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.

The Upshot - It's increasingly looking as though the only spiritual or political figure who will not denounce Florida pastor Terry Jones' plan to commemorate Sept. 11 by burning copies of the Quran is Jones himself. Wednesday brings the news that even the church Jones founded in Germany in the 1980s is condemning the upcoming Quran-burning at his [...]

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

AP - John Travolta was onto something. Women are most attracted to male dancers who have big, flamboyant moves similar to the actor's trademark style, British scientists say in a new study.

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 - 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 - 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.

Reuters - Detroit, Los Angeles and Cleveland are the most stressful cities in America, according to a new study.

Reuters - Children aged four and under who get less than 10 hours of sleep a night are nearly twice as likely to be overweight or obese five years later, according to a U.S. study.

PR Newswire - Former US Senator Mike Gravel (D-AK) and Richard Gage, AIA, Founder of Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth Discuss Scientific Findings

AP - Four prisoners with links to al-Qaida being guarded by American troops escaped from a maximum-security prison in Baghdad and are still at large, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Thursday.

Reuters - Switzerland remains the world's most competitive economy, while the United States has fallen from second to fourth after losing the top spot last year, according to the World Economic Forum's annual rankings issued on Thursday.

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — The health care overhaul law will drive health care spending up only slightly over the next decade, new estimates found.

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 - One hundred sixty-three couples in Taiwan were married in a mass ceremony at 9:09 a.m. Thursday, the ninth day of the ninth month of the 99th year since the founding of their republic.