AP - The largest aftershock since Chile's devastating earthquake rocked the South American country Thursday minutes before the inauguration of President Sebastian Pinera.

AP - The number of newly laid-off workers requesting unemployment benefits slipped last week, the latest sign the employment picture is slowly brightening.

AP - Early results from Iraq's key election began coming in Thursday, showing a coalition led by the prime minister ahead in two southern Shiite provinces where he was opposed by hard-line religious parties with close ties to Iran.

AP - A final agreement nearly in hand, President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders are about to embark on one last sales job that will determine the outcome of the president's signature health care overhaul.

AP - Serious street clashes erupted between rioting youths and police in central Athens Thursday as some 30,000 people demonstrated during a nationwide strike against the cash-strapped government's austerity measures.

AP - WASHINGTON AP) — Unable to muster bipartisan agreement on key banking provisions, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said Thursday he will offer his own version of a sweeping overhaul of financial regulations without Republican support.

AP - Kansas City School Superintendent John Covington says the decision to close almost half the district's schools was difficult and painful but "unquestionably the right thing to do."

AP - Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim is the first man from a developing nation to become the world's richest person — a shift that underlines the loosening of America and Europe's stranglehold on the top spots in the billionaires' club.

AP - Alex Rodriguez may soon be talking to federal authorities, and he hopes it will happen close to spring training.

AP - The largest aftershock since Chile's devastating earthquake rocked the South American country Thursday minutes before the inauguration of President Sebastian Pinera.

AP - Serious street clashes erupted between rioting youths and police in central Athens Thursday as some 30,000 people demonstrated during a nationwide strike against the cash-strapped government's austerity measures.

AP - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday implored Israelis and Palestinians to move beyond a diplomatic spat that has marred his trip to the region, urging the sides to waste no time in resolving their decades-old conflict despite daunting obstacles.

AP - Early results from Iraq's key election began coming in Thursday, showing a coalition led by the prime minister ahead in two southern Shiite provinces where he was opposed by hard-line religious parties with close ties to Iran.

AP - A U.N. body best known for protecting tigers and elephants will focus on the world's overfished oceans beginning this week with proposals to regulate the shark trade and ban the export of a tuna species prized by sushi lovers.

AFP - Ukraine's new President Viktor Yanukovych on Thursday tightened his grip on power as one of his closest allies became prime minister and his party formed a government coalition.

AP - Gaza's Hamas rulers on Thursday released a British journalist they had held for a month amid allegations that he endangered the Palestinian territory's security.