LONDON (AP) — Budget airline easyJet PLC says it has acquired a ton of ash from Icelandic volcanoes for use in an experiment to test ash detection technology.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Eritrea's government has jailed about 10,000 dissidents without charge or trial over the years, a rights group said in report Thursday, describing the Horn of Africa nation as one of the world's most repressive states.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Recording Industry Association of America is expanding its gold and platinum certification program to include song streams on the Internet.

MADRID (AP) — Rafael Nadal cruised into the Madrid Open quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-3 victory Thursday over Mikhail Youzhny that featured an array of creative shots.

Here's your look at highlights from the weekly AP photo report, a gallery featuring a mix of front-page photography, the odd image you might have missed and lasting moments our editors think you should see.

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Carol Wilkins leaned over the side of her father's wheelchair and handed him the small red box, a heart-shaped cutout revealing its contents: a weathered, bent silver dog tag.

ROME (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday the transfer of advanced missile defense systems from Russia to Syria would be a "destabilizing" factor for Israel's security.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The U.S. wants to keep nine bases in Afghanistan after U.S. combat troops withdraw in 2014 which is fine as long as America makes "security and economic guarantees" in exchange, President Hamid Karzai said Thursday in his first public overture in what have been private talks on a future pact between the uneasy allies.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The GOP-controlled House has passed a bill to put U.S. bondholders and people on Social Security at the front of the line to be paid if the government hits its borrowing limit.

NEW YORK (AP) — Usher will be the spark for Macy's 4th of July fireworks show.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The foreign minister of Burkina Faso on Thursday briefly passed out during a live televised news conference with his Turkish counterpart in Ankara, forcing him to delay a planned trip to Paris the next day.

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Police say five people have plunged to their deaths trying to escape a burning government building in eastern Pakistan.

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Breaking ranks with the military high command, a general is accusing President Yoweri Museveni of trying to ensure his son replaces him, the first top official to raise concerns about the purported succession plan.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — When Lalo Alcaraz saw a tweet this week that Disney was seeking to trademark "Dia de los Muertos," the name of the traditional "Day of the Dead" celebrated by millions in Mexico and the U.S., the Los Angeles-based cartoonist immediately pressed "retweet."

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A fire at a sweater manufacturer killed eight people — including a senior police officer, a Bangladeshi politician and a top clothing industry official — barely two weeks after the collapse of a building housing other garment factories where the death toll approached 1,000 on Thursday.

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Spending on prescription medicines in the U.S. fell for the first time in decades last year, slipping as cash-strapped consumers continued to cut back on use of health care services.

By Martyn Herman LONDON (Reuters) - David Moyes, who spent 11 years keeping a reliable old family saloon roadworthy with spare parts and loose change, has now got the keys to a huge red footballing Rolls Royce loaded with cash. The 50-year-old's appointment as Alex Ferguson's successor as Manchester United manager represents a gargantuan step for the plain-talking Scot who failed to win any silverware for Everton in more than a decade of hard graft on Merseyside. ...

OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) — The Baltimore Ravens acquired center A.Q. Shipley from the Indianapolis Colts for a conditional 2014 draft pick.

By Dominic Evans BEIRUT (Reuters) - The economic devastation of Syria's war could drive the economies of neighboring Lebanon and Jordan into reverse, Syria's former deputy prime minister said on Thursday. Pointing to the sharp slowdown in Lebanon's economic growth since the start of Syria's conflict in 2011, from 7 percent to barely 2 percent, Abdallah al-Dardari said there was a direct link to the ever-deepening economic collapse in Syria. ...

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Gunmen attacked an election rally in Pakistan's southern Punjab province on Thursday and abducted the son of a former prime minister, intensifying what has already been a violent run-up to Saturday's nationwide elections.