When the nation's 9.6 percent unemployment rate for August was released Friday morning, the reaction from economists was that things could have been worse. The Bureau of Labor Statistics report showed the unemployment rate rose with employment losses outpacing gains as the economy lost 54,000 jobs during the month. (Today)

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- A blast Friday ripped through a Shiite protest, the second such attack in three days, in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, killing at least 53 people and wounding 100, police and rescue officials said. It was not immediately clear whether the bomb was detonated by a suicide bomber or a remote-controlled device. (Today)

TEHRAN, Iran -- Pro-government crowds swarmed outside the battered home of a key Iranian opposition leader Friday after militiamen attacked with firebombs and beat a bodyguard unconscious in a brazen message of intimidation and pinpoint pressure on dissent. (Today)

North Korea is preparing its largest political meeting in 30 years, and leader Kim Jong Il is expected to appoint a son to a key Workers Party position in what would be the strongest sign yet of a succession movement in the secretive communist country. (Today)

Recent Palestinian attacks on West Bank settlers, which are likely to increase in response to relaunched peace talks, pose one of the biggest challenges yet to U.S.-trained Palestinian security forces and their uneasy alliance with the Israeli military. (Today)