AP - Engineers have removed a temporary cap that stopped oil from gushing into the Gulf of Mexico from BP's blown-out well in mid-July.

AP - Engineers have removed a temporary cap that stopped oil from gushing into the Gulf of Mexico from BP's blown-out well in mid-July.

AP - The co-worker of a woman found dead in her boyfriend's car after a fatal California police chase said Thursday that she spoke with the victim during the pursuit.

Reuters - U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said he was partly to blame for leaving the wrong impression that the central bank could have saved Lehman Brothers from failure in 2008.

AFP - Relief efforts in flood-ravaged Pakistan are being stretched by the "unprecedented scale" of the disaster, with the flow of international aid almost at a standstill, the UN said Thursday.

AP - The last ferry left for the mainland and coastal residents hunkered down at home as Hurricane Earl closed in with 115 mph winds Thursday on North Carolina's dangerously exposed Outer Banks, the first and potentially most destructive stop on the storm's projected journey up the Eastern Seaboard.

AP - The Coast Guard is saying there are no immediate signs of a spill from an oil platform fire in the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana coast.

Time.com - Nine weeks before the midterm elections, Barack Obama finds himself on the wrong side of the polls. Where did all that adoration go -- and is a Republican sweep next?

AP - The Justice Department sued the nation's self-proclaimed "toughest sheriff" on Thursday, calling Joe Arpaio's defiance of an investigation into his office's alleged discrimination against Hispanics "unprecedented."

AP - Congress seems increasingly reluctant to let taxes go up, even on wealthier Americans.

AP - Congress seems increasingly reluctant to let taxes go up, even on wealthier Americans.

Reuters - President Barack Obama will hold a press conference on Friday, September 10, the White House said on Thursday.

Reuters - Stocks rose on low volume on Thursday as data showed improvement in housing and the job market a day ahead of the critical monthly payrolls figures.

AP - Suriname's new president, former dictator Desi Bouterse, reassumed power Thursday after being sidelined for a week by an illness that he now confirms was a bout of dengue fever.

Reuters - Burger King Holdings Inc agreed to sell itself to investment firm 3G Capital for $3.26 billion, giving the No. 2 U.S. fast-food chain breathing room to fix its business and close the gap with leader McDonald's Corp.

Reuters - Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc , the bankrupt U.S. investment bank, needs at least $550 million to keep its two bank units going as it prepares to sell them or shut them down in 18 months, court documents show.

Reuters - Pending sales of previously owned U.S. homes rebounded unexpectedly in July and new claims for jobless benefits fell last week, helping quell fears the economy could face a double-dip recession.

AP - The former television producer who tried to blackmail David Letterman was freed Thursday after four months in jail for a plot that put a spotlight on the comic icon's office affairs, city Correction Department records show.

AP - Former Dodger CEO Jamie McCourt didn't want to take the risk associated with buying the Los Angeles Dodgers six years ago and if she had, it would have adversely affected the team, her estranged husband testified Thursday at their divorce trial.

AP - To relaunch Middle East peace talks on Thursday, the Israeli and Palestinian leaders and their American mediators quietly agreed to push aside the question of Hamas — the Islamic militant group that controls one of the two Palestinian territories and rejects negotiations.

AP - To relaunch Middle East peace talks on Thursday, the Israeli and Palestinian leaders and their American mediators quietly agreed to push aside the question of Hamas — the Islamic militant group that controls one of the two Palestinian territories and rejects negotiations.

Reuters - Israeli and Palestinian leaders opened direct peace talks under U.S. auspices on Thursday and agreed to meet every two weeks to try to forge a deal within a year to end a conflict that has boiled for six decades.

AP - Several current and ex-gang members lashed out at Chicago's police chief on Thursday, calling his so-called "gang summit" initiative to crack down on crime a wasted effort that will have little effect on the streets of the county's third largest city.

AFP - Europe took a big step closer on Thursday to its goal of creating cross-border financial supervisors, reaching a "crucial milestone" in efforts to reform a sector blamed for the global recession.

AP - NATO said an airstrike in northern Afghanistan on Thursday killed about a dozen insurgents, but President Hamid Karzai said the victims were campaign workers seeking votes in this month's parliamentary elections.

AP - A new book claims renowned Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal worked for Israel's Mossad spy agency, providing information on war criminals and Germans working in Arab countries.