Best of BBC news

Plans to build an Islamic centre near Ground Zero in New York have triggered a debate across the US about the limits of religious tolerance.

Striking pictures from around the world this week.

Nasa is aiming to get closer to the Sun than ever before, with plans to plunge a car-sized unmanned spacecraft into the star's outer atmosphere.

Wolves fail to halt aspen decline

The US economy shed another 54,000 jobs in August, the third month in a row that jobs have been lost, official figures show.

BP says the cost of its Gulf of Mexico oil spill has risen to $8bn - a rise of more than $2bn in the last month alone.

A passenger was detained and four of Miami International Airport's six concourses were evacuated on Thursday after a suspicious item was spotted in a checked bag

Crocodile Dundee star Paul Hogan reaches an agreement with tax authorities in Australia allowing him to return to his home in the US.

Israeli and Palestinian leaders meet in Washington for the first direct peace talks in nearly two years and agree a framework for negotiations.

Rival Canadian gold mining companies, Goldcorp and El Dorado, lock horns in a $3bn fight to buy up Andean Resources.

Chinese investors approach Canadian pension fund over a possible rival bid for the fertiliser giant Potash Corporation.

Why aren't black American children taught to swim?

Hurricane Earl weakens as it nears the US East Coast, though officials warn it remains "large and powerful".

An explosion rips through an offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, west of the site of the blast in April that caused a huge oil spill.

A tanker carrying 9m litres of diesel fuel runs aground off the coast of northern Canada but no environmental damage is reported.

Hurricane Earl is downgraded to a category two storm as it nears the US East Coast.

The Canadian Space Agency announces astronaut Chris Hadfield will become the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station in 2013.

A growing number of New York sky-scrapers switch off their lights at night to help reduce the number of migratory birds hitting the buildings.

Burger King is being sold to private equity firm 3G Capital in a deal valued at $3.26bn (£2.1bn), it has been announced.

US authorities indict 11 German and Chinese executives for conspiring to illegally import $40m worth of honey from China.