Aaron's Daily WWW Newspaper

CLEVELAND - Police were searching early Friday for a man suspected in the slayings of four children and his wife in what authorities were calling one of the city's most horrific shootings in years.

SAN FRANCISCO - The mood was somber among gay rights supporters after a bruising, three-hour hearing before the justices of California's highest court, who expressed considerable skepticism at the idea of overturning the state's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage.

LOS ANGELES - Thirteen turned out to be the lucky number for Anoop Desai on "American Idol." After announcing the three remaining finalists at the end of Thursday's wild card round, Simon Cowell announced that the much-loved 22-year-old college student from Chapel Hill, N.C., won a previously unannounced 13th spot in the next round of the popular Fox singing contest. In past seasons, 12 finalists were picked to move on.

BOSTON - What is 7 feet long, weighs 30 pounds, has eight arms and fits in a box slightly larger than a milk crate? Truman the octopus. Truman squeezed into a clear, acrylic box while trying to snag his lunch at the New England Aquarium in Boston.

DENVER - As promised, Carmelo Anthony sprinted straight to the bench when coach George Karl sent in a sub this time. Anthony scored 38 points in his return from a one-game suspension for refusing to come out of a game last weekend, and he led the Denver Nuggets past the Portland Trail Blazers 106-90 Thursday night.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. employers axed 651,000 jobs in February, pushing the unemployment rate to its highest in 25 years, as companies buckled under the strain of a recession that is showing no signs of ending, according to a government report.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday holds Washington's first high-level meeting with Russia since President Barack Obama took office in January, seeking to ease tensions and win help over Afghanistan.

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea told the North on Friday to immediately withdraw a threat it made against the South's commercial airliners, which has forced them to stop flying near the airspace of the reclusive communist state.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Saying Americans cannot afford to put off an overhaul of healthcare, President Barack Obama vowed on Thursday to break the political stalemate that has blocked past efforts and pass a comprehensive plan this year.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's investigation of Iranian-American freelance journalist Roxana Saberi has been completed and she will be freed soon, a official from the prosecutor's office said on Friday.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's economic leaders struck a note of quiet confidence on Friday that the economy is already reviving in response to swift action to counter the shock of the global financial crisis.

BISHKEK (Reuters) - Kyrgyzstan, which last month decided to close a U.S. military air base, on Friday canceled similar agreements with other members of the U.S.-led coalition fighting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.

MULTAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani authorities have identified the kidnappers of an American working for the U.N. refugee agency but want to avoid any hasty action that may endanger him, the country's foreign minister said.

KHARTOUM (AFP) - Fears were mounting on Friday of a new humanitarian disaster in Darfur after Sudan ordered the expulsion of aid agencies, with the United Nations warning that thousands of people could die.

GENEVA (AFP) - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton prepared to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for the first time in Geneva on Friday, with both sides expressing guarded optimism on at least some issues.

CHICAGO (AFP) - Four children and an adult woman were killed and another child seriously wounded in a shooting rampage in the midwestern city of Cleveland, Ohio, police said.

NAIROBI (AFP) - A senior United Nations official called Friday for an independent probe into the assassination of two rights activists who had been at the forefront of a campaign against extrajudicial killings.

SEOUL (AFP) - South Korea told North Korea Friday to drop "inhumane" military threats which have forced Seoul's commercial airlines to divert flights away from the communist state's airspace.

REYKJAVIK (AFP) - The wave of financial disasters which hit Iceland late last year has thrown the economy into recession, official data showed on Friday.

SHANGHAI (AFP) - US beverage giant Coca-Cola said Friday it would invest two billion dollars in China over the next three years as it looks to dramatically increase its presence in the world's largest market.