AP - Traffic deaths have plummeted across the United States to levels not seen in more than a half-century, spurred by technology, safety-conscious drivers and tougher enforcement of drunken driving laws.

AP - Authorities in Texas say it is unlikely they will find alive two missing swimmers swept away by floodwaters from the remnants of Tropical Storm Hermine (hur-MEEN').

AP - Former first lady Laura Bush will speak at a National Park Foundation fundraiser in Pittsburgh on Friday, a day before joining Michelle Obama in rural Pennsylvania to remember the victims of Flight 93, which crashed there in the Sept. 11 attacks.

AP - Former first lady Laura Bush will speak at a National Park Foundation fundraiser in Pittsburgh on Friday, a day before joining Michelle Obama in rural Pennsylvania to remember the victims of Flight 93, which crashed there in the Sept. 11 attacks.

AP - New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is practicing with the team after being involved in a two-car accident near his home.

AP - FBI agents visited Thursday with a minister of a small Florida church that plans to burn the Quran on Sept. 11, as public safety became a paramount concern and President Barack Obama added his voice to the chorus of opposition.

AP - President Barack Obama implored a Florida minister to call off his Quran-burning "stunt," saying it would jeopardize U.S. troops abroad.

AP - Alabama seafood market owner David Scott faces a difficult decision as he tries to rejuvenate his business after the Gulf oil spill: He can accept a piece of BP's $20 billion claims fund — relatively fast, easy money — or sue the oil giant for a bigger payday, wait years and risk ending up with nothing.

AP - Alabama seafood market owner David Scott faces a difficult decision as he tries to rejuvenate his business after the Gulf oil spill: He can accept a piece of BP's $20 billion claims fund — relatively fast, easy money — or sue the oil giant for a bigger payday, wait years and risk ending up with nothing.

AP - A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that Hazleton, Pa., may not enforce its crackdown on illegal immigrants, dealing another blow to 4-year-old regulations that inspired similar measures around the country.

AP - The police officer who shot and killed a knife-wielding man whose death has sparked three days of violent protests in Los Angeles had been involved in two previous shootings while on duty, according to a media report.

AP - Hundreds of residents evacuated by a wildfire that has destroyed at least 169 houses in the Colorado foothills were being temporarily allowed back to their homes Thursday.

Reuters - New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week to a two-month low, while the trade deficit narrowed sharply in July, hopeful signs for the stuttering economic recovery.

Reuters - New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week to a two-month low, while the trade deficit narrowed sharply in July, hopeful signs for the stuttering economic recovery.

AP - The backers of a proposed Islamic center near ground zero are expressing regrets about creating a firestorm with a plan they thought would be simple and noncontroversial.

AP - The trade deficit narrowed significantly in July as exports climbed to the highest level in nearly two years, reflecting big gains in sales of U.S.-made airplanes and other manufactured goods while imports declined.

Reuters - Stocks rose on Thursday as better-than-expected jobs and trade gap data improved fragile investor optimism over the economic recovery.

AP - Oil prices rose again Thursday, to around $75 a barrel, after the government said jobless claims fell and crude inventories shrank more than expected.

Reuters - Suicide bombers killed two African Union peacekeepers and a number of civilians at Mogadishu's airport on Thursday in the latest attack on the Somali capital by al Qaeda-linked rebels.

AP - Spain gave final approval Thursday to labor market reforms designed to shake up a listless economy and help slash a bloated deficit that has prompted European-wide worries of another Greek-style debt crisis.

AFP - US President Barack Obama gets better marks for his wartime leadership than his stewardship of the sluggish economic recovery, a new opinion poll found Thursday.

Reuters - Britain's financial watchdog fined Goldman Sachs Group Inc 17.5 million pounds ($27 million) for failing to tell the regulator that it was the subject of a U.S. probe, reviving disclosure headaches for the Wall Street powerhouse.

Reuters - McDonald's Corp reported softer-than-expected August sales in Europe, its biggest revenue market, due to weakness in France, sending its shares down nearly 3 percent.

AFP - The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits fell faster than expected last week, extending a three-week decline, government data showed Thursday.

AP - The number of people signing up for unemployment benefits dropped to the lowest level in two months, an encouraging sign that companies aren't resorting to deeper layoffs even as the economy has lost momentum.

AP - Something was wrong.

AFP - The US trade deficit dropped more than expected in July as exports reached their highest level in two years, official data showed Thursday, boosting hopes for the US economic recovery.

AFP - The US trade deficit dropped more than expected in July as exports reached their highest level in two years, official data showed Thursday, boosting hopes for the US economic recovery.

Reuters - The trade deficit narrowed more than expected in July, as imports retreated and exports shot to their highest since August 2008, according to a government report on Thursday that could lift hopes for third-quarter economic growth.

AP - First came the outrage over plans for a mosque near ground zero. Now there's anger over a Florida church's plan to burn copies of the Quran.

Reuters - President Barack Obama stood firm on Thursday in opposition to a Republican push to extend Bush-era tax cuts for the rich but stopped short of threatening to veto such a measure if passed by Congress.