AFP - The All Blacks -- many of whom lived through the powerful Christchurch earthquake -- will look to put emotional trauma aside as they eye a record 10th consecutive win over Australia in Sydney on Saturday.

AP - Religious and political leaders across the Muslim world welcomed a decision by a small American church to suspend its plans to torch copies of their holy book — but some said Friday the damage has already been done.

AP - A female employee who had just been suspended from her job and escorted from a Kraft Foods Inc. facility returned with a handgun and opened fire Thursday, killing two people and critically injuring a third before being taken into custody about an hour later, police said.

AP - Prison officials are making final preparations for Washington state's first execution since 2001.

Reuters - President Barack Obama has chosen Austan Goolsbee to succeed Christina Romer as chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, U.S. administration officials said on Thursday.

AP - Religious and political leaders across the Muslim world have welcomed a decision by a small American church to suspend plans to torch copies of their holy book. But some say the damage already has been done.

AP - A massive fire burned homes as it roared through a mostly residential neighborhood in the hills south of San Francisco following a loud explosion that shot a fireball more than 1,000 feet into the air and sent frightened residents fleeing for safety Thursday.

AP - New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was unhurt in a two-vehicle accident near his home Thursday morning before practicing as usual with his team ahead of the season opener and agreeing to a four-year contract extension that, according to two people familiar with it, would make him the NFL's highest-paid player.

AP - The Mexican police officers who arrested infamous drug suspect Edgar Valdez Villarreal, alias "La Barbie," did not initially know who they had caught, according to a booking report obtained Thursday.

AP - A federal judge on Thursday declared the U.S. military's ban on openly gay service members unconstitutional and said she will issue an order to stop the government from enforcing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy nationwide.

AFP - US President Barack Obama has chosen Austan Goolsbee, an economics professor currently working in his administration, to chair the Council of Economic Advisors, an official said.

AFP - Deutsche Bank is set to raise up to nine billion euros through a rights issue to bolster its capital as global banking regulators finalise tough new rules for the industry, a report said Friday.

AFP - Australia's corporate watchdog Friday said it would likely reject a proposed alliance between Air New Zealand and Virgin Blue because it could disadvantage more than a million passengers a year.

AP - A Colorado wildfire that has destroyed 170 homes showed no signs of relenting Thursday as wind gusts of more than 40 mph fueled fears that the flames would move east from the Rocky Mountain foothills and into the heart of Boulder, where some residents were warned to be ready to flee.

AP - Iran said Thursday it will free Sarah Shourd, one of three Americans jailed for more than 13 months, as an act of clemency to mark the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

AP - An anti-Islamic preacher backed off and then threatened to reconsider burning the Quran on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, angrily accusing a Muslim leader of lying to him Thursday with a promise to move an Islamic center and mosque away from New York's ground zero. The imam planning the center denied there was ever such a deal.

AP - If Rahm Emanuel decides to run for Chicago mayor, the White House chief of staff would easily be the best-known figure in the race, with national name recognition that few others could match and invaluable experience from helping engineer the Democrats' takeover of the House in 2006.

AP - Donald Trump offered Thursday to buy out a major investor in the real estate partnership that controls the site near ground zero where a Muslim group wants to build a 13-story Islamic center and mosque.

AP - The death toll from flooding caused by the remnants of Tropical Storm Hermine climbed Thursday after Texas authorities recovered the body of a missing swimmer and an Oklahoma driver drowned trying to cross a swollen creek.

AP - An animal-rights activist says an endangered right whale stranded on a beach in southern Brazil for two days is too weak to be rescued and returned safely to the sea.

AP - A city all too familiar with civil unrest was caught by surprise with the level of outrage over the fatal police shooting of an illegal immigrant from Guatemala who was menacing officers with a knife.

AP - The father of a U.S. soldier serving in Afghanistan says he tried nearly a half dozen times to pass an urgent message from his son to the Army: Troops in his unit had murdered an Afghan civilian, planned more killings and threatened him to keep quiet about it.

AP - "Advocate tolerance, and disregard the ignorant," one book counsels. Advises the other, "Be gentle towards all, ... forbearing."

Reuters - A set of U.N. goals aimed at drastically reducing poverty and hunger worldwide by 2015 are achievable, despite setbacks caused by the global financial and economic crises, a draft document said.

AP - In early August, three women, each of them more than four months pregnant, sought abortions from Dr. Steven Brigham at his clinic in New Jersey. Instead of turning them down, authorities said Brigham used a novel scheme to take advantage of the disparities in state abortion laws.

AFP - US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will face a key US House committee's questions on possible new steps to press China over its currency policy, the panel's chairman said Thursday.

AP - Lawyers for a Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a plane near Detroit on Christmas said Thursday that they've talked to prosecutors about resolving the case with a deal.