AFP - The Bank of England kept its key lending rate at a record low level of 0.50 percent for the eighteenth month running on Thursday, as data showed Britain's recovery from recession is stalling.

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 - The remnants of Tropical Storm Hermine trekked northward after forcing more than 100 high-water rescues in Texas, swamping streets, producing several tornadoes and killing at least two people.

AP - President Barack Obama is conceding that if the midterm election turns out to be mostly a referendum on the sluggish economy, Democrats are "not going to do well."

Reuters - New 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 - 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.

AP - You would be forgiven for thinking that the launch of this country's newest TV station was an event backed by Senegal's government.

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.

AP - As Florida officials worried about public safety surrounding a small church's plan to burn the Quran, President Barack Obama added his voice to the chorus of opposition to the church's intention to burn copies of Islam's holiest text to mark the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

AP - As Florida officials worried about public safety surrounding a small church's plan to burn the Quran, President Barack Obama added his voice to the chorus of opposition to the church's intention to burn copies of Islam's holiest text to mark the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Reuters - Stocks rose nearly 1 percent in morning trading on Thursday after data indicated the U.S. economy may see faster growth than economists have anticipated.

AP - New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady walked away unhurt from a two-car accident near his home on Thursday morning and was expected at practice later in the day, the team confirmed.

AP - Hundreds of angry Afghans burned an American flag and chanted "Death to the Christians" on Thursday to protest plans by a small American church to torch copies of the Muslim holy book on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

AP - Thousands of people waited Thursday to learn if their homes survived a wildfire that's raged for four days in a parched area near Boulder as firefighters battled to contain the blaze before winds picked up.

AP - Something was wrong.

AP - New York's governor says the imam behind the proposed Islamic community center near ground zero has offered an "opening" with his latest comments about the debate.

AP - A suicide car bomber hit the central market of a major city in Russia's North Caucasus on Thursday, killing at least 17 and wounding more than 130 people in one of the worst attacks in the volatile region in years, officials said.

AP - President Barack Obama is exhorting a Florida minister to "listen to those better angels" and call off his plan to engage in a Quran-burning protest this weekend.

AP - President Barack Obama is exhorting a Florida minister to "listen to those better angels" and call off his plan to engage in a Quran-burning protest this weekend.

AP - North Korea celebrated its 62nd anniversary Thursday with odes to supreme leader Kim Jong Il and pilgrimages to his late father's statue amid hints that a political meeting believed aimed at promoting his son as successor is imminent.

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.

Reuters - The Bank of England kept interest rates at 0.5 percent for the 18th month in a row and announced no new quantitative easing purchases, in a widely expected decision on Thursday.

AP - The number of people dying on the nation's roads has fallen to its lowest level in six decades, helped by a combination of seat belts, safer cars and tougher enforcement of drunken driving laws.

AP - Suzi Hanks reads Playboy magazine for the articles. And the jokes. And the letters and cartoons.

AP - Cuba's communist economic model has come in for criticism from an unlikely source: Fidel Castro.

AP - Former first lady Laura Bush will speak at a National Park Service 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.