AP - Investigators searched the smoldering rubble of a quiet, middle-class neighborhood tucked into the hills overlooking San Francisco on Friday, looking for answers to why a gas line ruptured and fed a giant fireball that killed at least four people.

AP - Facing big Democratic losses in November, President Barack Obama blamed Republicans and election-year politics Friday for thwarting his efforts to do more to spur a listless national economy. He challenged Congress to quit squabbling and quickly approve "what we all agree on" — a reprieve for expiring tax cuts for the middle class.

AP - For almost a decade, the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was marked by somber reflection and a call to unity, devoid of politics. Not this time.

AP - The son of a pastor who suspended plans to burn copies of the Quran to mark the 9/11 anniversary says Islam's holiest text will not be torched at their Florida church Saturday.

AP - Iran on Friday postponed the planned release of an American woman jailed along with two friends for more than a year, state media reported, dealing a blow to the hopes of three U.S. mothers who have pleaded for the trio's release.

AP - Hundreds of sex abuse victims have come forward in Belgium with harrowing accounts of molestation by Catholic clergy that reportedly led to at least 13 suicides and affected children as young as two, a special commission said Friday.

AP - Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. has been freed from a jail in Las Vegas after posting bail on a felony theft charge stemming from a domestic violence complaint by his ex-girlfriend.

AP - Stocks edged higher Friday, extending a rally that began nearly two weeks ago, as investors hold on to their newfound optimism about the economy.

AP - Vera Zvonareva reached her second straight Grand Slam final, defeating top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-3 in the U.S. Open on Friday.

Reuters - President Barack Obama on Friday appealed to Americans to respect the "inalienable" right of religious freedom and expressed hope a Florida Christian preacher would abandon a plan to burn the Koran that could deeply hurt the United States abroad.

Reuters - President Barack Obama accused Republicans on Friday of holding the middle class hostage and defended his efforts to stimulate the sluggish economy as he tries to reverse grim election prospects for his fellow Democrats in November.

Reuters - Eighty-five prisoners escaped from a jail near the U.S. border on Friday, authorities and media said, the latest prison break underscoring the challenges Mexico faces as it battles powerful drug cartels.

Reuters - Iran has canceled the planned release on Saturday of a detained American woman because the legal process has not been completed, Tehran's prosecutor said on Friday.

Reuters - Twelve U.S. soldiers have been charged with gruesome crimes in Afghanistan ranging from murdering civilians to keeping body parts as war trophies -- revelations that the Pentagon said on Thursday damaged America's image around the world.

Reuters - Fidel Castro said on Friday his recent comment that communist-led Cuba's economic model does not work was badly understood and that what he really meant was that capitalism does not work.

AFP - An impassioned President Barack Obama Friday warned Americans must not turn on one another over religion, after rows over Islam sparked global fury, nine years after the September 11 attacks.

AFP - A Florida pastor at the center of a global firestorm insisted Friday he would not proceed with a planned Koran burning ceremony, but failed to stem a tide of Muslim outrage.