Senate urged to repeal 'don't ask, don't tell' (AP)

AP - Elated by a major court victory, gay-rights activists are stepping up pressure on Congress to repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy this month. They want to avoid potentially lengthy appeals and fear their chances for a legislative fix will fade after Election Day.

Obama: Voter anger could hurt Dems in elections (AP)

AP - Facing big Democratic losses in November, President Barack Obama blamed Republicans and election-year politics Friday for thwarting his efforts to do more to spur a listless national economy. He challenged Congress to quit squabbling and quickly approve "what we all agree on" — a reprieve for expiring tax cuts for the middle class.

First Medal of Honor for a living Afghan war vet (AP)

AP - A 25-year-old soldier from Iowa who exposed himself to enemy gunfire to try to save two fellow soldiers will become the first living service member from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to receive the Medal of Honor, the White House announced Friday.

Fla. pastor's son: no Quran burning on 9/11 (AP)

AP - The son of a pastor who suspended plans to burn copies of the Quran to mark the 9/11 anniversary says Islam's holiest text will not be torched at their Florida church Saturday.

Obama promotes Goolsbee to top economic post (AP)

AP - President Barack Obama elevated his longtime adviser Austan Goolsbee to chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers on Friday, signaling his determination to stand by an economic team that has faced criticism for the slow pace of the recovery.

New federal probe targets scandal-ridden LA suburb (AP)

AP - The blue-collar suburb of Bell, already under investigation for possible misuse of funds and voter fraud, is also facing a federal probe into whether it violated the civil rights of Hispanics by deliberately targeting their cars for towing, officials said Friday.

CA crews try to reach smoldering homes after blast (AP)

AP - Fire crews sifted through dozens of burned-out houses and tried to account for the residents Friday after a gas line ruptured and a massive fireball exploded through a neighborhood near San Francisco, killing at least four people.

Ohio man guilty in income tax return fraud (AP)

AP - An Ohio man has pleaded guilty in a $400,000 fraud that used stolen identities to file more than 100 false federal income tax returns.

Atheist billboard provokes Oklahoman Christians (AP)

AP - Atheists in Oklahoma City have erected a billboard seeking fellow non-believers, and Satanists have scheduled a conference in a city-owned building, drawing criticism from ministers in a state where more than eight out of 10 people say they are Christians.

Report: Iran cancels American's release (AP)

AP - An Iranian news agency says Tehran has canceled the planned release of a jailed American woman because the necessary legal procedures have not been completed.

Report: Iran cancels American's release (AP)

AP - An Iranian news agency says Tehran has canceled the planned release of a jailed American woman because the necessary legal procedures have not been completed.

Bell Canada parent to buy CTV for C$1.3 billion (Reuters)

Reuters - BCE Inc, Canada's largest telecommunications company, will pay C$1.3 billion ($1.26 billion) for the country's biggest private broadcaster, in a bold gamble on the future of video over the Internet.

City Of Duluth To Give Superior Street A Makeover

The City of Duluth is planning to mill and pave Superior Street between 10th Ave East and 21st Ave East next week starting on September 16, 2010.

Texas mom says she waived finger, not gun, at team (AP)

AP - A Texas mother who witnesses said pulled a gun on a seventh-grade volleyball team says she merely waived her finger and never threatened the players.

Afghan president calls on Taliban leader to join peace talks (AFP)

AFP - Afghan President Hamid Karzai Friday used his traditional message marking the Eid Muslim holiday to call on the leader of the Taliban to stop fighting and join peace talks to end Afghanistan's long war.

Man held in Denmark after trying to blow himself up (Reuters)

Reuters - Danish police have detained a man after he tried to blow himself up in a hotel in central Copenhagen, Danish media reported Friday.

War story: US vet who caught Japan's Tojo speaks (AP)

AP - John J. Wilpers Jr. went decades without publicly revealing details about his international headline-making exploits at the end of World War II, a string of silence befitting a former Army intelligence officer-turned-career CIA employee.

City hopes to break Panthers’ brick wall

BATHURST City went into their major semi-final two weeks ago against Lithgow Panthers knowing that they would have a challenge to find the back of the net against one of the better women’s Premier League defences.

Colombian rebels kill 6 police in mortar attack (AP)

AP - Colombian authorities say leftist rebels firing home-made mortars killed at least six police and wounded four in a pre-dawn attack at the country's border with Ecuador.

The E.U. Tries to Stop France's Crackdown on Gypsies (Time.com)

Time.com - After weeks of watching from the sidelines, the European Union has finally condemned France's mass expulsion of Roma migrants. But does France care?

Foreign Businesses Say China's Regulations Shut Them Out (Time.com)

Time.com - Foreign businesses in China are voicing growing frustration about the country's heavily regulated market -- a bureaucratic maze many say is designed deliberately to hamstring non-Chinese players to the advantage of their local competitors

Castro says comment on Cuban economy misunderstood (Reuters)

Reuters - Fidel Castro said on Friday his recent comment that communist-led Cuba's economic model does not work was badly understood and that what he really meant was that capitalism does not work.

City settles lawsuit with California Trenchless

The City of Willits and California Trenchless, Inc., have reached an agreed settlement on litigation stemming from the 2007 to 2008 replacement of the water main under Main Street from the Willits Post Office to Commercial Street.

US troops brave grenade attacks in key Afghan town (AP)

AP - Pfc. Sean Provenzano saw it whiz by out of the corner of his eye: a dark object hurled from a rooftop as he patrolled the medieval maze of alleyways in this fort-like walled village at the center of America's Afghan surge.

9/11 politicized by mosque, Quran controversies (AP)

AP - For almost a decade, the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was marked by somber reflection and a call to unity, devoid of politics. Not this time.

City turns new leaf with trees

Howell city officials have decided to take a wait-and-see approach with a number of trees that had been slated to be cut down this week on Bower Street between Riddle and Caledonia streets.

Lions upset Tendulkar's Mumbai in opener (AFP)

AFP - The Champions League Twenty20 tournament got off to a thrilling and surprise start Friday with local outfit Highveld Lions of South Africa defeating star-studded Mumbai Indians by nine runs.

Obama says Republicans holding recovery hostage (Reuters)

Reuters - President Barack Obama accused Republicans on Friday of holding the middle class hostage and defended his efforts to stimulate the sluggish economy as he tries to reverse grim election prospects for his fellow Democrats in November.

US, Iraq sign deal to settle Saddam-era claims (AP)

AP - Iraq has agreed to pay $400 million to Americans who say they were abused by Saddam Hussein's regime, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Friday.

Recession has left huge hole: Obama (AFP)

AFP - US President Barack Obama said Friday the "hole" left by the worst recession in decades was "huge" and admitted the recovery had been "painfully slow," but vowed his policies were working.

NTSB: Duck boat calls unanswered before collision (AP)

AP - An idled tour boat and nearby vessels made repeated, unanswered calls to the tugboat guiding the massive barge that hit and sank the smaller craft in the Delaware River, killing two Hungarian students, according to a preliminary federal report released Friday.

Colo. fire evacuees cautiously allowed back home (AP)

AP - Crews held a wildfire near Boulder at bay Friday, allowing some 2,000 evacuees to return home with a warning to be prepared to flee again.

City gears up for 2011 budget

City officials face some very tough choices in the coming weeks as they grapple with a significantly larger proposed budget for 2011.

Obama taps Goolsbee as top White House economist (Reuters)

Reuters - President Barack Obama on Friday named a member of his inner circle as top White House economist and gave a strong personal endorsement to a leading candidate to run his new consumer protection bureau.

UBS downgrades Intuit on stock price rise (AP)

AP - Financial software maker Intuit Inc. remains an "attractive story," with strong results despite a difficult economy, a UBS analyst said Friday.

Would-be Wall Street sheriffs strike cautious tone (Reuters)

Reuters - All candidates vying to be the next so-called Sheriff of Wall Street say they will find the bad apples without overturning the applecart in the financial capital's fragile economic recovery.

Cyrus the Great artifact to be displayed in Iran (AP)

AP - A Babylonian artifact sometimes described as the world's first human rights charter is to go on display in Iran after the government threatened to cut ties with the British Museum if it did not loan the object.

Castro says he was misinterpreted on Cuban economy (AP)

AP - Fidel Castro says his comments about Cuba's communist economic model were misinterpreted by a visiting American journalist.

Conductor's arm amputated after Calif. derailment (AP)

AP - A surgical team amputated the arm of a conductor Friday to free him from the wreckage of a locomotive that struck a slow-moving freight train on tracks 50 miles east of Los Angeles.

Some see Turkey's secularism at stake in Sept. 12 referendum (The Christian Science Monitor)

The Christian Science Monitor - Turks are preparing to vote on a package of far-reaching constitutional changes Sunday, in what has turned into a referendum on the countryâs Islamic-leaning ruling party.

July wholesale inventories jump 1.3 percent (Reuters)

Reuters - Wholesale inventories surged the most in two years in July, adding to signs that economic growth in the third quarter of the year may prove a bit stronger than many forecasters had expected.

Spanish miners in Day 9 of underground protest (AP)

AP - Far, far away from a Chilean mine where 33 trapped men struggle to cope as they await rescue, 50 Spanish miners are also deep in the earth's bowels — but by their own choice.

Report: US must deal with homegrown terror problem (AP)

AP - The U.S. was slow to take seriously the threat posed by homegrown radicals and the government has failed to put systems in place to deal with the growing phenomenon, according to a new report compiled by the former heads of the Sept. 11 Commission.

City to stop accepting advance taxes

The Cebu City government has turned down offers of various establishments and companies operating in the city to pay their taxes in advance, as the conditions that come with them prevent the government from deciding on which project to prioritize.

(AP)

AP - Obama says 'we are not at war against Islam,' but against terrorist factions.

Obama says growing economy will ease poverty (AP)

AP - When it comes to fighting poverty, President Barack Obama says the most important thing he can do is to make the economy grow more quickly so that there are more jobs for everyone.

Obama to voters: Our economic policies better (AP)

AP - President Barack Obama says that if voters weigh his economic policies against those of Republicans, then "the Democrats will do very well" in November.

Obama picks new top economist (AFP)

AFP - US President Barack Obama on Friday named Austan Goolsbee, an economics professor currently working in his administration, to chair the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA).

Obama says OK to call his new plan a stimulus bill (AP)

AP - President Barack Obama says his entire economic agenda is designed to stimulate growth and create jobs, despite his administration's reluctance to call his new proposals a "stimulus plan."

City looking at North Lougheed decision

The City of Pitt Meadows will get a legal opinion on the conditions attached to a road through farmland, recently approved by Agricultural Land Commission.