AP - The captain of the Chinese fishing boat that collided with Japanese patrol vessels near disputed islands could stand trial in the latest territorial spat between the neighbors, officials said Thursday.

AP - South Korea's central bank left its key interest rate near a record low Thursday for a second straight month as the risk of slowing global growth outweighed a buoyant outlook for the local economy.

AP - Hooded gunmen killed the mayor of a small town in the northern Mexico state of San Luis Potosi on Wednesday, and prosecutors announced the arrest of seven suspects in the massacre of 72 migrants in August.

AP - BP took some of the blame for the Gulf oil disaster in an internal report issued Wednesday, acknowledging among other things that it misinterpreted a key pressure test of the well. But in a possible preview of its legal strategy, it also pointed the finger at its partners on the doomed rig.

AP - Politically weakened but refusing to bend, President Barack Obama insisted Wednesday that Bush-era tax cuts be cut off for the wealthiest Americans, joining battle with Republicans — and some fellow Democrats — just two months before bruising midterm elections.

AFP - Australian regulators rejected National Australia Bank's 12.2 billion US dollar bid for financial services firm AXA Asia Pacific Thursday over concerns about competition in the industry.

AP - Most Asian stock markets advanced Thursday after worries about Europe's financial health eased, sending Wall Street higher.

AP - South Korea said it will ban many financial dealings with Iran and impose other penalties as part of a U.S.-led campaign to enforce sanctions against the country over its disputed nuclear enrichment program.

Reuters - President Barack Obama, fighting to keep Democrats in charge of Congress, said on Wednesday the United States could not afford to extend Bush-era tax cuts for the rich and accused Republicans of being fiscally irresponsible.

AP - Fidel Castro told a visiting American journalist that Cuba's communist economic model doesn't work, a rare comment on domestic affairs from a man who has conspicuously steered clear of local issues since stepping down four years ago.

AFP - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday called Sudanese leaders in a bid to defuse what she called the "ticking time bomb" of an inevitable secession of the country?s restive and oil-rich south.

Reuters - Stocks rose on Wednesday as investors latched onto positive news out of Europe in the latest in a string of low-volume sessions suggesting little confidence in market direction.

AFP - The US economic recovery is showing "widespread" signs of slowing, the US Federal Reserve warned Wednesday, as it gears up for a key policy meeting later this month.

AP - General Motors' new CEO told employees that the automaker needs to make cars and trucks that are better than those of competitors such as BMW.

AP - Israelis usher in the Jewish new year, or Rosh Hashana, at sundown Wednesday with a widespread sense of pessimism that a new round of U.S.-sponsored Mideast talks can achieve peace.

AFP - US stocks were slightly up on Wednesday after news of a successful Portuguese debt auction eased the previous day's concerns about the European economy.