AFP - Hurricane Earl bore down on a vast stretch of the US East Coast on Thursday, as tens of thousands of people fled North Carolina's barrier islands to avoid dangerous winds and surf.
Reuters - Hurricane Earl took aim at North Carolina on Thursday and was on track to lash its barrier islands with dangerous winds and pounding surf before cutting a path up the East Coast.
AFP - Israel and the Palestinians relaunched their first direct talks in 20 months here Thursday, agreeing to meet every two weeks in a bid to meet a daunting one-year deadline for a peace settlement.
AP - Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed Thursday to produce a framework for a permanent peace deal and to hold a second round of direct talks this month, modest achievements reached under U.S. mediation amid deep skepticism about success at their first such session in two years.
AP - A mile-long oil sheen spread Thursday from an offshore petroleum platform burning in the Gulf of Mexico off Lousiana, west of the site of BP's massive spill.
Employers keep shifting a larger share of health costs to their employees. Higher premiums, deductibles and copayments are making health insurance less affordable for people who get coverage at work.
An oil rig, 90 miles off the Gulf of Mexico, is on fire, the U.S. Coast Guard reports. Thirteen people on board the rig are accounted for. An explosion was reported shortly after 10:30 a.m. ET.
The rig, about 80 miles south of Vermillion Bay along the central Louisana coast, exploded about 9:30 am. CDT Thursday. Emergency crews are en route to the scene. All 13 people on the rig have been accounted for, with one injured.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told a panel investigating the financial crisis that regulators must be ready to shutter the largest institutions if they threaten to bring down the financial system."If the crisis has a single lesson, it is that the too-big-to-fail problem must be solved," he said.
Orders to U.S. factories managed a slight gain in July, boosted by as a surge in demand for commercial aircraft. Meanwhile, the number of people requesting unemployment benefits declined for the second straight week, but the overall level remains high.
