AP - What began last month with the arrest of an opposition leader in Bahrain has mushroomed into a full-blown political offensive in the tiny Gulf nation with big fault lines: U.S.-allied Sunni rulers against members of a Shiite majority being cast as coup plotters who could open the door to Iranian influence.
Reuters - The U.S. economy appears to be trudging along, neither booming nor busting, growing steadily enough to diminish double-dip recession fears but not quickly enough to bring down unemployment.
Reuters - Debt levels that ran up ahead of the financial crisis have shown only a modest decline since and are likely to fall sharply in the coming years, a study said.
AP - A pilot of a small propeller-driven plane lost control of his aircraft while taking off at a flight show in southern Germany and crashed into a group of spectators Sunday, leaving one person dead and 38 injured, police said.
AP - A riverboat loaded with passengers and fuel drums caught fire and capsized in southern Congo, and 200 people were feared dead, a survivor said Sunday. Another survivor confirmed the account and said local fishermen refused to help drowning passengers who jumped off the crowded boat.
AFP - Teenage South Korean star Noh Seung-yul produced an impressive fourth place finish at the European Masters on Sunday to widen his lead on the Asian Tour's Order of Merit.
Time.com - No one really thinks much will come out of the direct talks with the Palestinians but, when the issue is Bibi, up come visions of Gorbachev -- and Nixon in China
AP - Authorities have detained an alleged smuggler of an Ecuadorean man who told police he survived a massacre of 72 fellow migrants in Mexico, the justice minister confirmed Sunday.
Time.com - Though Beijing's Forbidden City has been open to the public for decades, parts of it remained off-limits. This month a new exhibition of artifacts from behind the gates heads to U.S.
AP - The armed Basque separatist group ETA, under pressure from political allies to renounce violence and decapitated repeatedly by the arrests of its leaders, announced another cease-fire Sunday, suggesting it might turn to a political process in its quest for an independent homeland.
CQPolitics.com - Leading voices in both parties sparred Sunday over the state of the economy and the role that Bush tax cuts should play in the recovery.
AP - Investigators looking into what went wrong in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill are a step closer to answers now that a key piece of evidence is secure aboard a ship.
AP - The Vatican raised the possibility Sunday of using behind-the-scenes diplomacy to try to save the life of an Iranian widow sentenced to be stoned for adultery.
AP - Torrential rains from a tropical depression caused mudslides that have killed at least 38 people in Guatemala — most of them in separate disasters along the same highway.
AP - The Taliban vowed Sunday to attack polling places in Sept. 18 parliamentary elections, warning Afghans not to participate in what it called a sham vote.
Reuters - The U.S. government is likely to take a loss on General Motors Co in the first offering of the automaker's stock, six people familiar with preparations for the landmark IPO said.
AP - The powerful earthquake that smashed buildings, cracked roads and twisted rail lines around the New Zealand city of Christchurch also ripped a new fault line in the Earth's surface, a geologist said Sunday.
AFP - Japan's top minicar maker Suzuki Motor Corp. is to build a new auto assembly plant near the Indian capital New Delhi in a bid to meet growing demand in the country, a newspaper reported on Sunday.
Reuters - The world economy is recovering moderately but still faces challenges such as the need for medium-term fiscal consolidation, the IMF's First Managing Director, John Lipsky, said on Sunday.
Reuters - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has approved a $690 million payment to French retailer Casino and other owners of a supermarket chain nationalized earlier this year, state media said on Saturday.
OneWorld.net - MAPUTO, Sep 3 (IPS) - September in
Mozambiqueâs capital has begun with violent protests. Thousands have
been striking over an increase in the prices of basic goods, including
bread. Police responded with force - firing on crowds gathered on the
streets in several suburbs and townships in and around Maputo.
AP - Unemployment is stuck at high levels even though some companies are hiring. The problem, government data show, is that too few jobs are being created for the growing number of people looking for work.
Reuters - Chinese officials have ordered state companies to meet investment bankers to explore ways to block BHP Billiton's $39 billion bid for Potash Corp, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.
Reuters - Hipster brand American Apparel Inc is in talks to bring in an outside restructuring firm as the manufacturer and retailer struggles to fix its flagging operations, sources told Reuters on Friday.
McClatchy Newspapers - JERUSALEM — Jewish settlers across the West Bank have vowed to begin construction in more than 60 locations, posing a direct challenge to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he returned home from Thursday's first round of direct peace talks in Washington.
AFP - Brazil's Petrobras unveiled one of the world's biggest share offerings Friday, a sale of up to 64 billion dollars in new stock to finance oil exploration aimed at turning Brazil into a leading oil exporter of the 21st century.
AP - Summer is rarely a hot sales season for Campbell Soup Co., and this year's sweltering June and July made that even more true, but the company said Friday that cost-cutting and strong drink sales helped its net income climb.
Reuters - Wall Street closed a stellar week on Friday after recent economic data, including a stronger-than-expected labor market report, bolstered optimism that the economy would not fall back into recession.
AP - Private mortgage insurer Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. said Friday it added $1.2 billion in new primary insurance coverage in August and the number of delinquent loans it insures declined.
The Christian Science Monitor - North Koreaâs leader Kim Jong-il is expected to convene the first high-level conference of the ruling Workersâ Party in about 40 years amid widespread speculation that the world will finally get the answer to one great question:
BusinessWeek - Goldman Sachs may not have a lot of friends in the White House these days, but one of its former employees has made a good impression. After three years as an analyst in Goldman's fixed-income, currencies, and commodities division, Monique Pean began her own jewelry line that can now be found in Barneys, Jeffrey New York, and around the neck of Michelle Obama.
AP - The Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into certain types of stock trade orders that could be distorting share prices and trading volume, according to The Wall Street Journal.