Evening Edition

The attacks devastated Yakaghund town in the district of Mohmand, one of seven that make up Pakistan’s northwest tribal belt which Washington calls a global headquarters of Al-Qaeda and the most dangerous place on Earth.

It was the deadliest attack in nuclear-armed Pakistan since gunmen wearing suicide vests stormed prayer halls belonging to the minority Ahmadi community in the city of Lahore in May, killing at least 82 people.

“We have got the renewal,” Google’s Beijing-based spokeswoman Marsha Wang told AFP.

“We are very pleased we got the ICP (Internet Content Provider) annual renewal. We are very pleased we can continue to provide products and services to our users.”

Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland retained the race leader’s jersey after a long, 227.5km sixth stage from Montargis which, for the second day in a row, resulted in a bunch sprint after another futile breakaway.

For the second consecutive day Cavendish proved too fast for his rivals, the Isle of Man sprinter coming off the wheel of formidable lead-out man Mark Renshaw to finish the final 200 metres on his own.

While Busquets was part of the Barcelona team that won the Spanish title, Sneijder is chasing a fourth winners medal having helped Inter Milan conquer Europe after they raised the Italian league and cup trophies.

Spain are favoured to win a Soccer City clash of countries who have never been world champions, but Sneijder poses a major threat after a superb tournament that triggered a 35-million-euro offer from Manchester United.

A tax increase earlier this month sent prices, already the highest in the United States, shooting to anything between 11 and 15 dollars a pack, or as much as 75 cents a smoke.

Then this week, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a passionate anti-smoking ex-smoker, for the first time gave public backing to an idea aired by health officials to outlaw smoking in parks and on beaches.

Mattis, whose appointment must be confirmed by the Senate, replaces General David Petraeus, who took over direct command of the faltering Afghan conflict after his predecessor was fired for giving a damaging magazine interview.

“The post General Mattis is taking is a critical one at a critical time,” Gates told reporters Thursday in announcing his recommendation to President Barack Obama.

Boeing hand-delivered a 8,000-page proposal to build 179 aerial refuelling tankers to a US Air Force base in Ohio early Friday, setting the stage for a high-stakes transatlantic trade scrap.

The contract — worth an estimated 35-40 billion dollars — is seen as crucial in reinforcing US air power and could be a financial jackpot for the winning firm.

James’ decision to leave his hometown and head south to Florida to play alongside Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh gives the Heat one of the most dynamic power trios in league history.

“The attraction in Miami is being alongside Dwyane Wade and being alongside Chris Bosh. It is a new challenge for myself,” James said.

The bank on Friday priced its shares in the Hong Kong portion of the IPO at 3.20 Hong Kong dollars (41 US cents).

Assuming an over-allotment option is exercised, the dual Hong Kong-Shanghai listing should outpace Industrial & Commercial Bank of China’s 21.9 billion dollar offering in 2006.

Diamond Offshore Drilling said it was moving its Ocean Endeavor rig to Egypt from the Gulf, where deepwater drilling has been halted because of the 81-day-old BP Plc oil spill.

A federal court in New Orleans on Thursday refused to reinstate the six-month ban on drilling below 500 feet, which the Obama administration imposed after BP’s Macondo undersea well blew out on April 20.

Two aircraft — one Russian, one American — parked side by side for around 90 minutes. The agents changed places under the cover of gangways as waves of heat rose from the tarmac.

The Russian plane then took off, followed by the U.S. jet in an echo of Soviet-era spy trades across the Iron Curtain in central Europe. Officials in Vienna, once a center of Cold War intrigue, maintained a news blackout.

The news sent Google shares up 2 percent as it eased immediate concerns that Beijing would kick the company out for taking a hard stance against Web censorship.

Analysts, however, stressed that Google’s position in China remains fragile and that the Chinese market likely will account for a fraction of Google’s revenue for some time.

“Can you hear that? They’re blowing their horns again,” one soldier shouts down the line.

It is a sound the U.S. soldiers have become accustomed to nearly every time they go out on patrol — insurgents sounding their car and motorcycle horns, warning each other the Americans are on the move.

The verdict prompted a peaceful protest by up to 1,000 people in downtown Oakland, which gave way after nightfall to some people looting stores, smashing car windows, throwing powerful fireworks at police and lighting fires in trash cans.

The police, numbering in the hundreds, made more than 50 arrests, but Oakland police expected that figure could double.

Judge Joseph Tauro in Boston ruled in favor of gay couples’ rights in two separate challenges to the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, known as DOMA, arguing that the law interferes with the right of states to define marriage.

Massachusetts had argued DOMA denied benefits to same-sex couples in the state, where such unions have been legal since 2004. Four other states — Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Iowa — also allow same-sex marriage, as does Washington, D.C.

In a statement after annual consultations with U.S. authorities, the IMF raised its U.S. growth forecasts slightly to 3.3 percent for 2010 and 2.9 percent for 2011, but said unemployment would remain above 9 percent for both years.

The lofty jobless rate, coupled with a large backlog of home foreclosures and high levels of negative home equity, posed risks of a “double dip” in the housing market, it said. But the IMF said it did not think a renewed recession was likely.

The work to replace a leaky containment cap on the well head with a tighter one will begin Saturday, National Incident Commander Thad Allen said. At the same time, a ship connecting to a different part of the leak is expected to come online Sunday.

Oil will flow unimpeded into the Gulf during the cap switch for at least part of the weekend.

The assault, which wounded at least 111 people, was one of the deadliest in Pakistan this year. There was speculation that the bombers were targeting anti-Taliban tribal elders visiting the government office in the village of Yakaghund, part of the Mohmand tribal area in the country’s northwest.

The attackers struck within seconds of each other as two U.S. senators met with Pakistani leaders in the capital, Islamabad, to discuss their countries’ cooperation in the fight against terrorism, much of it being waged in the lawless tribal belt bordering Afghanistan where al-Qaida and the Taliban have long had redoubts.

In a move reminiscent of the Rodney King beating case in Los Angeles, the federal government said it intends to investigate Johannes Mehserle, who was found guilty Thursday in state court of involuntary manslaughter in the death of 22-year-old Oscar Grant.

Mehserle faces a range of possible sentences – from probation to 14 years in prison.

Google said Friday that Chinese officials had approved its Internet content provider, or ICP, license but gave no details of what services it would offer.

Renewal had been in question after Google began automatically redirecting users in China to an uncensored Hong Kong search site. But the company dismantled the virtual bridge to Hong Kong last week after regulators objected to the sleight of hand and threatened to revoke its Internet license.

The 25-year-old native of Britain’s Isle of Man raised his hands in celebration at the end of the hot, mostly flat 141.3-mile sixth stage from Montargis to Gueugnon.

The HTC Columbia rider earned his 12th career Tour stage victory and fifth in all races this year – clocking 5 hours, 37 minutes, 42 seconds to edge Tyler Farrar of the U.S. and Alessandro Petacchi of Italy.

The octopus, also known as the “Oracle of Oberhausen,” has successfully predicted the winner of six World Cup matches so far.

Now, Paul has forecast the winner of Sunday’s championship match. And rather than go out on a limb – or maybe eight of them – the critter is sticking with the favorite, picking Spain over the Netherlands.

Family dramas unfolded behind the scenes Friday as the fiction of ordinary American life was replaced by the realities of modern Russia – and early indications were that the spy ring did not get a hero’s welcome.

“They obviously were very bad spies if they got caught. They got caught, so they should be tried,” said Sasha Ivanov, a businessman walking by a Moscow train station.

Google said Friday that Chinese officials had approved its Internet content provider, or ICP, license but gave no details of what services it would offer.

Renewal had been in question after Google began automatically redirecting users in China to an uncensored Hong Kong search site. But the company dismantled the virtual bridge to Hong Kong last week after regulators objected to the sleight of hand and threatened to revoke its Internet license.

Wholesale inventories increased 0.5 percent while sales dropped 0.3 percent, the Commerce Department said Friday. It was the first decline for sales since March of 2009.

The May sales decline is the latest sign that the economic recovery could be losing momentum in the second half of the year. Weakness in sales could discourage businesses from boosting their orders. That would translate into a slowdown in factory production.

President Barack Obama has said repeatedly that he would like to see the federal Defense of Marriage Act, known as DOMA, repealed. But the Justice Department has defended the constitutionality of the law, which it is required to do.

The administration was silent Friday on whether it would appeal rulings by U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro. Spokespeople for the White House and the Justice Department said officials are still reviewing the rulings.

The Vatican announcement said Archbishop Velasio De Paolis, an Italian who heads the Holy See’s financial office, will serve as papal delegate for the Legionaries.

The appointment is the latest in a series of moves aimed at shoring up the church amid a worldwide clerical sex abuse scandal.

While not naming names, 12-year incumbent Rep. Bob Inglis suggested in interviews with The Associated Press that tea party favorites such as former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and right-wing talk show hosts like Glenn Beck are the culprits.

He cited a claim made famous by Palin that the Democratic health care bill would create “death panels” to decide whether elderly or sick people should get care.

Delegates to the Presbyterian church’s convention in Minneapolis voted Thursday for a more liberal policy on gay clergy but decided not to redefine marriage in their church constitution to include same-sex couples. Approval of both measures could have made the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) one of the most gay-friendly major Christian churches in the U.S.

Even the more liberal stance on gay clergy faces more debate before it can become church policy. A majority of the church’s 173 U.S. presbyteries must approve it. Two years ago – after years of efforts by supporters – a similar measure was sent out to presbyteries but died when 94 of them voted against it.

Horse protection advocates complained their own surveys had found nowhere near the 900 mustangs the Bureau of Land Management said it intended to leave on the range when it removed nearly 2,000 of the animals from the Calico mountains about 200 miles north of Reno.

But a new census from an aerial survey the BLM conducted during the last half of June found 1,141 mustangs in the five management areas that make up the Calico complex. The complex covers an area from just north of Gerlach, about 35 miles wide, running 50 miles north to the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge on the Nevada-Oregon line.

The NAACP convention, set to start Saturday, also will focus on education and the mounting jobs losses that have disproportionately affected minorities. Headliners will include First Lady Michelle Obama and the Revs. Jesse L. Jackson and Al Sharpton.

“We have to close the enthusiasm gap and remind people that the majority that existed two years ago still exists today,” said Ben Jealous, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, in a phone interview.

Patrick, of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, carefully plucked the eggs from the foot-deep hole and placed them one-by-one in a cooler layered with moist sand from the nest, the first step in a sweeping and unprecedented turtle egg evacuation to save thousands of threatened hatchlings from certain death in the oiled Gulf of Mexico.

After about 90 minutes of parting the sand with her fingers like an archaeological dig, 107 eggs were placed in two coolers and loaded onto a FedEx temperature-controlled truck. They are being transported to a warehouse at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center where they will incubate and, hopefully, hatch before being released into the Atlantic Ocean.

A lawyer for Vicky Pelaez said Thursday that the teenage son she had with fellow Russian agent Mikhail Vasenkov during the decades they spent living in New York will most likely remain in the U.S., as will her 38-year-old son from a prior marriage.

“He’s 17 years of age. He’ll probably stay with his brother,” attorney John Rodriguez said.