BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese company at the centre of a contamination scare that has led to a recall of pet foods in North America and Europe said on Friday it had never exported wheat gluten to the Unites States.

AP - Since 1885, the University of Massachusetts has awarded nearly 2,000 honorary degrees to world leaders, renowned scholars and writers. For the first time, it is considering taking one back — from Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe.

AP - The husband of a day-care operator has been charged with sexually abusing two children who attended the center and may have molested as many as 40 children over the past 30 years, police said Tuesday.

AP - An author who has researched the Cold War's most famous espionage case said new evidence suggests another U.S. diplomat, not Alger Hiss, was the Soviet agent who fed U.S. secrets to Moscow.

KANSAS CITY (Reuters) - Daisuke Matsuzaka gave up one run over seven innings in an impressive major league debut, leading the Boston Red Sox to a 4-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday.

AP - Six birthday cakes for six little miracles.

AP - Moisture from a leaky roof and faulty sprinkler helped salmonella bacteria grow and contaminate peanut butter at its Georgia plant last year, sickening more than 400 people nationwide, ConAgra Foods said.

AP - Three lawyers in the U.S. Attorney's office in Minneapolis have resigned from their management posts and will return to prosecuting cases, according to media reports Friday.

AP - A breath test instrument used in thousands of drunken driving cases is under scrutiny as the state Supreme Court considers an appeal challenging whether the machine provides reliable blood-alcohol level readings.

AP - Al McDaniel waited nervously inside the Ste. Genevieve County Sheriff's Department as detectives interviewed his 6-year-old grandson.

AP - Back in 1997, the six Boniello babies set a U.S. record for the longest sextuplet pregnancy — 29 weeks and one day. Each weighed barely 2 pounds.

AP - Since 1885, the University of Massachusetts has awarded nearly 2,000 honorary degrees to world leaders, renowned scholars and writers. For the first time, it is considering taking one back — from Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe.

AP - Former first lady Betty Ford was 'recovering well' at a hospital following an unspecified surgery, the office of the late President Gerald Ford said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy added a stronger-than-expected 180,000 new jobs in March, largely because of a bounceback in construction hiring, and job growth was stronger in the two prior months than previously thought.

AUGUSTA, Georgia (Reuters) - Unseasonably cool, dry weather greeted the early starters on Friday for the second round of the Masters with Briton Justin Rose and long-hitting American Brett Wetterich sharing a one-stroke lead.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - As the actors end their roles in 'The Sopranos,' a program that made many of them household names and faces, some worry about being typecast while others fear they might have trouble working again.

AP - Three lawyers in the U.S. Attorney's office in Minneapolis resigned their management posts and will return to prosecuting cases, the office said Friday.

AP - A judge agreed to the release of some court documents in fired astronaut Lisa Nowak's case, including the search warrant for her car, hours after ordering the papers sealed.

AP - A dispute between friends erupted in gunfire inside a car at Kennedy International Airport early Friday, leaving one man dead and a gunman on the loose, authorities said.

AP - A ferry dock was closed for several hours while authorities investigated a device that looked like a bomb but turned out to be a child's homemade toy with plastic pipes, a sheriff's spokesman said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three New Jersey men face attempted bank robbery charges after a failed heist that left an FBI agent shot and killed, possibly by another agent, authorities said on Friday.

AUGUSTA, Georgia (Reuters) - Brett Wetterich carded eight successive pars before rolling in a 30-foot birdie putt at the ninth to take a one-shot lead early in the Masters second round at a chilly Augusta National on Friday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Companies must stop selling suppositories that contain the ingredient trimethobenzamide to relieve nausea and vomiting because they have not been proven effective, U.S. health officials said on Friday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The largest U.S. union federation, the AFL-CIO, is targeting Verizon Communications Inc. in its campaign against high executive pay, and will vote against the company's compensation committee and against three shareholder proposals.

AP - The minister of a tiny rural congregation was found dead in her church's parsonage, and an investigator on Friday said the death was suspicious.

AP - A child psychiatrist who once headed the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry was arrested amid allegations he had molested male patients dating back to the 1960s.

AP - An explosion and fire at an oil well injured two workers Friday morning and sent smoke over eastern Tennessee, a rural area dotted with small oil and gas wells.

AP - A California congresswoman wants convicted arsonists to be forced to register on a national database similar to one used for sex offenders.

AP - In an about-face by the U.S. government four years into the war in Iraq, America's fallen troops are being brought back to their families aboard charter jets instead of ordinary commercial flights, and the caskets are being met by honor guards in white gloves instead of baggage handlers with forklifts.

AP - For all the tough talk out of Washington on immigration, illegal immigrants caught along the Mexican border have almost no reason to fear they will be prosecuted.

AP - At the scene of a recent homicide, someone dropped a note in a police car identifying the killer.

AP - Former first lady Betty Ford received birthday messages along with her get-well cards Friday as she remained hospitalized following surgery.

AP - An economics professor known for his flamboyant suits and million-dollar pen collection claimed amnesia after federal investigators discovered about $134 million missing from several investment funds he managed, according to court documents.

AP - Inside the chambers of Justice Gerald Garson, the cigars were handmade and the language unrefined.

AP - Prosecutors want the entire 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to recuse itself from the latest appeal for death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal because Gov. Ed Rendell — whose wife serves on the court — was district attorney during his trial.

AP - For a few weeks, it seemed as if the only silence in the Duke lacrosse case came when lawyers on all sides paused to take a breath.

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Natural changes in ocean currents are to blame for increased Atlantic hurricane activity in recent years, not man-made global warming as many scientists believe, hurricane forecaster William Gray said on Friday.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Police arrested 62 adults and two children on Friday for blocking the entrance to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in what has become an annual protest against U.S. nuclear weapons research, an official said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Companies must stop selling suppositories that contain trimethobenzamide to relieve nausea and vomiting because they have not been proven effective, U.S. health officials said on Friday.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A costume worn by actor Christopher Reeve in his first 'Superman' film has sold for $115,000 at auction, the same price a 'Winkie' costume from the 1939 movie 'The Wizard of Oz' fetched.

AP - No screaming on the Screamer!

AP - Bob Lawless had a sunny outlook for his peach crop earlier this week as delightful weather pushed some of his trees nearly to blossom. Then the cold snap hit.

AP - When a third suspect was caught Friday in the bank robbery that led to the fatal shooting of an FBI agent, he had a request for officers: 'Just shoot me.'

AP - A federal judge on Friday ordered Cuban militant Luis Posada Carriles set free on bail pending trial on charges he lied in a bid to become a U.S. citizen, and the government immediately asked that he remain jailed.

AP - An emergency room physician has devised a scientific index to predict the likelihood that illegal immigrants will die while walking through the Arizona desert during extreme heat conditions.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Education said on Friday an official in its student financial aid office has been placed on paid leave while his stock ownership in a student loan company is being reviewed.

AP - In an about-face by the U.S. government four years into the war in Iraq, America's fallen troops are being brought back to their families aboard charter jets instead of ordinary commercial flights, and the caskets are being met by honor guards in white gloves instead of baggage handlers with forklifts.

AP - Staffing was so inadequate at a California senior center that a rat crawled into an Alzheimer's patient's mouth and died there before staff noticed, a lawsuit claims.

AP - Nearly a year after a stuntman tried to parachute from the 86th floor of the Empire State Building, there's a new round of legal fallout.

AP - Passengers aboard five flights from New York were evacuated and screened at their destination cities as authorities tried to find a man who breached security at John F. Kennedy International Airport, officials said Friday.

AP - A man already serving a 30-year prison sentence for molesting a child has been charged in the shooting death of a teenage clerk during a convenience-store robbery nearly 25 years ago, authorities said Friday.

AP - Police trying to locate a woman whose four children were found slain in their home 11 days ago have subpoenaed bank and telephone records, but have turned up no leads, authorities said Friday.

AUGUSTA, Georgia (Reuters) - Big-hitting American Brett Wetterich shrugged off a broken night's sleep to stay in the title hunt at the 71st Masters on Friday.

AP - Shaky testimony and prejudice by the jury foreman should be enough to grant a new trial to a Lodi man convicted last year of terrorism-related charges, a defense lawyer argued Friday.