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.

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.

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

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.

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

AP - A former U.S. Army intelligence officer credited with thwarting a suicide attempt by World War II Japanese leader Hideki Tojo is talking publicly about his exploits for the first time in 65 years.

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

AP - Fire crews tried to douse the remnants of an enormous blaze and account for the residents of dozens of homes Friday after a gas line ruptured and an explosion ripped through in a neighborhood near San Francisco, killing at least four people.

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.

Rare vivid blue diamond up for sale at NYC auction (AP)

AP - A two-stone ring with a rare triangular blue diamond the size of a quarter on a gold band with baguette-cut diamonds could bring at least $15 million when it is offered at auction in New York next month.

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.

Burris asks high court to reopen Senate ballot (AP)

AP - Sen. Roland Burris has turned to the U.S. Supreme Court in his battle to avoid being pushed out of office in November, his attorney said Friday.

Obama names Goolsbee to head economic council (AP)

AP - President Barack Obama on Friday named a longtime adviser, Austan Goolsbee, to be the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, calling him "one of the finest economists in the country."

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.

Hermine death toll climbs to 6 as 2 bodies found (AP)

AP - The bodies of two men found Friday in swollen Texas waterways pushed the death toll caused by remnants of Tropical Storm Hermine to six, while a scaled-back search resumed for another woman swept away in flooding caused by a record drenching.

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.

Obama says voters may blame him for economy (AP)

AP - President Barack Obama insisted Friday that the U.S. economy is digging itself out of the deepest recession in decades but conceded that "progress has been painfully slow" and many voters in November's elections may blame him.

US judge: 'Don't ask, don't tell' unconstitutional (AP)

AP - A federal judge said she will issue an order to halt the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, after she declared the ban on openly gay service members unconstitutional.

Iran's president intervened in American's release (AP)

AP - Iran's president intervened to secure the release of Sarah Shourd, one of three Americans jailed for more than 13 months, in part because of her gender, a news agency reported Friday.

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.

City rushes bidding for housing

CEBU City Hall is rushing the bidding of construction materials for the socialized housing project within the Lorega-San Miguel cemetery, to beat the Oct. read more

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.

Wholesale inventories rise 1.3 percent in July (AP)

AP - Inventories held by wholesalers surged in July by the largest amount in two years while sales rebounded after two straight declines.

Woman held after 2 shot dead at Pa. cookie plant (AP)

AP - Minutes after a woman was suspended from her job at a Kraft Foods Inc. plant and was escorted out, she returned with a handgun and opened fire, killing two people and critically injuring a third before being taken into custody, police said.

Afghans protest, Fla. pastor plans to meet NY imam (AP)

AP - As thousands of Afghans protested a tiny Florida church's plan to burn the Muslim holy book, the church's pastor said he won't follow through with the burning if he's able to meet Saturday with the organizers behind a mosque planned near ground zero in New York.