AP - Authorities say one of two swimmers swept away by floodwaters near San Antonio has been found dead, pushing up the death toll from flooding caused by the remnants of Tropical Storm Hermine.

AP - The anti-Muslim leader of a tiny Florida church backed off his threat to burn the Quran, defusing an international firestorm Thursday after he said he was promised that a planned Islamic center and mosque would be moved away from New York's ground zero. The imam planning the center, however, quickly denied such a deal.

AP - A city all too familiar with civil unrest was caught by surprise by the level of outrage over the fatal police shooting of an illegal immigrant from Guatemala who was menacing officers with a knife.

AP - The father of a U.S. soldier serving in Afghanistan says he tried nearly a half dozen times to pass an urgent message from his son to the Army: Troops in his unit had murdered an Afghan civilian, planned more killings and threatened him to keep quiet about it.

AP - "Advocate tolerance, and disregard the ignorant," one book counsels. Advises the other, "Be gentle towards all, ... forbearing."

AP - If Rahm Emanuel decides to run for Chicago mayor, the White House chief of staff would easily be the best-known figure in the race, with national name recognition that few others could match and invaluable experience from helping engineer the Democrats' takeover of the House in 2006.

AP - With a blunt remark that grated on Mexicans, Washington's top diplomat was merely echoing a growing concern about the alarming violence and instability being caused by Mexico's war on drug cartels.

AP - Neighborhoods once filled with million-dollar homes and scenic mountain cabins have become piles of smoking rubble. On one lot, all that survived was a tennis court. On others, all that's left are crumbling, ash-covered foundations.

AP - New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was in a two-vehicle accident near his home Thursday morning but was unhurt and hours later practiced as usual with his team just days before the season opener.

Reuters - A set of U.N. goals aimed at drastically reducing poverty and hunger worldwide by 2015 are achievable, despite setbacks caused by the global financial and economic crises, a draft document said.

AP - In early August, three women, each of them more than four months pregnant, sought abortions from Dr. Steven Brigham at his clinic in New Jersey. Instead of turning them down, authorities said Brigham used a novel scheme to take advantage of the disparities in state abortion laws.

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 - Donald Trump offered Thursday to buy out a major investor in the real estate partnership that controls the site near ground zero where a Muslim group wants to build a 13-story Islamic center and mosque.

AFP - US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will face a key US House committee's questions on possible new steps to press China over its currency policy, the panel's chairman said Thursday.

AP - Lawyers for a Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a plane near Detroit on Christmas said Thursday that they've talked to prosecutors about resolving the case with a deal.

AP - A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that Hazleton, Pa., may not enforce its crackdown on illegal immigrants, dealing another blow to 4-year-old regulations that inspired similar measures around the country. The city's mayor pledged to take the case to the Supreme Court.

AP - Hundreds of angry Afghans burned a U.S. flag and chanted "Death to the Christians" to protest plans — canceled Thursday — by a small American church to torch copies of the Muslim holy book on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

AP - The 76-year-old wife of imprisoned former Gov. George Ryan has a terminal lung disease, Ryan's attorney told a judge Thursday as he sought bail for Ryan while the judge considers a request to toss part of his corruption conviction.

AP - Toni Booker considered herself fortunate on Thursday as she inspected the damage to her wooden bungalow caused by urban wildfires that swept through Detroit this week, destroying dozens of homes.

AP - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin blamed extremists "without souls, without hearts" for a suicide car bombing that killed 17 people Thursday in the crowded central market of a city in the North Caucasus.

Reuters - Democrats in Congress are distancing themselves from President Barack Obama's push to let taxes rise for the wealthiest Americans, fearing it will further harm them in November's mid-term elections.

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.

AP - A new Log Cabin syrup touted as "all natural" looks a lot like the pure, 100 percent maple product that's the pride of Vermont, right down to its packaging in a plastic beige jug.

AP - No, the economy isn't roaring ahead. And no, companies aren't making lots of job offers. But a fresh batch of economic data Thursday at least eased summertime fears that the economy might be on the brink of another recession.

AP - Oil prices fell back on Thursday, after getting an early boost from lower jobless claims and crude inventories.

AP - Terrified Somalis fleeing an offensive by Islamist insurgents in their capital described a hellish scene of putrefying corpses, graves hastily dug in gardens and neighborhoods flattened by mortars.