Yahoo! News: Top Stories

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 thousands of people waited to learn if their homes survived a raging Colorado wildfire, Dan Hackett hiked a second time behind roadblocks to make sure his house near Boulder was still standing.

AP - The remnants of Tropical Storm Hermine trekked northward after forcing more than 100 high-water rescues in Texas, swamping streets, producing several tornadoes and killing at least two people.

AP - A suicide car bomber hit the central market of a major city in Russia's North Caucasus on Thursday, killing at least 15 and wounding more than 130 people in one of the worst attacks in the volatile region in years, officials said.

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

AP - A suicide car bomber and gunmen attacked the front gate to Mogadishu's seaside airport on Thursday, triggering an explosion and gunbattle, officials said. At least seven people were killed, including six security forces.

AP - An attorney for Britney Spears' ex-husband called child abuse claims leveled at the singer by a former bodyguard baseless and motivated by money.

Reuters - New claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week to their lowest level in two months, a hopeful sign for the troubled labor market.

Reuters - India led calls on Thursday for the United States to intervene to halt a small church's plan to burn copies of the Koran in commemoration of the September 11 attacks and urged a media blackout to calm tensions.

Reuters - President Barack Obama warned on Thursday that a Florida pastor's plan to burn copies of the Koran is being used as an al Qaeda recruitment tool and he urged the minister to reconsider the decision.

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.

Reuters - North Korea's capital is ready for its biggest political event in decades: giant billboards proclaim an event to make the country's "history shine forever," the dress rehearsals are complete and the army is ready.

AFP - US President Barack Obama warned a Florida church's plan to burn Korans would bolster Al-Qaeda Thursday as the church at the center of the storm defied a growing chorus of global outrage.

AFP - The European Parliament on Thursday demanded France "immediately suspend" the expulsion of Roma migrants in a fresh condemnation of President Nicolas Sarkozy's stand on the issue.