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BEIRUT - Syrian rebels on Friday captured a strategic town near the border with Jordan after a day of fierce clashes that killed at least 38 people, activists said, as opposition fighters expand their presence in the south, considered a gateway to Damascus. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 16 rebels were among the dead in the fighting in and around Dael. The town lies less than 10 miles from the Jordanian border in Daraa province, where the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's regime began two years ago. The rebel gains have coincided with what regional officials and military experts say is a sharp increase in weapons shipments to opposition fighters by Arab governments in coordination with the United States in the hopes of readying a push into Assad's stronghold in the capital, Damascus.

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SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea's leader said Friday that his rocket forces were ready "to settle accounts with the U.S.," an escalation of the country's bellicose rhetoric and a direct response to the unprecedented announcement that U.S. nuclear-capable B-2 bombers had joined military drills with South Korea. Kim Jong Un's comments in a meeting with his senior generals are part of a rising tide of threats meant to highlight anger over the military drills and recent U.N. sanctions over Pyongyang's nuclear test.

He could have been president of the United States. He had big dreams, big ideas - and a likability factor that was almost preternatural. Instead, Jim McGreevey became the butt of jokes on late-night TV when he stepped down as New Jersey's governor in 2004, admitting he is a homosexual and accused by a male adviser, Golan Cipel, of sexual harassment. Fascinated by his public meltdown, journalist and filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi went in search of McGreevey in 2009 and found a newly revitalized man who has reinvented himself - he'd say he finally has found himself - as an openly gay prison counselor and would-be priest.

VATICAN CITY - The conclave to elect a successor to Pope Benedict XVI will begin Tuesday after a morning Mass in St. Peter's Basilica. The precise times haven't been set, but the cardinals will likely be inside the Sistine Chapel by late morning Philadelphia time. They will enter the conclave just 12 days after Pope Benedict abdicated, taking advantage of his last-minute rule change that gave them the option of starting earlier than the previously required 15 days after the papacy was vacated.

NEW YORK - The Dow pushed further into record territory Thursday, having surpassed its previous all-time high two days ago. The reason was the latest evidence that hiring is picking up. Stocks started higher after the Labor Department reported that the number of Americans seeking unemployment aid fell by 7,000 last week, driving the four-week average to its lowest level in five years - a positive sign ahead of Friday's employment report. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 33.25 points, or 0.2 percent, to 14,329.49.

NEW YORK - After barreling through a record the day before, the Dow Jones industrial average meandered higher Wednesday, edging up 42.47 points, or 0.3 percent, to close at 14,296.24. An encouraging job-market report helped nudge the market and pushed bond prices lower. On Tuesday, the Dow blew past the previous all-time high, which it hit more than five years ago. The index of 30 big corporations has more than doubled since plunging during the financial crisis in March 2009. In the past, stock indexes have often drifted lower in the months after breaking through previous records.

JOHN Conrad Wagner didn't talk about his father's death. The 32-year-old lawyer and Center City resident had heard his father's cries as he plunged from a cliff while they hiked alone in 2011 in Mount Rainier National Park in Washington. But when his mother, Carolyn, would ask about that devastating day, he refused to talk about it, her best friend, Patsy Batsch, said. "It did bother her. I think she did have questions," said Batsch. "She said when the time is right she was going to try and talk to him about it. " The time never came.

Four Alabama football players have been dismissed from the team following their arrests after two robberies on campus. Linebackers Tyler Hayes and D.J. Pettway , safety Eddie Williams , and H-back Brent Calloway "are no longer associated with the football program," coach Nick Saban said. Pettway, Williams, and Hayes were charged with two counts of second-degree robbery. Williams and Calloway were charged with fraudulent use of a credit card. Williams confessed to robbing a student who was punched in the head and face and kicked in the ribs and back, according to court documents.