Aaron's Daily WWW Newspaper

WASHINGTON - New jobless claims fell more than expected last week, while those continuing to receive unemployment insurance set a record for the 11th straight week.

PARIS - French lawmakers have unexpectedly rejected a bill that would have cut off the Internet connections of people who illegally download music or films.

LOS ANGELES - After much clamoring from the judges, the competition is over for Scott MacIntyre on "American Idol." The 23-year-old piano player from Scottsdale, Ariz., who crooned Survivor's "The Search is Over" in hopes of being saved by the judges, received the fewest number of viewer votes Wednesday on the popular Fox singing competition.

AUGUSTA, Ga. - The Masters teed off with a ceremonial swing from Arnold Palmer. The King whacked his ball down the right side of the fairway, then turned it over to 96 players competing for the green jacket on a sunny Thursday morning at Augusta National.

PARIS - France's anti-doping agency accused Lance Armstrong of violating its rules Thursday for not fully cooperating with a drug tester and says it could punish the seven-time Tour de France champion.

NAIROBI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Navy destroyer reached waters off Somalia on Thursday to help free an American ship captain taken hostage by pirates in the first seizure of U.S. citizens by the increasingly bold sea gangs.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of followers of anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr thronged Baghdad on Thursday to mark the sixth anniversary of the city's fall to U.S. troops, and to demand they leave immediately.

L'AQUILA, Italy (Reuters) - Rescuers pulled more corpses on Thursday from the rubble of Italy's worst earthquake in three decades, braving strong aftershocks in the dimming hope of finding survivors.

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea re-elected Kim Jong-il as its supreme military leader at its newly seated parliament on Thursday, marking his return to center stage as the country celebrates what it calls a triumphant satellite launch.

DETROIT/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp and Chrysler launched government-backed assistance programs for parts suppliers on Wednesday, and the task force overseeing the carmakers' restructuring was expected to meet with GM this week to speed up the process.

ISFAHAN, Iran (Reuters) - Iran said it would review an offer of talks on its nuclear program from the United States and five other world powers, even as it prepared to declare new progress in its disputed atom activity on Thursday.

PARIS (Reuters) - A spate of "bossnappings" by French workers has put President Nicolas Sarkozy in a tight spot, caught between the need to enforce the law and the risk of exacerbating unrest during the economic downturn.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama plans to start addressing the thorny issue of immigration reform this year, including the search for a path to legalize the status of millions of illegal immigrants, The New York Times reported on Wednesday, quoting a presidential aide.

SEOUL (AFP) - North Korea decided to revise its constitution at a parliamentary meeting Thursday attended by leader Kim Jong-Il, his first appearance at a major public event since a reported stroke last August.

MOMBASA, Kenya (AFP) - A US warship muscled in Thursday on a high-seas standoff, after the American crew of an aid ship wrested control back from Somali pirates who are now holding their captain hostage on a lifeboat.

LONDON (AFP) - Britain's top counter-terror officer resigned Thursday after a major security blunder, in a new blow for police already under fire over a death during G20 protests last week.

JAKARTA (AFP) - Indonesia voted Thursday in only its third general election since the fall of the Suharto regime in 1998, with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party tipped to win most seats.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Calorie-burning fat may seem like science fiction, but a study released found that adults have small blobs of metabolism-regulating brown fat previously believed to exist only in babies and children.

FRANKFURT (AFP) - The German government launched a takeover of the troubled Hypo Real Estate bank, aiming to stabilise financial markets amid the worst global slump since the Great Depression.

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan announced Thursday plans for record stimulus spending of 150 billion dollars and millions of new jobs as Prime Minister Taro Aso seeks to revive the economy with key elections looming.