TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has named state Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa (kee-AY'-sah) to temporarily fill the U.S. Senate seat that opened up this week after Frank Lautenberg's death.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee said on Thursday the collection of telephone records from millions of Americans as part of counterterrorism efforts has been going on for seven years and lawmakers were aware of it. Senators Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, and Saxby Chambliss, a Georgia Republican, told reporters they did not have a problem with the government's secret collection of records from millions of Verizon customers. "It's called protecting America," said Feinstein, the chairwoman of the committee. ...

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The son of Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a cyclist, the Rio de Janeiro state judiciary said Thursday.

DENVER (AP) — George Karl is following general manager Masai Ujiri out of Denver.

BERLIN (AP) — One of the five defendants in Germany's highest-profile neo-Nazi murder trial in decades has apologized to the victims' families.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Eric Holder denied Thursday that the Obama administration is killing suspected terrorists with drone strikes to avoid capturing them and sending them to the Guantanamo prison it wants to close.

ISTANBUL (AP) — The protests in Turkey that began over government plans to uproot trees in Istanbul's main square to make way for a shopping mall have entered their seventh day. The protests have grown into something much bigger than protecting trees, drawing on a deep undercurrent of discontent against what many feel is the increasing arrogance of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Though Erdogan insists he is a servant of the country, protests have spread nationwide.

WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — The man who helped pave the way for rock 'n' roll is finally getting a permanent exhibit in his Wisconsin hometown, after more than a decade in the making.

By Paul Sandle and Brenda Goh LONDON (Reuters) - China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd should not have been allowed to become embedded in Britain's critical network infrastructure without the knowledge and scrutiny of ministers, parliamentarians said on Thursday. The Chinese company has a multi-billion pound deal to supply equipment to BT Group Plc, Britain's largest telecoms operator, stretching back to 2005. It also supplies O2 (part of Spain's Telefonica SA), EE (owned by France Telecom SA and Deutsche Tekekom AG) and TalkTalk. ...

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Esther Williams, the swimming champion turned actress who starred in glittering and aquatic Technicolor musicals of the 1940s and 1950s, has died. She was 91.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North and South Korea on Thursday agreed to hold talks on reopening a jointly run factory complex and other cross-border issues, after months of deteriorating relations and a day before a U.S.-China summit in which the North is expected to be a key topic.

LONDON (Reuters) - Ofgem on Thursday launched a review of how price reporting agencies (PRAs) set wholesale gas and electricity prices, while separately investigating allegations of market rigging and beefing up its enforcement role. "We are...looking at the issue of price manipulation more broadly and the role of price reporting agencies in respect of the gas and electricity markets," Ofgem said. ...

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisia called out the army to protect the Turkish Embassy following calls for protests in solidarity with demonstrators in Turkey as the country's prime minister visited Tunis.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House intel chairman says domestic terror attack thwarted because of phone records collection.

By Huw Jones and John O'Donnell LONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union plans to wrest from London the supervision of Libor and other benchmarks, such as those covering oil and commodities, are "intrusive" and likely to be changed, a top EU lawmaker said on Thursday. The bloc's financial services chief Michel Barnier is due to publish his plans in coming weeks to regulate how benchmarks are compiled, aiming to stop the rigging for which three banks have been fined. The plans are likely to raise hackles in Britain, as Brussels seeks to take on powers currently held by national regulators. ...

By David Ingram WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Attorney General Eric Holder said on Thursday that members of Congress were fully briefed on the intelligence-gathering program that included the daily collection of telephone records from Verizon Communications. Holder, the chief law enforcement official, said it would not be appropriate for him to say anything more in a public forum about the program. Britain's Guardian newspaper published on Wednesday a secret court order related to the collection of records of millions of Verizon customers. ...

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's prime minister used less belligerent language Thursday but said he would go ahead with redevelopment plans that have sparked nationwide protests, in comments that could be decisive in determining whether demonstrations fizzle out or rage on.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday threw out the Pennsylvania governor's lawsuit against the NCAA over sanctions against Penn State related to Jerry Sandusky, calling his argument "a Hail Mary pass" that easily warranted dismissal.

DRESDEN, Germany (AP) — The surging Elbe River crested Thursday in the eastern German city of Dresden, sparing the historic city center but engulfing wide areas of the Saxony capital.

By Jack Kim and Jane Chung SEOUL (Reuters) - North and South Korea announced on Thursday they were planning to hold talks for the first time since February 2011, signaling attempts to repair ties that have been ruptured for months. For months earlier this year, North Korea unleashed an almost daily stream of threats against the South and its ally, the United States, vowing to attack them with nuclear weapons. Tension on the Korean peninsula was at the highest in decades, but has waned since joint U.S.-South Korean military drills ended in late April. ...