WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A major earthquake hit New Zealand's second biggest city Christchurch early on Saturday, bringing down power lines, ripping up roads and wrecking building facades, but authorities reported no deaths.

NEW YORK/DETROIT (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.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Friday he would outline new measures next week to boost the U.S. economy, but analysts were skeptical he would be able to deliver a big enough package to lift growth significantly.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Concerns over Israeli access to BlackBerry data, and the use of the device by the United States to spy on the United Arab Emirates are behind the Gulf state's moves to curb the smartphone, Dubai's police chief said.

HYANNIS, Massachusetts (Reuters) - A weakened but still dangerous Hurricane Earl churned toward the Massachusetts coast on Friday, en route to Canada's Maritime provinces, after slapping North Carolina with heavy wind and rain.

QUETTA, Pakistan (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.

HOUSTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Friday launched an investigation into Mariner Energy Inc's Gulf of Mexico platform fire, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

A powerful predawn earthquake hit New Zealand, causing water mains to break and some buildings to crumble, though there were no immediate reports of deaths.

Six job recruiters have been indicted in federal court in what the FBI has called the largest human-trafficking operation ever to result in charges in the United States.

Hurricane Earl weakened to a Category 1 storm Friday with winds of 85 mph, but the Northeast was still preparing to feel its fury.

A cargo plane has crashed in an uninhabited area near the Dubai airport, according to the official WAM news agency in the United Arab Emirates.

A Florida judge sentenced Rachel Wade, the 20-year-old woman convicted of second-degree murder for fatally stabbing her romantic rival in a fight last year, to 27 years in prison Friday.

European scientists say they've figured out the recipe for water in space: Just add starlight.

A shootout between soldiers and suspected drug dealers in northeast Mexico left 25 of the suspects dead, the regional military said Thursday.

President Obama is pledging to propose a new package of job-boosting ideas next week -- just don't call it stimulus.

As better-than-expected economic data boosted investor morale this week, the greenback lost some of its luster, falling against a basket of currencies.

U.S. companies modestly added jobs in August, easing concerns that the nation might slip back into a recession. The latest jobs report released by the Labor Department today is better than expected. Employment in the private sector rose by 67,000 payrolls, after a revised 107,000 increase in July that was more than originally estimated. The report immediately sent stocks rallying, despite the fact that overall employment dropped and the unemployment rate climbed to 9.6% from 9.5%, as more people actively searched for jobs.

It's not yet clear what Burger King's new owner, the Brazilian-backed private equity firm 3G Capital, has in mind for the troubled No. 2 fast-food chain. But a total strategic revamp is in order.

Stocks closed near session highs Friday, with the Dow erasing its losses for the year, as investors welcomed a better-than-expected report on the U.S. job market.

A jobless recovery? Hardly.

Business hiring is picking up, but not enough to make up for the massive losses of temporary government jobs.

LONDON (Reuters) - God did not create the universe and the "Big Bang" was an inevitable consequence of the laws of physics, the eminent British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking argues in a new book.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Efforts to sequence the wheat genome are only at an initial stage of what will be a long-term project requiring more government support, leading Chinese and international scientists said on Tuesday.

LONDON (Reuters) - An international scientific team has identified for the first time a genetic risk factor associated with common migraines and say their research could open the way for new treatments to prevent migraine attacks.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. climate panel should make predictions only when it has solid evidence and should avoid policy advocacy, scientists said in a report on Monday that called for thorough reform of the body.

LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have cracked and published almost all of the highly complex genetic code of wheat -- a staple food for more than a third of the world's people -- and say breeders can now use their findings to improve yields.