Aaron's Daily WWW Newspaper

JERUSALEM - President Barack Obama's Mideast envoy turned his attention to the Western-backed Palestinian government in the West Bank on Thursday as rockets thudded into southern Israel and Israeli warplanes attacked new targets in Gaza.

NEW YORK - Google Inc. and two nonprofit partners Wednesday launched a Web site that lets consumers test their Internet connections to reveal possible interference and traffic management by service providers.

WASHINGTON - The list of recalled peanut products linked to a national salmonella outbreak just keeps growing.

NEW YORK - Kelly Rowland says she will always be a part of Beyonce's family, but she no longer will be managed by the superstar's father. Rowland and Matthew Knowles announced Wednesday that he is bowing out as her manager. He's guided her career since she was kid, when he put her in Destiny's Child along with Beyonce. He even helped raise her.

MELBOURNE, Australia - Roger Federer moved within one victory of his 14th Grand Slam title with another dominating victory, ousting Andy Roddick 6-2, 7-5, 7-5 Thursday to reach the Australian Open final.

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Policymakers sounded the alarm about the growing threat of protectionism on Thursday as new data showed a sharp fall in air freight traffic that signaled a broader slowdown in world trade.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When Republican Party insiders pick a new leader on Friday, he will have to be more than just a nuts-and-bolts manager by rallying the faithful after two disastrous elections that transformed U.S. politics.

(Reuters) - U.S. government officials seeking to revamp the financial bailout have discussed spending another $1 trillion to $2 trillion to help restore banks to health, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

LONDON (Reuters) - Officials in U.S. President Barack Obama's administration are drafting a letter to Iran from the president aimed at unfreezing relations and opening the way for direct talks, Britain's Guardian newspaper reported on Thursday.

GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli air strikes threatened on Thursday to undermine efforts by President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy to reinforce a fragile Gaza ceasefire.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq will not renew the license of Blackwater Worldwide, the private security firm accused of killing Iraqi civilians while protecting U.S. diplomats, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Thursday.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A company at the center of a salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 500 people was broadening its recall of peanut products, U.S. health officials said on Wednesday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Snow and ice storms across the U.S. Midwest knocked out power to more than 870,000 homes and businesses from Oklahoma to West Virginia on Wednesday, local utilities reported.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - US envoy George Mitchell met with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Thursday as spiralling Gaza violence threatened to shatter ceasefires that ended a war in the Hamas-run enclave.

DAVOS, Switzerland (AFP) - The United Nations will launch a 613 million dollar appeal to meet the "massive" needs of those hit by Israel's 22-day war in Gaza, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said Thursday.

PARIS, (AFP) - Strikes delayed French commuter traffic but, initially at least, the promised "Black Thursday" protest against President Nicolas Sarkozy's government was less dramatic than expected.

TOKYO (AFP) - Researchers in Japan said Thursday they had developed a flu vaccine that works against multiple viruses and could prevent a deadly pandemic of bird flu mutations.

CHICAGO (AFP) - Ford Motor Co. announced Thursday a quarterly loss of 5.9 billion dollars, capping a nightmarish year, but said it had "sufficient liquidity" to fund its turnaround plan without US government aid.

LONDON (AFP) - Anglo-Dutch energy giant Royal Dutch Shell said Thursday it made a net loss of 2.81 billion dollars (2.15 billion euros) in the final quarter of 2008 as plunging oil prices slashed the value of inventories.

MELBOURNE (AFP) - Switzerland's Roger Federer blasted Andy Roddick off-court in another fearsome display to reach the Australian Open final and stay on course for a record-tying 14th Grand Slam title on Thursday.