Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng, whose stay at the US embassy sparked a diplomatic crisis, says he is at Beijing airport expecting to go to the US. Link

US President Obama hosts an opening dinner for G8 leaders, discussing North Korea, Syria and Iran, with the eurozone crisis likely to top Saturday's agenda. Link

California's SpaceX company is preparing to launch to the space station - the first resupply mission to the orbiting outpost by a private company. Link

Sri Lanka marks three years since the end of its civil war with a military parade, as critics say more should be done to remember civilian deaths. Link

US baby boomers are advised to get tested for the liver-destroying virus hepatitis C, in a move health officials say could save 120,000 lives. Link

Facebook shares end a volatile first day of trading at $38.23, barely above the company's initial pricing, having initially jumped more than 10%. Link

Spanish energy giant Repsol cancels a contract to provide gas to Argentina, in a continuing row after Buenos Aries nationalised one of its subsidiaries. Link

Inmates who took control of a jail in Honduras on Wednesday agree to surrender after clashes that killed one prisoner and injured another 11. Link

The UN Security Council imposes a travel ban on five leaders of the recent military coup in Guinea-Bissau, and demands a return to democracy. Link

The highest court in Maryland allows gay couples to divorce, even though same-sex marriage is not yet allowed in that US state. Link

As American negotiators prepare for nuclear talks next week in Baghdad, they say recent statements from Iran and pressure from sanctions have raised the chances of compromise. Link

While disappointing new investors who were betting on fast gains, Facebook had a wide winner's circle, creating huge paper gains for scores of early insiders, hundreds of employees and some stragglers who bought stakes recently. Link

Facebook?s $16 billion offering was the biggest I.P.O. that Nasdaq had ever listed. Now there are growing questions over how it was handled. Link

The House beat back an unusual coalition of liberal and conservative lawmakers and approved a contentious $642 billion Pentagon policy bill. Link

The left-wing leader Alexis Tsipras, who pledges to repudiate Greece?s austerity-for-loans bailout deal, says the country?s problem is a European one, necessitating a European solution. Link

Cheap, plentiful natural gas provides utilities with little incentive to build coal-fired plants with a technology that traps carbon gas for storage or other uses. Link

The military-backed government?s victories in recent elections brought scorn on the streets of Algiers, but no Arab Spring-like marches, rallies or demonstrations. Link

In a sworn interview with a prosecutor, a girl who was speaking on the phone with Trayvon Martin before he was killed tells of Mr. Martin?s growing fear as he was followed. Link

François Hollande, in his first meeting with President Obama as France?s president, restated his pledge to withdraw combat forces from Afghanistan by the end of the year. Link

The legislature failed to heed a call to soften the state?s immigration enforcement law, considered the strictest and most sweeping in the country. Link

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. ? When scholars gathered at Harvard last month to discuss the political tumult convulsing China?s ruling Communist Party, a demure female undergraduate with a direct stake in the outcome was listening intently from the top row of the lecture hall. She was the daughter of Xi Jinping, China?s vice president and heir apparent for the party?s top job. Read full article >> Link

BEIJING ? Blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng, who emerged at the center of a diplomatic row between the U.S. and China, was at Beijing?s airport Saturday afternoon in the company of American diplomats and was about to leave for an uncertain new life in the United States. Read full article >> Link

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The House approved a bill Friday that would provide $642.5 billion in defense spending for the next fiscal year, despite a veto threat from the White House, which objected to a series of provisions that would limit the president?s authority and challenge administration policies. Read full article >> Link

CAIRO ? Egypt?s military chiefs are expected to issue a constitutional declaration redrawing the powers of the presidency before polls open Wednesday for the country?s first presidential vote since autocratic leader Hosni Mubarak was overthrown, according to state media reports. Read full article >> Link

The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said Friday he will travel to Iran over the weekend on a previously unscheduled visit to try to resolve an impasse over access to Iranian nuclear documents and scientists. Read full article >> Link

BEIRUT ? More than 10,000 protesters poured onto the streets of Syria?s commercial hub, Aleppo, on Friday, a sign that a city that had remained relatively quiet as an uprising swept the country has been galvanized into activity. Read full article >> Link

ATHENS ? What did Angela Merkel really say? The Greek press buzzed late Friday when the office of freshly inaugurated Prime Minister Panagiotis Pikrammenos issued a statement saying Merkel, the German chancellor, had suggested that Greece should hold a referendum on the euro. Read full article >> Link

ATHENS ? Homeward bound after the Trojan War, Odysseus of Greek myth had to pick a path through seas harboring a monster with six heads and a whirlpool that digested ships whole. Now, whether modern Greece exits the euro ? potentially triggering global economic turmoil in the process ? depends on the tough choices of Ivi Moreti and her 11 million countrymen. Read full article >> Link

Daniel Manzoni holds the phone in his hand and waits for it to ring. The caller will be a talk-show host from Radio La Jefa (Boss Radio) 700 AM. He will want to hear about the annual Argentine Festival this Saturday evening in Arlington. Manzoni runs the festival as if his life depended on it ? which, at a certain existential level, it does. Read full article >> Link

Its banks struggling, Spain has moved closer to needing a bailout. But some argue the takeover of Bankia and other measures could mark the beginning of movement toward greater stability. Link

In a state better known for bombings, a mass wedding of 100 divorcees to confront traditional stigma of divorce in Nigerian society. Link

Challenges in Wardak Province, west of Kabul, are a mirror of those the Afghan government will face as US and NATO pull back from reconstruction and aid funding in the next two years. Link

Beyond urban sprawl there's an economic issue with Chile's car boom: crude oil is already Chile's biggest import, and an increasing reliance on gas could impact the country's trade balance. Link

David Beckham will take the Olympic flame at a ceremony Friday when the flame arrives from Greece. Then, the Olympic flame will go on a 70-day, 8,000-mile  relay around England ahead of the 2012 London Olympics. Link

China says the US is 'deliberately provoking trade friction in the clean energy sector.' The US says  Chinese exporters were dumping cut-price solar panels in the US market. Link

At Dutch 'Repair Cafes' folks come together to fix ? or learn how to fix ? their own broken stuff. Link

Hillary Clinton said the decision to suspend sanctions on export of American financial services and investment was the most significant action Washington has taken so far to reward Myanmar for its reforms. Link

Lady Gaga saw her concert in Indonesia canceled earlier this week. Now, a Christian group in the Philippines is protesting Lady Gaga's 'Born this Way' Asian tour. Link

French President Hollande and UK Prime Minister Cameron meet in US today ahead of G8 summit. They are likely to find common ground on eurozone crisis despite differences over austerity. Link

Trayvon Martin's girlfriend, talking to him on the telephone, heard the teenager saying, "get off, get off" in the moments before his cell phone cut off and he was shot dead, according to a recording of the girl's interview with a prosecutor released Friday. Link

Authorities have arrested a suspect in the case of an alleged police impersonator who is believed to have killed two motorists in Mississippi, the Tunica County Sherriff's Office said. Link

Salvage experts outlined their plan Friday to raise the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise liner from the sea floor off Italy in one piece and tow it from the disaster site. Link

Despite the discovery of 49 headless bodies in the continuing Mexican drug war, a journalist tells CNN that people are becoming detached. Link

The jury will begin deciding the fate of former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards Friday, a day after closing arguments concluded in the corruption trial. Link

She might have gone unnoticed through the many years of triumphs and tragedies of the Kennedy family. Now the spotlight will be cast, sadly, on Mary Richardson Kennedy. Link

Classic rockers Van Halen on Thursday abruptly postponed more than 30 tour dates, following their June 26 concert in New Orleans, representative Anna Loynes said. Link

After being photographed without makeup while in Vancouver last month, candid shots of AnnaLynne McCord hit the Web, with with one site noting: "Her facial blemishes were completely visible." Link

France's new Socialist government is already causing ripples throughout a Europe struggling to balance government budgets without making ordinary people's lives miserable, but it has created a completely different problem in the Middle East. Link

Six roasted fetuses covered with gold for black magic rituals were found in a Bangkok hotel room, and the gruesome discovery led to the arrest of a British citizen Friday, Thai police said. Link

Chen Guangcheng told The Associated Press that he has left the hospital where he'd been staying and is at the Beijing airport. Chen's escape from a rural village last month set off a diplomatic tussle between Beijing and Washington. Link

For decades, the Palestinians have urged foreign Muslims to boycott one of the holiest sites in Islam, the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. But now, Palestinian religious figures are encouraging such visits, saying they could highlight Palestinian claims in their feud with Israel. Link

New French President Francois Hollande visited President Obama at this White House on Friday afternoon. The two leaders will also travel to Camp David for the G-8 economic summit. Link

Russia and the U.S. are trying hard to bridge their differences over the U.S. plan to build a missile defense system in Europe. Russia holds deep suspicions that the system is actually a plan to counter Russian nuclear missiles, not to protect Europe and the Middle East from Iranian missiles. The issue is an urgent one as NATO gets ready to hold a summit in Chicago and formalize its commitment to missile defense in Europe. Link

With 7 billion people expected to live in urban centers by 2050, the stakes are enormous for building them right. There are many things to think about ? traffic, trash, water, connectivity and more. Whether you're a new mega city being built in Saudi Arabia or old Liverpool trying to rejuvenate yourself, you face a lot of the same issues. Hundreds of mayors, private sector actors, think tanks and citizens groups convened in Paris this week to share ideas. Link

Melissa Block talks to Los Angeles Times journalist Steve Zeitchik about what's popular this year at the Cannes Film Festival. Link

Egypt had a revolution last year as the country united behind a call to oust Hosni Mubarak and sweep away his regime. Yet just days before the country's presidential election, the front-runner is Amr Moussa ? one of the country's most prominent political figures during Mubarak's rule. Link

Some of the world's fastest growing economies are in Africa. But hunger is still a widespread reality there, and will be a major topic at this weekend's G8 summit. Host Michel Martin discusses efforts to fight hunger on the continent with USAIDs Tjada McKenna and Mwiza Munthali of the advocacy group TransAfrica. Link

Carlos Fuentes, one of the most influential writers in the Latin American world, died Tuesday at a hospital in Mexico City. He was 83. Fresh Air remembers the prolific author with excerpts from a 1987 interview. Link

New French President Francois Hollande said he wants his nation's 3,300 troops home from Afghanistan by year's end. He also said France would support effort in a 'different way.' Link

The brain damage to soldiers who have experienced a blast injury during combat may be similar to damage sustained by some … Link

The Justice Department released new rules yesterday designed to curb sexual abuse in federal and state detention facilities, including stricter … Link

Greece’s political and financial uncertainty has Europe on edge, as the continent waits for a new round of elections on … Link

Two war-crimes trials underway at The Hague have drawn notice for their high-profile suspects. Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb … Link

Yemen's government intensified a campaign of air and ground strikes in the south of the country this week in an effort to recapture towns from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and affiliated insurgents. Link

The Village Voice recently published startling new images of inmate abuse as part of the paper’s ongoing investigation into violence … Link

BEIJING (AP) -- A blind Chinese activist whose escape from a rural village set off a diplomatic tussle between Beijing and Washington said Saturday that he was at an airport waiting to leave for the United States.... Link

CAMP DAVID, Md. (AP) -- President Barack Obama and leaders of other major industrial powers grappled Friday with options to solidify world resolve against development of an Iranian nuclear bomb and encourage a more forceful response to worsening violence in Syria.... Link

NEW YORK (AP) -- In the hours before Facebook's stock began trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market for the first time, CEO Mark Zuckerberg reminded the company's 3,500 employees not to get caught up in the hoopla surrounding its long-awaited initial public offering.... Link

BANGKOK (AP) -- Just two years ago, Thailand was at war with itself. Rifle shots and exploding grenades rang out in Bangkok as troops crushed through barricades to disperse a nine-week-old insurrection. A retired nurse was the last to capitulate.... Link

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Two young men were arrested Friday in the killings of two University of Southern California graduate students from China who were shot in an apparent robbery attempt last month near campus, police said.... Link

CHICAGO (AP) -- Hundreds of protesters broke away from a large rally and began marching through Chicago streets Friday, taunting police and shouting about everything from bank bailouts to nuclear power - a prelude to even bigger demonstrations expected after the start of a NATO summit.... Link

BEDFORD, N.Y. (AP) -- Mary Richardson Kennedy had been close to the Kennedys for much of her life, as a teenage friendship led to a marriage into one of America's most famous families.... Link

ATLANTA (AP) -- Faced with the prospect of losing both hands and her one remaining foot, a young Georgia woman battling to survive a case of flesh-eating bacteria that has already claimed one leg mouthed the words 'Let's do this.'... Link

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) -- Right now, Sammy Hagar is awfully glad he's not in Van Halen anymore.... Link

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- After two straight exhausting playoff games that went down to the last gasp, Kobe Bryant knows the Los Angeles Lakers can't hope to keep up with the younger, faster Oklahoma City Thunder.... Link

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has allowed blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng to leave a hospital in Beijing for the United States, a U.S.-based Christian advocacy group said on Saturday. Link

CAMP DAVID, Maryland (Reuters) - Group of Eight leaders agreed in their initial discussions at Camp David on Friday that Iran needs to disclose more about its nuclear ambitions and that it was time to focus on a political transition in Syria, a U.S. official said. Link

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The historic initial public offering of Facebook Inc did not go as planned on Friday, as the social networking company's sky-high valuation combined with trading glitches left the stock languishing near its offering price at the market close. Link

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House efforts to soft-pedal the danger from a new 'underwear bomb' plot emanating from Yemen may have inadvertently broken the news they needed most to contain. Link

CAMP DAVID, Maryland (Reuters) - A growing chorus of world leaders on Friday pushed for a shift toward more pro-growth policies to help ease a European crisis that threatens to oust Greece from the euro zone and reverberate throughout the global economy. Link

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ailing law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf is considering a bankruptcy filing as new debtholders take a more aggressive track, shifting away from earlier attempts at an out-of-court liquidation, a person familiar with the matter said on Friday. Link

(Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co's decision to radically change the way risk was measured in its Chief Investment Office is likely to dog the bank in the developing crisis over the big trading losses it has suffered. Link

NEW YORK (Reuters) - It was during a quiet afternoon in the sixth week of the insider-trading trial of hedge fund billionaire Raj Rajaratnam that prosecutor Reed Brodsky sprang one of those rare surprises usually seen only in the movie version of a courtroom drama. Link

BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - European officials are working on contingency plans in case Greece bombs out of the euro zone, the EU's trade commissioner said on Friday, as European share prices tumbled and Germany warned of continuing financial turmoil. Link

(Reuters) - The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has opened an investigation into possible wrongdoing at JPMorgan Chase & Co in connection with the bank's multi-billion-dollar trading loss, a source familiar with the probe told Reuters. 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

J.P. Morgan is struggling to extricate itself from disastrous wagers by traders such as the 'London whale.' Losses would grow if the banking company sells its positions into a market that has turned against its positions. Link

A day billed as Facebook's coming-out party ended up marking a much gloomier event: the stock market's worst week in six months. Link

Lawyers for former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta say he was estranged from convicted hedge-fund mogul Raj Rajaratnam at the time of some alleged tips. Prosecutors say the friendship broke down much later. Link

Dewey & LeBoeuf is readying a possible bankruptcy-protection filing for sometime in the next several weeks, a move that would initiate official liquidation of the beleaguered New York law firm. Link

China unleashed a storm of protest criticizing the U.S. decision to impose a 31% antidumping tariff on Chinese solar-panel makers. Link

J.P. Morgan agreed to hand over $168 million to a bankruptcy trustee representing customers of MF Global. Link

Chesapeake Energy said board members will take a 20% pay cut and no longer have personal use of company aircraft, the latest move by the embattled natural-gas company to placate critics. Link

Space Exploration Technologies is set to launch the first private spacecraft seeking to dock with the International Space Station, carrying with it the aspirations of scores of other commercial space ventures. Link

Spain's Repsol is canceling 10 LNG shipments to an Argentine public energy company that it says isn't honoring the supply contract. Link

Orange-juice futures dropped below $1 a pound in intraday trading for the first time in 2½ years. Link

Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng and his family are due to leave Beijing Saturday for the US, NBC News has learned. Link

An explosion at a school in Italy Saturday injured killed one person and six students, two seriously, according to reports and officials. Link

President Barack Obama and leaders of other major industrial powers grappled Friday with options regarding Iranian nuclear bomb development and worsening violence in Syria. Link

New French President Francois Hollande told President Barack Obama on Friday that he will stick by his pledge to withdraw France's troops from Afghanistan at year's end. Link

An apparently homeless man looks through a trashcan for food. Many people in big cities like London would simply walk on by. But not Lewis Dediara. Link

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon will seek to provide Israel with an additional $70 million in the coming months for its short-range rocket shield, known as the 'Iron Dome,' Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said after a meeting with his Israeli counterpart on Thursday. Link

  A group of U.S. seed, chemical and equipment companies will invest at least $150 million over the next few years into African agricultural projects and products, the companies said on Friday. Link

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Police in Frankfurt, Germany, arrested about 400 'Blockupy' protesters Friday for defying a ban on anti-austerity demonstrations. Link

Some 63 percent of Americans would be in favor of taking military action to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, according to a Pew survey. Link

A blind Chinese activist whose escape from a rural village set off a diplomatic tussle between Beijing and Washington says he is at an airport waiting to leave for the U.S. Link

Thanks to a devalued currency, the country has turned its trade deficit into a surplus and smoothed its recovery. Link

A surprise visit by the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency to Iran on Sunday is spurring talk that Tehran may finally agree to let inspectors visit secret sites. Link

Iran's top economic planner acknowledged that Western sanctions are posing economic 'difficulties' for Tehran, but predicted his country will weather the financial onslaught. Link

The Pentagon hailed new cooperation with Beijing in an annual report on China's military modernization, but reiterated concerns about Chinese military spending increases and developments of new weapons systems. Link

China's Internet users stepped up pressure on Beijing to release more information about fishermen who were apparently kidnapped by North Koreans last week. Link

Egypt's military leaders plan to demand that the country's next constitution specifically safeguard its political power and independence, according to an adviser to the ruling generals. Link

Tourism, a major contributor to national income before last year's revolution, is struggling to get back on its feet Link

The confusion over an order to close Afghan schools in Ghazni province illustrates the difficulty Kabul and its allies face in dealing with a multifaceted Taliban insurgency. Link

The two main contenders in Serbia's presidential election appear to agree on the need for closer ties to the European Union, but other differences could make it harder to tackle serious economic problems. Link

Value of bad loans held by banking sector increased a third during the past year to ?148bn and accounted for 8.4% of their entire loan portfolios Link

The changes that have come with the group?s transition to becoming a public company will be hard to ignore, as will the distraction of a share price that is likely to be highly volatile Link

Contraction makes Brazil?s growth second slowest in Latin America and comes as Asia?s major emerging markets, China and India, are also decelerating Link

New French president seeks to fulfil his promise to voters after the ?bling-bling? image of his unpopular predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy Link

Aboul Fotouh?s critics, and even some supporters, say that by seeking to appeal to all the major constituencies he has failed to satisfy any of them Link

President?s team says massive grassroots campaign will be needed to withstand bombardment of negative attack ads from Romney and super-Pacs Link

The blunt nationalist, who has divided opinion, will have to get things done in his city if he is to retain the backing of Japanese voters Link

Amman has pointedly refused to back either President Bashar al-Assad?s regime or the rebels seeking its overthrow Link

China has jailed Lai Changxing, its most notorious fugitive, for life after finding him guilty of smuggling and bribing regional officials Link