AFP - California firefighters searched grimly through smoldering ruins Friday after a huge gas pipeline blast triggered an inferno killing four people, amid fears the death toll could rise.

Reuters - The Dow and S&P 500 closed the week with their seventh gain in eight sessions in a turnaround period for stocks that has seen investors' worst fears about the economy start to dissipate.

AFP - Oil prices rose Friday after the forecast for global oil demand for this year was raised and following the closure of a key pipeline carrying crude to the United States.

AP - Since fans lined up at midnight nearly three years ago for the release of the last "Halo" video game, a recession struck the economy, President Barack Obama took office and "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" became the best-selling shooter game of all time. When the prequel "Halo: Reach" debuts Sept. 14, it will land on a very different world.

AP - Oil prices surged Friday after a pipeline that delivered oil to Midwest refineries was shut down, raising questions about how long the supply may be disrupted.

AFP - Computer security firms issued warnings on Friday over a computer virus that arrives by email offering downloads of "free sex movies" or documents.

AFP - Two people were killed and 16 others injured by an explosion at a gas pipeline near Iran's northeastern city of Mashhad on Friday, local media reported.

AP - A key U.S. government official said Friday the moratorium on deepwater oil drilling likely won't be extended past Nov. 30, but whether it is cut short will be entirely up to the industry.

AP - A key U.S. government official said Friday the moratorium on deepwater oil drilling likely won't be extended past Nov. 30, but whether it is cut short will be entirely up to the industry.

AP - The government said Friday it's back in the business of funding embryonic stem cell research — at least for now — after an appeals court temporarily lifted a judge's ban.

AP - Nokia Corp. is replacing CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo with Microsoft executive Stephen Elop as the world's top maker of mobile phones aims to regain lost ground in the fiercely competitive smart phone market.

Reuters - U.S. crude rose more than 2 percent to $76 a barrel on Friday following the shutdown of a major pipeline supplying Canadian oil to the United States, but a leading forecaster said world demand would remain tepid.

Reuters - BP is to be evicted from the FTSE4Good ethical investment index due to its Gulf of Mexico oil spill, index compiler FTSE said on Friday, as BP said it would delay its third-quarter results due to the challenges of accounting for spill costs.

AFP - Climate change can be curbed by changing the diet of livestock, whose feed crops, farting, belching and manure contribute a fifth of the planet's greenhouse gas emissions, a new study said Friday.

AFP - A US appeals court suspended Thursday a ban on state-funding for embryonic stem cell research pending a full appeal of the case, in a major boost to President Barack Obama's administration.

AP - The United Nations' climate chief on Friday urged countries to be flexible in order to make progress at weeklong climate talks in China next month, the last formal negotiations on climate change ahead of a major year-end meeting in Cancun, Mexico.

AP - Oil prices climbed to near $76 a barrel Friday in Asia as better economic indicators from Japan to the U.S. boosted confidence that demand for fuel will improve.

AP - As co-president at Oracle Corp., ousted Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO Mark Hurd will have to adapt to a new role playing second fiddle to one of Silicon Valley's most domineering bosses — Larry Ellison.

AP - The state claimed Thursday that the Interior Department illegally halted offshore drilling in Artic waters, even though the department said there's no such moratorium in place.