AFP - South African President Jacob Zuma travels to Zimbabwe on Thursday in a bid to ease tensions within the strained unity government, though analysts held out little hope for a breakthrough.

AP - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's body will travel more than 70 miles from his Cape Cod home to Boston to lie in repose in a presidential library he helped develop in tribute to one of his slain brothers.

AP - A year after the Bush administration abandoned its harshest interrogation methods, CIA operatives used severe sleep deprivation tactics against a terror detainee in late 2007, keeping him awake for six straight days with permission from government lawyers.

AP - U.S. and Afghan forces attacked a clinic in eastern Afghanistan after a wounded Taliban commander sought treatment, and a U.S. helicopter gunship fired on the medical center after militants put up resistance, officials said Thursday.

AFP - Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou on Thursday approved a visit next week by the Dalai Lama to the typhoon-hit island in a move analysts say could damage Taipei's efforts to improve ties with China.

AFP - Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised leading Iraqi Shiite politician Abdel Aziz al-Hakim as the symbol of the struggle against Saddam Hussein's regime on Thursday as Iranians mourned his death.

AP - A U.S. service member died Thursday in a militant attack involving a roadside bomb and gunfire, a death that pushed August into a tie with July as the deadliest months of the eight-year war.

Reuters - Afghan officials said on Thursday they had delayed releasing further results from the nation's disputed presidential poll, adding further confusion to a contest which appears headed for a second round. Votes from about 17 percent of 27,000 polling stations have been counted so far, meaning results could swing wildly in the coming days. Preliminary final results are due on September 3, with the final tally about two weeks later.

HYANNIS PORT, Massachusetts (Reuters) - Family members of U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy gathered on Thursday for a private mass at the seaside home where the 77-year-old towering figure in Democratic politics died two days ago.

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan officials said on Thursday they had delayed releasing further results from the nation's disputed presidential poll, adding further confusion to a contest which appears headed for a second round.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China called on the United States to reduce and eventually halt air and sea military surveillance close to its shores after a series of territorial disputes this year.

Reuters - Family members of U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy gathered on Thursday for a private mass at the seaside home where the 77-year-old towering figure in Democratic politics died two days ago.

Reuters - China called on the United States to reduce and eventually halt air and sea military surveillance close to its shores after a series of territorial disputes this year.

AFP - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu weighed fresh Middle East peace efforts with German leaders Thursday ahead of an emotional visit to the lakeside villa where top Nazis plotted the Holocaust.

HYANNIS PORT, Massachusetts (Reuters) - Family members of U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy gathered on Thursday for a private Mass at the seaside home where the 77-year-old towering figure in Democratic politics died two days ago.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits fell last week to 570,000, and those collecting long-term unemployment benefits dropped to the lowest level since April, government data showed on Thursday.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Some Iranian reformers jailed after the disputed presidential election were raped in prison, a member of a parliamentary investigation said on Thursday.

TAIPEI/BEIJING (Reuters) - China promptly denounced a proposed trip to Taiwan by the Dalai Lama on Thursday, saying any such visit by a man Beijing brands a separatist threatened to 'sabotage' improving relations.

RAMALLAH (Reuters) - Businesses in normal countries take getting around for granted. They can distribute, export and attract workers and customers from wide areas.

AP - Mourners lined up Thursday morning outside the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, where Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's body will lie in repose after traveling more than 70 miles from his Cape Cod home.

AP - The number of newly laid-off workers filing claims for jobless benefits dropped last week, and the number of people remaining on the rolls also fell, evidence that layoffs have eased.

AP - The economy shrank at an annual rate of 1 percent in the spring, a better-than-expected showing and more evidence that the recession is drawing to a close.

AP - It's not green cheese, but it might as well be.

Reuters - Family members of U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy gathered on Thursday for a private Mass at the seaside home where the 77-year-old towering figure in Democratic politics died two days ago.

Reuters - The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits fell last week to 570,000, and those collecting long-term unemployment benefits dropped to the lowest level since April, government data showed on Thursday.

Reuters - Some Iranian reformers jailed after the disputed presidential election were raped in prison, a member of a parliamentary investigation said on Thursday.

Reuters - China promptly denounced a proposed trip to Taiwan by the Dalai Lama on Thursday, saying any such visit by a man Beijing brands a separatist threatened to 'sabotage' improving relations.

Reuters - Businesses in normal countries take getting around for granted. They can distribute, export and attract workers and customers from wide areas.

AFP - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Thursday for 'crippling sanctions' against Iran to stop its disputed nuclear work, on a solemn visit to Berlin marked by Holocaust remembrance.

HYANNIS PORT, Massachusetts (Reuters) - Democrats scrambled on Thursday to find a way to quickly fill the seat of Senator Edward Kennedy, and give them a crucial vote in the drive to win overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system, a top domestic priority shared by President Barack Obama and Kennedy.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Faced with a total budget gap of $215 billion for fiscal years 2009 and 2010, most U.S. states looked to their prison and university budgets for relief, according to a report released on Thursday.

AP - A suicide bomber hit a Pakistani security checkpoint Thursday at the main border crossing for convoys ferrying NATO supplies into Afghanistan, killing at least 18 border guards, police said.

AP - Many of those annoying prerecorded telemarketing calls will be history starting Sept. 1.

AP - A judge in Virginia has approved a plan for Michael Vick to repay $20 million to his creditors and emerge from bankruptcy.

Reuters - Democrats scrambled on Thursday to find a way to quickly fill the seat of Senator Edward Kennedy, and give them a crucial vote in the drive to win overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system, a top domestic priority shared by President Barack Obama and Kennedy.

Reuters - Faced with a total budget gap of $215 billion for fiscal years 2009 and 2010, most U.S. states looked to their prison and university budgets for relief, according to a report released on Thursday.

AFP - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Thursday for 'crippling sanctions' against Iran to stop its disputed nuclear work, on a solemn visit to Berlin marked by Holocaust remembrance.

HYANNIS PORT, Mass./WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats scrambled on Thursday to find a way to fill quickly the seat of Senator Edward Kennedy to shore up the drive to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system, a top priority shared by President Barack Obama and Kennedy.

AP - The economy shrank at an annual rate of 1 percent in the spring, a better-than-expected showing and more evidence that the recession is drawing to a close.

AP - Sheriff's officials said Thursday they believe a woman who walked into a police station had been kidnapped as an 11-year-old in 1991 outside her South Lake Tahoe home.

AP - A suicide bomber attacked the main border crossing for convoys ferrying supplies to U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan on Thursday, killing at least 19 security officers, officials said.

AP - An elaborate identity theft scheme has reached the highest levels of the U.S. financial system, striking the personal bank account of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his wife.

Reuters - Democrats scrambled on Thursday to find a way to fill quickly the seat of Senator Edward Kennedy to shore up the drive to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system, a top priority shared by President Barack Obama and Kennedy.

AFP - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Thursday for 'crippling sanctions' against Iran to stop its disputed nuclear work, on a solemn visit to Berlin marked by Holocaust remembrance.

DETROIT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp has decided to end production at a California plant it has shared with General Motors for 25 years, industry sources said on Thursday.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Swine flu infected 14 times as many children as adults over 60 in Chicago, city health department officials reported on Thursday in one of the first detailed looks at the new pandemic virus.

AP - A motorcade carrying the body of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy passed miles of mourners Thursday as it proceeded from the Cape Cod home where he spent his final days to the presidential library in Boston bearing the name of one of his slain brothers.

AP - A roadside bomb and gunfire attack killed a U.S. service member in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, a death that pushed August into a tie with July as the deadliest months of the eight-year war.

AP - Police say a convicted sex offender and his wife have been arrested in the kidnapping of an 11-year-old in 1991 who recently walked into a Northern California police station.

AP - Federal safety officials say an air traffic controller should have warned the pilot of a small plane that collided with a helicopter over the Hudson River that there were other aircraft in his path.

AP - As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama pledged to right the wrongs he said bogged down efforts to rebuild the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. Seven months into the job, he's earning high praise from some unlikely places.

AP - Sketched on yellowing parchment, the 29 blueprints presented to Israel's prime minister Thursday lay out the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz in chilling detail, with gas chambers, crematoria, delousing facilities and watch towers drawn to scale.

AP - Electronic coupons, arriving by cell phone, Twitter, e-mail and Facebook, are helping generate an old standby's comeback and bringing in new, younger customers.

AP - A mechanical failure forced a NASA contractor on Thursday to call off the first test firing of the main part of NASA's powerful new moon rocket.

AP - Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal could meet in the U.S. Open final for the first time.

Reuters - Swine flu infected 14 times as many children as adults over 60 in Chicago, city health department officials reported on Thursday in one of the first detailed looks at the new pandemic virus.

AFP - Edward Kennedy began his final journey Thursday as America mourned the passing of a political giant whose family has helped shape the nation's history for half a century.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Dell Inc reported stronger-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday, showing it was better able to cut costs and protect prices on its products than analysts, or its own executives, had predicted.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations could possibly resume without a complete freeze in Israeli building of Jewish settlements, a senior U.S. official suggested on Thursday.

AP - His life's journey ended, the body of Sen. Edward Kennedy traveled by motorcade Thursday from the family compound where he spent his last days, past the building where he opened his first office to the presidential library named for his slain brother.

AP - With the death of Edward M. Kennedy, seven seats in the Senate have been opened since the last election or soon will be, the most in any one year in six decades.

AP - A woman who was snatched from a bus stop as an 11-year-old child in 1991 turned up at a California police station after 18 mysterious years, and a convicted sex offender and his wife were arrested in the kidnapping.

AP - Police say they will hold a news conference to disclose what they found in the car of an ex-model whose slaying in Southern California prompted an international manhunt for a reality TV show contestant wanted in her murder.

AP - A lawyer for Michael Jackson's former dermatologist says he now has no plans to petition a court for a role in the lives of the singer's three children.

AP - Michael Vick could be on the field for the first play from scrimmage if the circumstances are right.

Reuters - Democrats scrambled on Thursday to quickly fill the seat of Senator Edward Kennedy, to shore up President Barack Obama's faltering effort to rally Congress behind an overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system.

Reuters - Dell Inc reported stronger-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday, showing it was better able to cut costs and protect prices on its products than analysts, or its own executives, had predicted.

Reuters - Toyota Motor Corp has decided to end production at a California plant it has shared with General Motors for 25 years, industry sources said on Thursday.

Reuters - Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations could possibly resume without a complete freeze in Israeli building of Jewish settlements, a senior U.S. official suggested on Thursday.

AFP - Crowds poured Thursday into the streets of Boston to bid farewell to Edward Kennedy and pay homage to the Democratic Party giant who helped shape US history over the last half-century.

BOSTON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats scrambled on Thursday to quickly fill the seat of Senator Edward Kennedy, to shore up President Barack Obama's faltering effort to rally Congress behind an overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system.

DETROIT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp has decided to end production at a California plant it has shared with General Motors for 25 years, labor officials and legislators said on Thursday.

AP - A woman who was snatched from a bus stop as an 11-year-old child in 1991 turned up Thursday after being held for the past 18 years in isolation in a backyard compound by a convicted sex offender who fathered two children with her, police said.

AP - Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has raised the stakes for Friday's meeting of South American presidents by threatening to break relations with Colombia over plans to give U.S. troops a 10-year lease on its bases.

AP - A federal appeals court on Thursday upheld a $102 million judgment against the government for withholding evidence that could have cleared four men who spent decades in prison — including two who died there — for a murder they didn't commit.

AP - A shirtless man hijacked an Atlanta public school bus with about a dozen students aboard Thursday and then jumped out of the driver's seat as the bus careened down a steep hill, a school spokesman said. Two students and the bus driver were injured, authorities said.

AP - A search warrant served at Michael Jackson's house the day after he died says family members told investigators they'd found heroin in the singer's room. But tests later showed the substance wasn't heroin, a person with knowledge of the results told The Associated Press.

AP - Michael Vick zipped a few passes, ran around a bit and even lined up at wide receiver.

Reuters - Toyota Motor Corp has decided to end production at a California plant it has shared with General Motors for 25 years, labor officials and legislators said on Thursday.

AFP - A US woman who turned up 18 years after she was kidnapped as a young girl had been kept in a hidden backyard behind her captor's home and had two children with her abductor, police said Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp will end production at a California plant it has shared with General Motors for 25 years, prompting regret and criticism from labor and politicians facing more job losses in an industry and a state pummeled by recession.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke was among hundreds of victims of an identity fraud ring that stole more than $2.1 million from consumers and financial institutions across the United States, Newsweek magazine reported on its website.

AP - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy began his final journey Thursday, first past landmark after landmark bearing his family's famous name and then to his slain brother's presidential library where mourners lined up by the thousands to bid farewell to him and an American political dynasty.

AP - North and South Korea were close to agreement Friday on a schedule for reuniting families long separated by the Korean War, in rare talks being held amid Pyongyang's push to reach out to Seoul and Washington, reports said.

AP - Joyous, miraculous news that a little girl kidnapped nearly two decades ago was found alive gave way Thursday to the horrifying details of how police say she has lived all those years: kept by a convicted rapist in his backyard as a sex slave and forced to bear two of his children.

AP - A suicide bomber lightly wounded a senior prince largely credited for Saudi Arabia's anti-terrorism campaign when he blew himself up just before going into a gathering of well-wishers for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the state news agency said Friday.

AP - Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has raised the stakes for Friday's meeting of South American presidents by threatening to break relations with Colombia over plans to give U.S. troops a 10-year lease on its bases.

Reuters - Toyota Motor Corp will end production at a California plant it has shared with General Motors for 25 years, prompting regret and criticism from labor and politicians facing more job losses in an industry and a state pummeled by recession.

Reuters - Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke was among hundreds of victims of an identity fraud ring that stole more than $2.1 million from consumers and financial institutions across the United States, Newsweek magazine reported on its website.

AFP - Crowds flocked Thursday to pay tearful last respects to late Democratic lion Edward Kennedy as his body lay in the oceanside library he built to honor his slain brother.

AP - Evidence is mounting that the longest recession since World War II is losing its grip on the U.S. economy.

AP - All eyes were on Michael Vick — for all of six plays.