AP - Icelike crystals had formed Saturday on the 300-ton blowout preventer that failed to stop oil from spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, forcing BP crews to wait before they could safely hoist the device to the surface.

AP - Craigslist closed the adult services section of its website Saturday, replacing it with a black bar that says "censored," just over a week after a group of state attorneys general said there weren't enough protections against blocking potentially illegal ads promoting prostitution.

AP - In the end, Earl's worst damage in New England was to seasonal businesses hoping to end their summer on a high note.

AP - American Muslims are boosting security at mosques, seeking help from leaders of other faiths and airing ads underscoring their loyalty to the United States — all ahead of a 9/11 anniversary they fear could bring more trouble for their communities.

AP - Protesters hurled shoes and eggs Saturday at Tony Blair who held the first public signing of his memoir amid high security in Ireland's capital. Hundreds more people lined up to have their books autographed — evidence that the divisions left by Blair's decade as British leader have yet to heal.

AP - Abdul Rehman and his family live under a tree next to a pile of rubble on a newly created island where his house used to be.

AP - Hip-hop star Kanye West is still feeling the pain over his trophy grab from Taylor Swift last year — and he's expressing his pain all over Twitter.

AP - Brandt Snedeker is the leader at the Deutsche Bank Championship, a spot he didn't imagine when he saw that his tee times coincided with the expected arrival of rain and wind from Hurricane Earl.

Reuters - President Barack Obama, previewing a big push on the U.S. economy next week, on Saturday defended policies that he said "have stopped the bleeding" and put the middle class on the road to recovery.

Reuters - Earl has slowed to a tropical storm, with wind speeds of some 60 knots, or just below 70 mph, the Canadian Hurricane Center said on Saturday.

Reuters - The U.S. government is likely to take a loss on General Motors Co in the first offering of the automaker's stock, six people familiar with preparations for the landmark IPO said.

Reuters - Authorities declared an overnight curfew for Saturday after a major earthquake hit New Zealand's second biggest city, Christchurch, bringing down power lines and bridges and wrecking roads and building facades.

Reuters - Pro-Taliban Pakistani militants are trying to create a sectarian rift, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Saturday, as a new wave of violence piled pressure on a government already struggling with a flood crisis.

Reuters - A Mexican judge ordered Edgar "La Barbie" Valdez, believed to be one of the country's top drug bosses, held for 40 more days of investigation, the federal prosecutor's office said on Saturday.

Reuters - A suicide bomber struck a rally in the Pakistani city of Quetta on Friday, killing at least 54 people in the second major attack this week and piling pressure on a U.S.-backed government overwhelmed by a flood crisis.

AFP - New Zealand's most destructive earthquake in nearly 80 years caused two billion dollars' worth of damage Saturday, felling buildings, tearing up roads and sending terrified residents fleeing into the streets.

AFP - Anti-terror police were on high alert in Pakistan on Saturday as mass burials took place for the victims of a suicide bomber who killed at least 59 people at a Shiite Muslim rally.