AP - The House on Thursday approved an extra three months of jobless benefits for all unemployed Americans, knowing the plan's chances are slight in the Senate and almost nonexistent at the White House.
AFP - Polls opened Thursday in a tightly-fought EU referendum in Ireland, which could plunge the 27-nation bloc into new crisis if voters reject a new reform treaty.
AFP - The US-led coalition in Afghanistan on Thursday deflected accusations that it killed 11 Pakistani soldiers in an air strike, releasing video footage which it says shows its forces targeting insurgents.
Reuters - The Dalai Lama hopes postponed talks
between China and his envoys will resume next month, he said on
Thursday, adding he supported China's desire for stability but
that it must come "from the heart not the gun."
Reuters - Prime Minister Raila Odinga's party won
three parliamentary seats on Thursday after by-elections that
went peacefully despite fears of a repeat of violence seen in
the crisis after Kenya's presidential poll.
Reuters - The British government said on Thursday
it had suspended a senior intelligence official who left a file
with top secret documents about Iraq and al Qaeda on a train
and MPs called for an independent inquiry.
Reuters - A 25-year-old factory worker arrested
over the killing of seven people in a frenzied attack on a
crowd of shoppers in Tokyo has told police he wanted someone to
stop him, Japanese media said on Thursday.
Reuters - The first lock and dam on the upper
Mississippi River closed to barge traffic on Thursday due to
flood conditions that have destroyed homes and thousands of
acres of corn and soybeans, said the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers.
Reuters - A senior Chinese official will visit
Beijing's often bitter political rival Taiwan later this year,
state media said on Thursday, as the two sides sat down to
their first formal talks in almost a decade.
Reuters - Ministers will pledge funds for
Afghanistan and review their development strategy for the
fragile Central Asian state at a donors conference which got
underway in Paris on Thursday.
Reuters - Four people were killed and at
least 20 injured when a tornado tore through an Iowa boy scout
camp on Wednesday, where dozens of scouts were gathered for a
summer retreat, state officials said.
AP - The "June Gloom" so typical of summer in San Diego gave way to sunshine on the eve of the U.S. Open, filling the blue sky with fighter jets from Miramar that until Wednesday could only be heard in the fog. But that isn't the biggest buzz at Torrey Pines.
AP - Paul Newman has always been a fiercely private man, shunning the trappings of fame wrought by his Hollywood career while immersing himself in auto racing, philanthropy and a multimillion-dollar food business.
AP - Belgian Brewer InBev is offering a big payday to shareholders of Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., but its bid to create the world's largest beer company is already facing a major obstacle — U.S. election-year politics.
