Obama says Koran burning can badly damage U.S. abroad

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 16:36:58 -0400

WASHINGTON/GAINESVILLE, Florida (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Friday he hoped a Florida pastor would drop a plan to burn Korans on U.S. soil, saying such an act could deeply harm the United States abroad.

Obama says Republicans holding recovery hostage

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 16:33:42 -0400

WASHINGTON (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.

Geoghegan replaces Feinberg as US pay czar

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 16:23:49 -0400

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Treasury Department has selected Patricia Geoghegan to replace Kenneth Feinberg as the "pay czar" overseeing compensation at companies bailed out by the government.

U.S. troops charged with murder of Afghan civilians

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:47:33 -0400

WASHINGTON (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.

Iran cancels release of detained American: report

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:56:58 -0400

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has canceled the planned release of a detained American woman because the legal process has not been completed, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi was quoted as saying on Friday.

Judge rules ban on gays in military unconstitutional

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:47:47 -0400

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military rule banning openly gay people from serving in the armed forces violates constitutional rights to free speech and due process, a federal judge in southern California ruled Thursday.

Castro says comment on Cuban economy misunderstood

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:55:38 -0400

HAVANA (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.

Four dead in San Francisco suburb gas line inferno

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 16:41:56 -0400

SAN BRUNO, California (Reuters) - At least four people died after a gas line explosion and fire razed 38 homes in a San Francisco suburb, and officials expected the death toll to rise on Friday as firefighters search the wreckage.

Trapped Chilean miners' next challenge: celebrity

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 16:31:28 -0400

COPIAPO, Chile (Reuters) - Once completely cut off from the outside world, 33 miners trapped for more than a month deep below the Chilean desert could face their next big challenge on the surface -- dealing with the media furor.

Hitmen kill 25 in bloodiest day on Mexico-U.S. border

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:48:24 -0400

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) - The murders of 25 people by suspected drug hitmen on the U.S.-Mexico border on Thursday was the bloodiest day in almost three years in an area gripped by an escalating drug war, officials said on Friday.