AP - Asian stock markets were mostly higher Friday amid a 2 percent jump in Japan as economic indicators suggested the global slowdown isn't as severe as feared.

AP - The Mexican police officers who arrested infamous drug suspect Edgar Valdez Villarreal, alias "La Barbie," did not initially know who they had caught, according to a booking report obtained Thursday.

AP - Religious and political leaders across the Muslim world have welcomed a decision by a small American church to suspend plans to torch copies of their holy book. But some say the damage already has been done.

AFP - Deutsche Bank is set to raise up to nine billion euros through a rights issue to bolster its capital as global banking regulators finalise tough new rules for the industry, a report said Friday.

AFP - Australia's corporate watchdog Friday said it would likely reject a proposed alliance between Air New Zealand and Virgin Blue because it could disadvantage more than a million passengers a year.

AP - Iran said Thursday it will free Sarah Shourd, one of three Americans jailed for more than 13 months, as an act of clemency to mark the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

AP - An anti-Islamic preacher backed off and then threatened to reconsider burning the Quran on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, angrily accusing a Muslim leader of lying to him Thursday with a promise to move an Islamic center and mosque away from New York's ground zero. The imam planning the center denied there was ever such a deal.

AP - An animal-rights activist says an endangered right whale stranded on a beach in southern Brazil for two days is too weak to be rescued and returned safely to the sea.

AFP - The International Monetary Fund on Thursday announced it would sell 10 metric tons of gold to Bangladesh, worth around 403 million dollars.

Reuters - Stocks rose on Thursday as stronger-than-expected jobs and trade data helped lift optimism about the economic recovery, although sentiment was fragile as investors fretted over European banks.

AP - U.S. Marine commandos stormed a pirate-held cargo ship off the Somalia coast Thursday, reclaiming control and taking nine prisoners without firing a shot in the first such boarding raid by the international anti-piracy flotilla, U.S. Navy officials said.

Reuters - New U.S. 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.

Reuters - Regulators probing the stock market "flash crash" last May still have not uncovered a single cause but will point to "stub quotes" and other previously identified issues as having exacerbated the market's dramatic drop, according to two sources familiar with the probe.