LONDON — The FBI said Friday that two suspects in the failed car bombings in Britain had made inquiries about working in the United States, and an Iraqi doctor arrested at the attack on Glasgow airport became the first person charged in the terror plot.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned Britons to expect increased security measures to guard against more attacks, but he expressed confidence investigators were unraveling the group behind the bombing attempts in London and Glasgow.

"From what I know, we are getting to the bottom of this cell that has been responsible for what is happening," Brown told British Broadcasting Corp.

Police were being stretched to the limit over the weekend with the Wimbledon tennis tournament, the Tour de France in London and a Live Earth concert starring Madonna. Several ceremonies also were planned Saturday to mark the second anniversary of suicide bombings that killed 52 people and wounded more than 700 in London on July 7, 2005.

"We have got to avoid the possibility — and it is very, very difficult — that people can use crowded places for explosions," Brown said.

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Employers boost payrolls by 132,000 in June, unemployment rate holds steady at 4.5 percent

WASHINGTON — Employers boosted payrolls by a better-than-expected 132,000 jobs in June, enough to keep the unemployment rate at a relatively low 4.5 percent. It was another sign that the economy is snapping out of a nearly yearlong sluggish spell.

The latest picture of the nation's employment climate, released by the Labor Department on Friday, also showed that workers saw solid gains in their wages last month.

The tally of 132,000 new jobs was stronger than the 125,000 that economists were forecasting. They did, however, predict that job growth would be sufficient to hold the unemployment rate at 4.5 percent, where it has stood for three straight months.

"The economy seems poised to return to its full potential," said Carl Tannenbaum, chief economist at LaSalle Bank. "Employers are seeking opportunities to add to their talent pools. The demand for labor is being driven by very solid demand for goods and services."

New hiring in the areas of education, health services, leisure and hospitality and government drove overall job growth last month. Construction companies also expanded employment — even as they coped with fallout from the housing slump. Those employment gains swamped job cuts at factories, retailers and certain professional and business services.

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Heat wave scorches western states, although California expected to see some relief

BOISE, Idaho — When the mercury hit 104, Rick Overton took his colleagues tubing on the Boise River, thinking it couldn't get much hotter. On Friday, parts of the West got a little relief, but not everywhere — Boise was expected to hit 107.

"Once it gets that high — 105, 107, 109 — it just feels hot," said Overton, a copywriter for the digital marketing firm Wirestone.

Warnings of excessive heat were still posted Friday morning for much of Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Oregon and Washington state. The Southwest was expected to cool off slightly, though, said weather service meteorologist Jamie Meier.

"The high-pressure system that has been stubbornly parked over Southern California is on a weakening trend, allowing temperatures to cool down to seasonable temperatures," Meier said.

For California firefighters who have been trying to put down a 1,500-acre blaze in the rugged canyons above Santa Barbara, the cooler forecast could only sound good. Four had to be treated for heat exhaustion on Thursday.

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2 Florida teens accused of gang raping woman, forcing her son, 12, to join in the assault

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Two teenagers were accused of gang raping a woman and forcing her 12-year-old son to join in the attack, then beating him and pouring cleaning solution into his eyes.

Authorities allege Avion Lawson, 14, and Nathan Walker, 16, were among a group of about 10 masked suspects who forced their way into the woman's apartment in a crime-ridden housing project the night of June 18.

The two were being held without bail Friday on suspicion of armed sexual battery by multiple perpetrators, sexual performance by a child, armed home invasion and aggravated battery. Both were arrested this week, but formal charges had not been filed.

"Any rape case is horrible but this takes it to another level, something you can't think of even in your worst dreams," police spokesman Ted White said.

According to the police report, a man knocked on the woman's door at about 9 p.m. and told her he had a flat tire. The mother and son, whom police have not identified, went outside and were ambushed by a group of gun-wielding suspects.

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Pa. doctor's wife found guilty of murder-for-hire in his shooting death along Ohio turnpike

AKRON, Ohio — A woman accused of offering her younger lover a share of her husband's multimillion-dollar estate if he would kill the 69-year-old was convicted Friday of murder-for-hire and other charges.

Donna Moonda, 48, could now face the death penalty.

The defense had argued that her 25-year-old lover, Damian Bradford, had acted alone and that Moonda had tried to revive her doctor husband after Bradford shot him along the Ohio turnpike. Federal prosecutors said the two were in it together and portrayed Moonda as a perpetual liar, thief and drug user.

"Two minds were set on murder," assistant U.S. attorney Linda Barr told jurors Thursday in closing arguments. "Two fingers were on the trigger of that gun on May 13, 2005, and two people must be held accountable."

Bradford has admitted shooting the doctor in the side of the head after his wife pulled over on the turnpike south of Cleveland, supposedly to let her husband take the wheel.

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World shrinks for U.S. diplomats as security rules keep them inside embassies

WASHINGTON — Threatened abroad, U.S. diplomats have been hit with unprecedented security restrictions, confining many to fortress-like compounds and frustrating Bush administration efforts to get out and counter anti-U.S. sentiment.

Lockdowns and prohibitions on travel now apply to Americans posted to embassies and consulates in at least 28 nations, according to an Associated Press survey of State Department warnings, internal directives and officials. More than half the nations are identified as key to curbing the spread of militant Islam.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the number of posts deemed too dangerous for U.S. diplomats to bring families has doubled, from 10 to 21. And since the 1980s, the number of missions where employees receive danger pay has soared from two — Colombia and Lebanon — to 26.

The rise in hotspot posts has made it difficult for the department to recruit people to serve in them, including new embassies opening in Afghanistan and Iraq.

But the no-family rules go far beyond Kabul and Baghdad, covering all seven U.S. missions in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia as well as 12 posts in Bosnia, the Central African Republic, Congo, Kosovo, Liberia and Sudan.

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Washington, D.C. late-arriving venue for worldwide Live Earth concerts kicking off in Australia

SYDNEY, Australia — A ninth concert was added Friday to the global series of shows to raise awareness about climate change, whose worldwide lineup includes Madonna, Metallica, the Police and Kanye West.

Country music stars Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood will headline a show in Washington on the National Mall, about two blocks from the U.S. Capitol. The biggest names will appear at Live Earth concerts in London and the United States, with more modest lineups of mostly local and regional acts in Australia, Japan, China, South Africa, Brazil and Germany.

Live Earth was inspired and is backed by former Vice President Al Gore's campaign to force global warming onto the international political agenda by generating a groundswell of public concern.

But critics say that it lacks achievable goals, and that bringing in jet-setting rock stars in fuel-guzzling airliners to plug in to amplifier stacks and cranking up the sound may send mixed messages about energy conservation.

"The last thing the planet needs is a rock concert," The Who's singer Roger Daltrey recently told a British newspaper.

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China city opens public toilet with more than 1,000 stalls, Egyptian theme, soothing music

BEIJING — They're flush with pride in a southwestern Chinese city where a recently opened porcelain palace features an Egyptian facade, soothing music and more than 1,000 toilets spread out over 32,290 square feet.

Officials in Chongqing are preparing to submit an application to Guinness World Records to have the free four-story public bathroom listed as the world's largest, the state-run China Central Television reported Friday.

"We are spreading toilet culture. People can listen to gentle music and watch TV," said Lu Xiaoqing, an official with the Yangrenjie, or "Foreigners Street," tourist area where the bathroom is located. "After they use the bathroom they will be very, very happy."

Footage aired on CCTV showed people milling about the sprawling facility and washing their hands at trough sinks. For open-aired relief, there is a cluster of stalls without a roof.