Worldwide News

AP - Stephen Strasburg has a torn elbow ligament and will likely have Tommy John surgery, bringing the pitcher’s promising rookie season to an abrupt end.

In a scientific tour-de-force that has been hailed as the most significant breakthrough in wheat production since the cereal crop was cultivated by the first farmers more than 10,000 years ago, scientists have decoded the genome of the wheat plant. As a result, new breeds of disease-resistant crops could be producing higher wheat yields in as little as five years’ time, raising the prospect of lower bread prices and greater food security in a more populated world. And rather than guard their knowledge, the British scientists responsible for the research will today place a draft version of the genome online, making it available for free to wheat breeders around the world, who will be able to…

Reuters - Japan’s prime minister said on Friday he will take firm measures on currencies when needed and will meet the Bank of Japan governor, increasing the possibility the central bank will ease policy soon as it confronts a surging yen.

AP - The federal government said it will start work Monday to remove the temporary cap that stopped oil from gushing out of BP’s blown-out Gulf well so that engineers can raise a key piece of equipment from the seabed.

AFP - Pakistan ordered 300,000 people to evacuate a southern city after waters breached its defences as the United Nations warned Friday the country’s worst humanitarian crisis was deepening.

DETROIT — Toyota Motor, the Japanese automaker, said Thursday that it would recall 1.13 million compact cars, days after federal safety regulators upgraded an investigation into numerous complaints about the cars stalling. Add to Portfolio Toyota Motor Corp Go to your Portfolio » The recall, which covers the 2005 through 2008 Corolla sedan and Matrix hatchback, is the 15th this year for Toyota, which has found itself battling widespread questions about the quality and reliability of its vehicles. Toyota has recalled about 11 million vehicles worldwide since November, including about 8 million in connection with complaints about sudden acceleration. The latest recall is not related…

Reuters - Ford Motor Co> is recalling about 575,000 Windstar vans in 21 cold-weather U.S. states and Canada from model years 1998 to 2003 because of the possibility that the rear axle may fracture due to corrosion, federal regulators reported on Friday.