslim community center in Lower Manhattan, was interviewed by FRONTLINE six months after 9/11. Read- Link

On the heels of our Katrina report, federal agents announced they're investigating whether police commanders authorized shooting looters... Link

By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER 2010-09-03T22:09:35Z WASHINGTON (AP) -- Unemployment is stuck at high levels even though some companies are hiring. The problem, government data show, is that too few jobs are being created for the growing number of people looking for work.... Link

By BOB SALSBERG 2010-09-04T01:10:59Z CHATHAM, Mass. (AP) -- A weakening but still dangerous Hurricane Earl steamed toward the gray-shingled cottages and fishing villages of Cape Cod on Friday night, disrupting people's vacations on the unofficial final weekend of the short New England summer.... Link

By RAY LILLEY 2010-09-04T01:37:57Z WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- A powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake damaged buildings, cut power and knocked fleeing residents off their feet on New Zealand's South Island early Saturday, but there were so far no deaths and only two injuries reported.... Link

By MATTHEW LEE 2010-09-03T23:07:42Z WASHINGTON (AP) -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sought to inject urgency into Israeli-Palestinian peace talks Friday, warning the negotiations may be 'the last chance for a very long time' to reach an agreement.... Link

By DAVID B. CARUSO 2010-09-03T23:05:18Z NEW YORK (AP) -- One of the investors in a proposed Islamic center near ground zero is a Long Island medical clinic owner whose expressions of sympathy for Palestinians included a donation to a charity later shut down for links to Hamas.... Link

By ALESSANDRA RIZZO and DAN PERRY 2010-09-03T23:09:25Z CERNOBBIO, Italy (AP) -- Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales believes relief may be in sight for the beleaguered news media industry.... Link

By JOE MANDAK 2010-09-03T23:10:23Z PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A former US Airways Express pilot will spend nine months in prison for selling a powdered drink mix over the Internet that he claimed was '100 percent' effective in helping drug-using truck drivers, pilots and train engineers pass federally mandated drug tests.... Link

By LYNN ELBER 2010-09-04T01:25:38Z LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Kara DioGuardi is following Ellen DeGeneres and Simon Cowell out the door at 'American Idol.'... Link

By LINDA DEUTSCH 2010-09-03T23:13:02Z LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A witness in the Anna Nicole Smith drug conspiracy trial recanted statements Friday that he saw defendant Howard K. Stern give the celebrity model excessive drugs.... Link

By ALAN ROBINSON 2010-09-03T23:56:13Z PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Ben Roethlisberger isn't the only Steelers quarterback who might be out for four weeks.... Link

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A major earthquake hit New Zealand's second biggest city Christchurch early on Saturday, bringing down power lines, ripping up roads and wrecking building facades, but authorities reported no deaths. Link

NEW YORK/DETROIT (Reuters) - The U.S. government is likely to take a loss on General Motors Co in the first offering of the automaker's stock, six people familiar with preparations for the landmark IPO said. Link

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Friday he would outline new measures next week to boost the U.S. economy, but analysts were skeptical he would be able to deliver a big enough package to lift growth significantly. Link

DUBAI (Reuters) - Concerns over Israeli access to BlackBerry data, and the use of the device by the United States to spy on the United Arab Emirates are behind the Gulf state's moves to curb the smartphone, Dubai's police chief said. Link

HYANNIS, Massachusetts (Reuters) - A weakened but still dangerous Hurricane Earl churned toward the Massachusetts coast on Friday, en route to Canada's Maritime provinces, after slapping North Carolina with heavy wind and rain but causing less damage than feared. Link

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber struck a rally in the Pakistani city of Quetta on Friday, killing at least 54 people in the second major attack this week and piling pressure on a U.S.-backed government overwhelmed by a flood crisis. Link

HOUSTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Friday launched an investigation into Mariner Energy Inc's Gulf of Mexico platform fire, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. Link

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc said on Friday it was the target of an investigation by the Texas Attorney General's office into the fairness of its search engine rankings. Link

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors in Gabriel Capital LP, a so-called feeder fund that funneled money to imprisoned swindler Bernard Madoff, were awarded $12.74 million by a panel of three arbitrators, court records show. Link

HOUSTON (Reuters) - BP Plc removed a failed blowout preventer from atop its ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well on Friday afternoon, a company spokesman said. Link

SRIHARIKOTA, India (AFP) - India successfully launched its first lunar mission Wednesday, marking a major boost for the country's space programme and a new step in the fast-developing Asian space race. Link

COLOMBO (AFP) - Tamil Tiger rebels struck back against a major Sri Lankan government offensive Wednesday with suicide attacks against merchant ships off the island's northern coast, defence officials said. Link

WASHINGTON, (AFP) - US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates warned of 'pretty dramatic' consequences of not having an accord governing the presence of US troops in Iraq. Link

MOON TOWNSHIP, Pennsylvania (AFP) - John McCain told voters his White House rival Barack Obama was unprepared to handle a national security crisis, citing the US-Russia standoff in 1962 that put the world on the brink of nuclear war. Link

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Google on Tuesday released the open-source code which powers its Android mobile operating system and invited outside programmers to tinker with the software to develop their own features. Link

NEW YORK (AFP) - The US Federal Reserve has offered help to troubled money market mutual funds, as governments announced fresh aid to struggling banks amid signs of thawing credit in the money markets. Link

TOKYO (AFP) - Profits at Toyota Motor Corp. are expected to plunge by half in the year to March, while annual sales are set to drop for the first time in a decade, reports said Wednesday. Link

North Korea is grappling with its worst food shortages in a decade, interviews with defectors and Chinese traders suggest. The privations come on the eve of a meeting that could signal the country's biggest political transformation in decades. Link

The Obama administration is moving toward using the revenue from expiring tax cuts for the wealthy to finance about $35 billion of tax cuts for small businesses and workers. Link

A belief that Americans will average seven careers over their lifetimes has gained traction despite little evidence, say researchers. While job changes are common, the notion of multiple major career changes seems implausible. Link

The Obama administration on Tuesday will launch its most ambitious effort at reducing mortgage balances for homeowners that owe more than their homes are worth. Link

Gold prices are edging up toward a high, at $1,249.20 an ounce, triggering multibillion-dollar deals by miners doubling down on the staying power of bullion's nearly decadelong rally. Link

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 127.83 points, or 1.24%, to 10447.93, putting the Dow up 2.9% on the week?its first positive weekly showing since the beginning of August. Link

Google said the Texas attorney general's office is conducting an antitrust review of the Web giant's core search-engine business, another sign of growing government scrutiny of the company. Link

A key interest rate on short-term loans between banks is at its lowest level in five months, but the decline may be more a sign of bank caution than an all-clear for the financial markets. Link

Goldman Sachs has decided to close its principal-strategies unit, which does its proprietary trading, in the wake of financial-overhaul regulation passed by Congress. Link

New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced a statewide investigation of credit-card companies marketing to college students through schools. Link

Rescue teams were searching for trapped people after a major earthquake struck Christchurch. Link

Wen Baragrey, a writer who lives by the sea in Christchurch, New Zealand, shares her chaotic escape from her swaying home during the early morning earthquake that struck. Link

A team of NASA doctors and engineers recommended Friday that Chilean authorities regulate the day-and-night sleep patterns of 33 trapped miners, boost their Vitamin D intake and phase in an exercise program as their nutrition improves. Link

A UPS 747 cargo plane with two crew aboard crashed in Dubai shortly after takeoff Friday, the company said. Link

A suicide bomber struck a rally in the Pakistani city of Quetta on Friday, killing at least 54 people in the second major attack this week. Link

A plane crash in southern Mexico has killed all six people on board, including two federal legislators and two mayors-elect. Link

Seven people were convicted of child sex abuse in Portugal on Friday in a major trial that lasted nearly six years and shocked the country. Link

As the last of 30,000 U.S. reinforcements arrive in Afghanistan, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Friday got a firsthand look at operations in the dangerous south. Link

For a decade, West Africa's main connection to the Internet has been a single fiber-optic cable in the Atlantic, a tenuous and expensive link for one of the poorest areas of the planet. Link

The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog has invited Israel to consider joining a global anti-nuclear arms pact and to place all its atomic facilities under his agency's inspections, an IAEA report said on Friday. Link

Navy Chaplain Terry Moran has an assistant, Philip Chute, who doesn't believe in God. On patrol in Afghanistan, they debate some of life's weightiest questions. Link

An attack on a Shiite rally killed more than 40 people in southwestern Pakistan, while a suicide bomber targeted a minority Sunni mosque in Peshawar. Link

India says the summer's ongoing Kashmiri protests are either leaderless demonstrations, or Pakistan-backed provocation. In an interview, Kashmiri separatist leader Masarat Alam Bhat says they are neither. With tactics such as protest calendars published in local media, the little-known leader has spurred stone-throwing protests that have bedeviled New Delhi. Link

North Korea is grappling with its worst food shortages in a decade, interviews with defectors and Chinese traders suggest. The privations come on the eve of a meeting that could signal the country's biggest political transformation in decades. Link

Iran's government used annual pro-Palestinian demonstrations Friday to renew its threat to wipe Israel off the map, while dissident leaders assailed the regime. Link

A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake rocked much of New Zealand's South Island, hitting 19 miles west of Christchurch city. No serious injuries were reported, and no tsunami alert was issued. Link

President Sebastian Pinera said the government was advancing on plans to dig three rescue tunnels to reach 33 trapped miners. Link

An Australian independent lawmaker signaled he might support Labor, another boost to Prime Minister Julia Gillard entering a crucial weekend of talks to cobble together a government. Link

A planned one-day strike to protest a proposed rise in France's retirement age could be a defining moment in Nicolas Sarkozy's presidency. Link

The Chinese government remains committed to forcing down housing prices, despite worries about a weak global economy and complaints from property developers. Link

Having persuaded many of their billionaire peers in the US into giving away chunks of money, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are travelling to China to host newly minted Chinese tycoons to sell them on the value of philanthropy Link

President Barack Obama?s top economic adviser will arrive for talks in Beijing this weekend, just as the simmering argument about the Chinese currency and global imbalances threatens to heat up again. Link

Fears of a double-dip recession in the US were allayed on Friday by data showing that the private sector had created 235,000 jobs in the past three months Link

European Union governments gave their approval to an overhaul of the way banks and markets in the region are supervised. However, they warned that new pan-European Union watchdogs would need to exercise their powers cautiously Link

US defence chief strikes an optimistic note on his trip to the spiritual homeland of the Taliban, the new front line in the war in Afghanistan, forecasting ?an inexorable process? in strategy over the next two to three years Link

Plans to base a fleet of Russian-made fighter jets at a former US airbase in Iceland ignited a political storm in Reykjavik. Iceland?s government signalled support for the project, only to reverse the decision hours later Link

Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement, threatened ?more effective? attacks on Israel as the launch of a new Middle East peace process triggered opposition on both sides. Link

Turkey?s prime minister sought to win Kurdish support in a referendum on an overhaul of the judicial system, promising more constitutional change after next year?s general election Link

South Africa?s public sector strike was badly timed for the final-year students at Ncube High School, in Soweto, who sit graduation exams next month. More than two weeks after teachers walked out, scores of pupils still arrive at school each morning Link

The Pakistan trio at the centre of cricket?s corruption probe were released without charge after being interviewed by police again as the game?s governing body insisted that the sport was not riddled with betting scams Link