(AP) — A man fired from an Oklahoma food processing plant beheaded a woman with a knife and was attacking another worker when he was shot and wounded by a company official, police said Friday.

Moore Police Sgt. Jeremy Lewis said police are waiting until Alton Nolen, 30, is conscious to arrest him in Thursday's attack and have asked the FBI to help investigate after co-workers at Vaughan Foods in the south Oklahoma City suburb told authorities that he recently started trying to convert several employees to Islam.

Nolen allegedly stabbed Colleen Hufford, 54, severing her head, Lewis said.

"Yes, she was beheaded," Lewis told The Associated Press before a Friday news conference.

Lewis said Nolen then allegedly stabbed Traci Johnson, 43, a number of times before Mark Vaughan, a reserve sheriff's deputy and the company's chief operating officer, shot him.

"This was not going to stop if he didn't stop it. It could have gotten a lot worse," Lewis said. "The threat had already stopped once we arrived."

Lewis said Moore police have asked the FBI to look into the man's background because of the nature of the attack, which follows a series of videotaped beheadings by Islamic State militants.

In a statement, FBI Special Agent in Charge James E. Finch said the motive for the attack has not been determined but that there is no reason to believe there is a threat to anyone else.

Johnson and the suspect were hospitalized and in stable condition Friday, Lewis said. He did not yet know what charges will be filed.

Oklahoma Department of Corrections records indicate Nolen has served time in prison and is on probation for assault and battery on a police officer. He also was convicted of cocaine possession with intent to distribute in 2011.

Corrections records show Nolen has multiple, apparently religious tattoos, including one referencing Jesus and one in Arabic that means "peace be with you."

Lewis said Nolen had been fired in a building that houses the company's human resources office, then immediately drove to the entrance of the business. Lewis said he didn't know why the man was fired.

A Vaughan spokeswoman said the company was "shocked and deeply saddened" by the attack.

(Reuters) - There was no other news on the Rialto on Friday as A-list stars glided into Venice to celebrate the wedding of Hollywood hero George Clooney and human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin.

The two-time Oscar winner and Kentucky-born Clooney, 53, is set to renounce his oath of bachelorhood and marry British-Lebanese barrister Alamuddin, 36, in a multi-day extravaganza in Italy's floating city.

A beaming Clooney and his bride-to-be took a water taxi on the Grand Canal on Friday, and more boats bearing blue flags printed with the initials “A” and “G” waited in the morning at Venice's airport to ferry early arrivals including Ellen Barkin, Clooney’s co-star in "Ocean’s Thirteen".

Tourists and Venetians alike clustered after dark on Friday on a pier next to the seven-star Aman Canal Grande Hotel, a fresco-filled palazzo which the pair reportedly reserved for an exchange-of-vows ceremony and reception on Saturday.

Among those hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the glamorous guests on a list rumoured to hold 150 names was Osmany Mena, 37, who was visiting Venice from Miami, Florida.

"They talked about Sandra Bullock, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie. It would be cool to see any of them, all of them,” Mena said, mentioning Clooney's co-star Bullock in the 2013 blockbuster "Gravity" and another recently married Hollywood power couple.

Local press said Matt Damon, star of "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and "The Bourne Identity", landed later in the day at the airport on Venice's long Lido island.

Alamuddin and Clooney, who vowed never to remarry after his 1993 divorce from actress Talia Balsam, posted legal notice of their plans to wed at a West London town hall in August, drawing a crowd of fans but no appearance from the couple.

Alamuddin has represented Ukrainian former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko at the European Court of Human Rights, and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in extradition proceedings.

She has been dating Clooney since October 2013, according to media reports, and their engagement was confirmed when her legal chambers issued a statement in April to congratulate the couple.

Alamuddin also advised former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan on the conflict in Syria, an issue about which Clooney has spoken publicly. Clooney also recently worked as an advocate for refugees in Darfur, Sudan.

   

CELEBRITY STATUS  

Speculation and rumours about the wedding have swirled, but always centred on Italy, where Clooney is a regular attendee of the Venice Film Festival and owns a villa by Lake Como.

He set off a media frenzy earlier this month when he was widely quoted as saying at an event in Tuscany that he and his bride-to-be had met in Italy and would marry in Venice.

The official ceremony is expected to be held on Monday at Venice's town hall, the 14th-century Ca' Farsetti palace, and Italian media reported that the former mayor of Rome, Walter Veltroni, would officiate.

Venice's local government said it would close off a few of the town's narrow pedestrian streets for two hours on Monday.

"Considering that the location of the ceremony is likely to become a target for people attracted by the celebrity status of the event, high numbers could be a problem for traffic and pose a threat to those people's safety," the notice said.

Not all Venetians were worried by the prospect of crowds. Marco Pampani, 58, an architect who lives in the city, welcomed the couple's decision to bring their nuptials there.    

"This puts the city in the spotlight," Pampani said by the Aman hotel on Friday evening, still cheery after standing there for 1 1/2 hours. "It brings people, movement, things Venice needs."

ABC NEWS -  A 10-year-old Florida boy missing since Thursday was reunited with his family Friday morning thanks to reporter Cameron Polom of ABC affiliate WFTS.

Paul Ezekiel Fagan, who has a mild learning disability, was last seen around 4 p.m. Thursday playing in the front yard of his house.

Polom says Paul lives with his grandmother, Hazel Epps, who has custody from his biological mother.

Polom was walking through the family’s neighborhood at dawn in the minutes following a media press conference on the boy's disappearance when he saw a child fitting Paul’s description behind a neighbor’s fence.

"I thought to myself oh this couldn’t be the boy, no way, and I walked over and said, 'Hey bud what’s your name?' He mumbled Paul and then I asked if I could pick him up over the fence and he gave me a huge hug before we walked over to the officers parked in front of his house," Polom said.

Polom says Paul told him he had spent the rainy night in his neighbor’s backyard that's riddled with overgrown vegetation, which made him hard to spot by previous search efforts. Paul told Polom he spent part of the night taking a cat nap in the shrubbery.

The emotionally-charged reunion was all caught on camera.

Video captured by the station shows Epps running out of the house, tears streaming down her face as she wraps her arms around her grandson.

Then, just a few hours later another homecoming played out with his father. "It's like a wonderful joy, like your son first being born," Paul’s father told WFTS.

“When his dad came later on he literally leapt into his arms,” Polom said.

When asked by Polom why he left home, he had a prompt response.

“He told me he simply needed space from his little brother,” Polom chuckled.

It's was a day that started off full of fear, and ended with smiles across the board.

(AP) — The driver of a waste-hauling truck died Friday morning after hitting a pedestrian bridge over a Detroit freeway, pulling it down onto the roadway below and snarl rush-hour traffic, officials said.

Reports of a bridge collapse came into police about 6 a.m. They determined a boom on a waste-hauling truck was extended too high to go under the bridge, Michigan State Police Lt. Michael Shaw said at the scene.

"When the boom struck the bridge, it actually pulled the bridge down with it," Shaw said.

State transportation officials said the bridge was in "fair to good" condition, meaning that it was safe for use before being hit by the truck. No one was on the bridge when it fell, Shaw said, and the timing of the crash prevented it from being much worse.

"It's just the beginning of rush hour, so nobody else was struck," Shaw said. "If this would have happened maybe an hour later it would have been a lot worse."

Shaw said the driver was taken to a hospital and died, but he didn't have details about what caused the driver's death. The driver's identity has not been released.

Barnika Cage, who lives a block from the bridge, told The Detroit News she heard a "boom" sound, went down the street and saw that the bridge had fallen. She said she saw a man get out of the truck, stumble, and then fall face first on the grass along the freeway.

"There was blood all over his face," Cage said. "I was just praying he was OK."

Traffic was being forced off the freeway in both directions, officials said. The Michigan Department of Transportation and state police said they weren't sure how long the roadway would be closed.

At freeway speeds, "momentum is enough to take down the bridge" when hit by a truck, Shaw said.

MDOT spokeswoman Diane Cross said the bridge would be removed from the freeway after police complete their on-scene investigation. She said she didn't immediately know the age of the bridge, but said it wasn't replaced when the freeway was rebuilt in 2009.

"It still had many years of service left," she said of the bridge. "It's only down because a truck pulled it down."

(AP) — Prospective Republican presidential candidates are expected to promote "religious liberty" at home and abroad at a gathering of religious conservatives, rebuking an unpopular President Barack Obama while skirting divisive social issues that have tripped up the GOP.

The annual Values Voter Summit opens Friday in Washington with speeches from several potential presidential candidates, including Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. The speaking program features ambitious Republicans with positions on social issues across the spectrum — from the libertarian-leaning Paul, who favors less emphasis on abortion and gay marriage, to Huckabee, a former Southern Baptist pastor whose conservative social values define his brand.

But evangelical organizers of the event largely expect participants to unite around what they call Obama's attack on religious liberty, according to Tony Perkins, president of the host organization, the Family Research Council. Perkins cited an Obama administration rule that compels health insurers to cover female contraception in addition to a foreign policy he says doesn't do enough to protect Christian values around the world.

"Without religious freedom, we lose the ability to even address those other issues," Perkins said of social issues, declaring that "a fundamental shift" is underway toward religious freedom but that evangelical voters would not forget conservative values such as traditional marriage come Election Day.

The intraparty debate over social issues has broad implications for the GOP's struggle to improve its brand ahead of the November elections and the 2016 presidential contest. The Republican National Committee released an internal audit after the disappointing 2012 election season calling for party leaders to be more "inclusive and welcoming" on social issues.

"If we are not, we will limit our ability to attract young people and others, including many women, who agree with us on some but not all issues," the report reads.

Paul's remarks Friday will include a strong emphasis on Christian persecution abroad, according to excerpts obtained by The Associated Press. Advisers say he will reiterate calls to restrict foreign aid to countries that don't protect religious freedom — citing Pakistan and Sudan — in a speech that will describe an America as being in "a spiritual crisis."

"Our moral compass is wavering," Paul says in his prepared remarks. "What America needs is not just another politician or more promises. What America needs is a revival."

Jindal's advisers said he would use a similar theme. The Louisiana governor plans to highlight "the silent war on religious liberty," a subject he outlined in a February speech at the Reagan Library.

The conference will not ignore social issues, however. Panel discussions are scheduled with titles like "Pro-Life Battleground 2014" and "The Future of Marriage: To the Supreme Court and Beyond."

There will also be a strong focus on national security and foreign policy.

A dinner reception Saturday will honor Meriam Ibrahim, the Sudanese woman initially sentenced to death for refusing to denounce her Christian faith. She left Sudan after a high court reversed her sentence and moved to New Hampshire.

Speakers are also expected to address rising tensions in the Middle East as the U.S. intensifies its fight against the Islamic extremists in Iraq and Syria.

(AP) — U.S.-led airstrikes targeted Syrian oil installations held by the extremist Islamic State group overnight and early Thursday, killing at least 19 people as more families of militants left their key stronghold, fearing further raids, activists said.

The strikes aimed to knock out one of the militants' main revenue streams — black market oil sales that the U.S. says earn up to $2 million a day for the group. That funding, along with a further estimated $1 million a day from other smuggling, theft and extortion, has been crucial in enabling the extremists to overrun much of Syria and neighboring Iraq.

The United States and its Arab allies have been carrying out strikes in Syria for the past three days, trying to uproot the group, which has carved out a self-declared state straddling the border, imposed a harsh version of Islamic law and massacred opponents. The U.S. has been conducting air raids against the group in neighboring Iraq for more than a month.

On the ground, Syria's civil war raged on unabated, with government forces taking back an important industrial area near Damascus from the rebels, according to Syrian activists and state media. Activists also accused President Bashar Assad's troops of using an unspecified deadly chemical substance.

The Islamic State group is believed to control 11 oil fields in Iraq and Syria. The new strikes involved six U.S. warplanes and 10 more from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, mainly hitting small-scale refineries used by the militants in eastern Syria, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said.

At least 14 militants were killed, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the Syrian conflict through a network of activists on the ground.

The Observatory and two independent activists said another five people who lived near one of the refineries were also killed, likely the wives and children of the militants.

Kirby said the Pentagon is looking into reports that civilians were killed but has no evidence yet.

Other strikes hit checkpoints, compounds, training grounds and vehicles of the Islamic State group in northern and eastern Syria. The raids also targeted two Syrian military bases that had been seized by the Islamic State group. In the eastern Syrian town of Mayadeen, a building used by the militants as an Islamic court was also hit.

Apparently fearing more strikes, the militants reduced the number of fighters on their checkpoints, activists said. Many of the casualties the group has sustained in the American-led air raids have been at checkpoints. Activists also said that more families of Islamic State militants were clearing out of the city of Raqqa, the group's de facto capital, on Thursday, heading eastward.

For some Syrians, the airstrikes were bitter justice.

"God has imposed on you just a part of what you have done, but you are even more criminal," wrote Mahmoud Abdul-Razak on an anti-Islamic State group Facebook page, saying that the airstrikes were divine punishment.

But other Syrians see coalition strikes as serving Assad's interests because they do not target government forces and because some have hit the Nusra Front, Syria's al-Qaida affiliate that has battled both the Islamic State and Assad's forces.

Some opposition activists saw the strikes on the Nusra Front as a sign of a wider operation targeting other Syrian militants among the anti-Assad rebellion seen as a potential threat by the United States.

"All of this is to serve Bashar, and yet people believe the Americans are protecting the Syrians," said Saad Saad, writing on the same Facebook page.

A rebel fighter in the northern Aleppo province who only identified himself by his nom de guerre, Ramy, said the U.S. airstrikes appear coordinated with the flights of Syrian military planes, which would disappear from the skies shortly before the U.S.-led coalition aircraft show up.

"It's like they coordinate with each other," Ramy told The Associated Press over Skype. "The American planes come and they go."

The Observatory reported fewer Syrian airstrikes in the past three days — likely because of the presence of the coalition aircraft. Still, bombing continued in a rebel-held area near Damascus, killing at least 8 people, including children, reported the Observatory and activist Hassan Taqulden.

Syrian Kurdish fighters also reported three airstrikes near a northern Kurdish area, which Islamic State militants have been attacking for nearly a week, prompting more than 150,000 people to flee to neighboring Turkey.

The Kurdish fighters said the U.S.-led coalition was likely behind the strikes in the area known as Ayn Arab, or Kobani to the Kurds. A spokesman for the fighters, Reydour Khalil, pleaded again that the coalition coordinate with them, claiming that the overnight strikes were not effective and struck abandoned bases.

"We are willing to cooperate with the U.S. and its alliance" by providing positions and information about the militants' movements, Khalil said.

Elsewhere in Syria, Assad's forces wrested back the rebel-held industrial area of Adra near Damascus after months of clashes.

On a government-organized tour of the area Thursday, the smell of dead bodies hung in the air amid the bombed-out buildings and torched cars. An unnamed commander accompanying the journalists said that the military dismantled 17 car bombs, and that soldiers were working to disarm more of them.

The government forces seized the Adra industrial zone after rebels accused them of using chemical explosives there on Wednesday. Footage of the wounded from the incident, in which six people were killed, showed men jerking uncontrollably and struggling to breathe before their bodies went limp.

The footage, posted on social networks, appeared genuine and consistent with The Associated Press reporting of the event depicted. But the footage did not suggest what chemical — if any — was used on the men.

(AP) — The U.S. is considering softening present demands that Iran gut its uranium enrichment program in favor of a new proposal that would allow Tehran to keep nearly half of the project intact while placing other constraints on its possible use as a path to nuclear weapons, diplomats told The Associated Press.

The initiative, revealed late Thursday, comes after months of nuclear negotiations between Iran and six world powers that have failed to substantially narrow differences over the future size and capacity of Tehran's uranium enrichment program. Iran insists it does not want atomic arms but the West is only willing to lift nuclear-related sanctions if Tehran agrees to substantially shrink enrichment and other activities that Iran could turn toward making such weapons.

The U.S., which fears Tehran may enrich to weapons-grade level used to arm nuclear warheads, ideally wants no more than 1,500 centrifuges left operating. Iran insists it wants to use the technology only to make reactor fuel and for other peaceful purposes and insists it be allowed to run at least the present 9,400 machines.

The tentative new U.S. offer attempts to meet the Iranians close to half way on numbers, said two diplomats who demanded anonymity because their information is confidential. They said it envisages letting Iran keep up to 4,500 centrifuges but would reduce the stock of uranium gas fed into the machines to the point where it would take more than a year of enriching to create enough material for a nuclear warhead.

That, they said, would give the international community enough lead time to react to any such attempt.

The diplomats emphasized that the proposal is only one of several being discussed by the six powers — the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany — and has not yet been formally submitted to the Iranians.

Other ideas also include letting Iran have more than 1,500 machines but removing or destroying much of the infrastructure needed to make them run — wiring, pipes used to feed uranium gas and other auxiliary equipment.

Both ideas would allow the Iranians to claim that they did not compromise on vows that they would never emasculate their enrichment capabilities, while keeping intact American demands that the program be downgraded to a point where it could not be quickly turned to making bombs.

The new proposals reflect Washington's desire to advance the talks ahead of a Nov. 24 deadline that was extended from July. The current round began a week ago on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, leading to speculation that foreign ministers of the negotiating nations would join in the talks. But the diplomats said that was no longer planned because of the lack of substantial progress.

The fates of a reactor under construction near the city of Arak and of an underground enrichment facility at Fordo are also contentious issues. The U.S. and its Western allies want the reactor converted to reduce to a minimum its production of plutonium, an alternate pathway to nuclear arms. And they insist that the Fordo plant be shuttered or used for something other than enrichment because it is fortified and thought to be impervious to air attacks.

The U.S. proposal drew opposition from Israel. The country's intelligence minister, Yuval Steinitz, said in a statement that "Israel strongly objects" because it believes Iran is conducting experiments meant to "ignite the nuclear chain reaction in nuclear weapons."

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama’s plan to extend health coverage to millions of poor Americans remains highly contentious, yet it is gaining momentum among several initially reluctant states where financial pragmatism is trumping ideology.

Up to a dozen states, including several led by Republicans, could move forward with plans to expand coverage under Medicaid after the November elections. They take their cue from Pennsylvania and other states that have won Washington's approval to add commercial innovations to the 50-year-old government program to make it more palatable to conservatives.

Obama's original idea of using tax money to expand Medicaid has long been a hot button for Republicans who portray the whole Obamacare healthcare overhaul as a form of socialism encroaching on American values of free enterprise and self-reliance. Texas Governor Rick Perry once said expanding Medicaid would be similar to "adding a thousand people to the Titanic.”

But two things have led to a change of heart for some Republican politicians.

Most of the 27 states that are already expanding the program have begun to reap billions in federal subsidies for insurers, hospitals and healthcare providers, putting politicians elsewhere under intense pressure to follow suit.

As demonstrated by Pennsylvania's deal with Washington, the Obama administration has also proved willing to accept tweaks that give the private sector a greater role in providing healthcare and place new responsibilities on beneficiaries.

All of that has got as many as nine states talking to the administration about potential expansion terms, with the possibility of up to three more joining the fray depending on November's election outcomes. As a result, there could be even more pressure on Republican states that have opted out, providing critical mass for an initiative central to Obamacare.

Heading into the final two years of his presidency, Obama wants to cement his legacy, a big part of which is his pledge to reduce the number of uninsured Americans.

NEW WAVE

“Pennsylvania’s the leading edge of what could be a new wave of expanding states,” said Deborah Bachrach, a Medicaid expert at the law and consulting firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.

“This would marginalize the non-expansion states to the considerable detriment of their citizens and put pressure on those who oppose expansion,” she said.

Some states with Republican governors, such as Indiana, are negotiating with Washington for agreements that could pass political muster with conservatives back home. Others such as North Carolina, South Dakota and Wyoming are exploring options.

In Florida, Wisconsin and Maine, the outcome of the Nov. 4 election could bring a shift on Medicaid if Democrats win gubernatorial races there.

Administration officials have said they are committed to working with all states to expand the scheme and noted that the number of the uninsured has declined much more in states that have expanded Medicaid coverage.

A possible new wave of expansion comes as prospects for the broad Obamacare reform are also looking up. After a rocky start a year ago, research suggests that more than 10 million people have gained health coverage under the law.

But that momentum could get lost if Republicans win control of the U.S. Senate and begin pressuring Obama to scale back the reform.

Pennsylvania's turbulent journey into the Medicaid fold offers a possible template for others, including the possibility of a political reversal if Republican Governor Tom Corbett loses his reelection bid. In polls, he is well behind Democratic challenger Tom Wolf, who favors expanding Medicaid and keeping its traditional structure intact.

Corbett, who took part in a Supreme Court challenge to the Medicaid expansion, had opposed enlarging a government program without substantial change. A pro-Medicaid coalition of more than 100 groups responded with intense lobbying during the budget approval process in early 2013.

“We had advocacy days, drive-ins, invited lawmakers in to talk about what’s important, encouraged people to talk to their local chambers of commerce and organized educational opportunities,” said Paula Bussard, policy chief at the Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, which represents 250 institutions.

A study by the RAND Corp predicted a $3 billion economic boost and the creation of 35,000 jobs – big advantages for a state that has struggled for decades to make up for jobs lost from the decline of the coal and steel industries.Corbett met in Washington with former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in April 2013 and a year of intensive talks followed.

Pennsylvania won approval for only a handful of the two dozen innovations it sought, such as permission to offer benefits through private insurers and impose premium charges on beneficiaries who earn more than the federal poverty level.

The program will also include incentives for beneficiaries to practice healthy behavior including screenings and set benefit packages according to commercial standards.

Pennsylvania officials say that while a compromise proved possible, that did not mean convergence in political positions.

“The administration comes from a different philosophical background,” said Jennifer Branstetter, Corbett’s policy chief. “They want to make sure that the program’s there for everybody. And we want to make sure it’s there if you need it."

Other Republican-led states hope the Obama administration will allow even greater flexibility.

“The hope is that they'll be less interested in the purity of their original vision and be more interested in cutting deals to get some of these things done," said Tony Venhuizen, spokesman for South Dakota’s Republican Governor Dennis Daugaard, who has been open to a Medicaid expansion.

In some states, pro-expansion politicians are trying to win conservative support by pushing market-based innovations that over time could trim the cost of traditional Medicaid.

"Eventually, they could meld together," said Nebraska Senator Kathy Campbell, a Republican who has helped lead discussions with Washington.

But while the turning tide on Medicaid bodes well for Obamacare, Republicans refuse to concede any points in the ideological battle around the healthcare model.

(Reuters) - California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill that bans prisons from sterilizing inmates without their consent, his office said on Thursday, after media reports and a later audit showed officials failed to obtain consent from dozens of incarcerated women.

The bill prohibits sterilizations of inmates as a means of birth control in correctional facilities except for when a patient's life is in danger or when there is a medical need and no less drastic alternatives are available.

The bill passed both the state's assembly and senate chambers unanimously last month.

"Pressuring a vulnerable population into making permanent reproductive choices without informed consent is unacceptable, and violates our most basic human rights," said the bill's author, state Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson, in a statement.

The measure was introduced earlier this year in the wake of allegations, first highlighted by the non-profit Center for Investigative Reporting, that the state failed to obtain informed consent from some female inmates who had their fallopian tubes tied.

An audit released in June showed that errors were made in getting proper consent from 39 women inmates out of 144 who underwent the procedure while incarcerated between 2005 and 2011.

Prison rules make the procedure, known as tubal ligation, available to inmates as part of regular obstetrical care. But until the issue was broached in 2010 by an inmates' rights group, proper authorization was rarely obtained, the state auditor's report said.

The audit was a blow to the state's troubled prison system and came as California struggles to meet court-ordered demands to improve medical and mental healthcare in its overcrowded prisons.

Medical care in California's prisons has been under the supervision of a federally appointed receiver since 2006.

(Reuters) - The dollar held just below a four-year high against a basket of currencies on Friday, fuelled by the biggest yield advantage over the euro in nearly 15 years as the Federal Reserve contemplates hiking interest rates.

European equities shrugged off a sharp sell-off in Asian and U.S. markets overnight, clawing off one-month lows and led by euro zone banks, seen as the big winners of the European Central Bank's measures to prop up inflation and kick-start growth.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a slightly firmer start on Wall Street after Thursday's sharp selloff triggered by Apple Inc APPL.O and the rallying dollar.

The dollar index .DXY, which tracks the greenback against a basket of major currencies, edged up to 85.278, not far from a four-year high of 85.485 hit on Thursday.

The dollar is on track for its 11th successive weekly rise, something it has not achieved in four decades.

"It's Friday and so we may see some consolidation, but in general the dollar has broken through a number of long-term levels, so there's scope for us to go further before we meet much resistance," said Neil Mellor, a strategist with Bank of New York Mellon in London.

"Against the euro we have a forecast in the low $1.20s for a year's time, but the way things are going we could get there fairly quickly."

The dollar has been driven higher by the divergent monetary policy outlooks between a rate-hike-contemplating Fed and an ECB and Bank of Japan that are mulling further stimulus.

The yield difference between 10-year U.S. Treasuries US10YT=RR and German Bunds DE10YT=RR reached its widest in nearly 15 years on Thursday, keeping pressure on the euro.

High bond yields tend to attract more fund inflows as bond investments account for a big chunk of international capital flows.

The euro was steady on the day at $1.2746 EUR=, after falling as low as $1.26955 on trading platform EBS on Thursday, its lowest since November 2012.

ECB HOPES

European stocks were initially caught in Wall Street and Asia's downdraft but quickly recovered as banking stocks extended gains.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 of top European shares rose 0.3 percent at 1,376.61 points, retreating from its lowest level in almost a month hit the previous day.

Investors increasingly expect the region's banking stocks to rally in the next few months as the ECB steps up its efforts to support the currency bloc's anaemic growth.

Societe General equity analysts recommend buying European banks, as the central bank's asset quality review next month is set to bring more visibility on the sector.

"It's a theme that many clients want to play, but not necessarily directly with long positions on the cash market. There's been a big rise in the open interest in calls on banking stocks in the past few months," said Vincent Cassot, head of equity derivatives strategy at Societe Generale.

Brent crude nudged up to $97 a barrel but was still headed for its biggest monthly drop since April 2013 as rising supplies outweighed fears that U.S.-led strikes against Islamist militants in Syria and Iraq will disrupt oil production.

Slowing economic activity in Europe and Asia has dampened demand for oil, while supply is rising.

Spot gold XAU= added about 0.3 percent to $1,226.40 an ounce, after rebounding off Thursday's session low of $1,206.85 an ounce, which was its weakest level since Jan. 2. It looked set to snap a three-week losing streak, though dollar strength kept it in danger of breaking below $1,200 an ounce.

(Reuters) - Several protesters were arrested on Thursday night after police clashed with demonstrators at a rally in Ferguson, Missouri, where black teenager Michael Brown was shot to death by a white police officer last month, CNN and KMOV-TV reported.

A number of protesters were arrested after Ferguson police chief Tom Jackson began marching with a crowd of rally-goers and a scuffle broke out near him, the broadcasters, CNN and St. Louis television station KMOV, said.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports. Representatives of the Ferguson Police Department could not be immediately reached for comment.

The latest incident comes just hours after Jackson issued a video apology to the parents of Michael Brown, following weeks of heavy criticism and calls for his ouster.

"I want to say this to the Brown family. No one who has not experienced the loss of a child can understand what you are feeling," Chief Jackson said in the video. "I am truly sorry for the loss of your son."

Jackson spoke directly into a camera and read from a script in the video, released by a public relations firm hired by the city. He addressed Brown's parents, as well as people whom he called "peaceful protesters."

Brown, 18, was shot and killed by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9.

Ferguson, a mostly black community of 21,000, has seen weeks of racially charged protests and bursts of violence following Brown's death. Many have called for Jackson to be fired for the way he has handled the aftermath of the killing.

In the video, Jackson also apologized for the treatment of protesters. He and other officials were sued last month for $40 million by a group alleging civil rights violations through arrests and police assaults with rubber bullets and tear gas.

"The right of the people to peacefully assemble is what the police are here to protect," Jackson said. "If anyone who was peacefully exercising that right is upset and angry I feel responsible and I'm sorry."

Brown and a friend had been walking down a street in a residential area when Wilson asked them to move out of the street. An altercation ensued. Wilson shot Brown several times and the teen died in the middle of the road.

Brown's body lay on the pavement for several hours in the afternoon sun, a fact that fueled outrage in the community and nationally as pictures of his body circulated widely on social media.

Many protesters have said police left Brown's body in the street to intimidate the black community. In the video, Jackson said "no disrespect" was intended, and the removal of the body was delayed so officers could gather evidence.

"But it was just too long, and I am truly sorry for that," said Jackson, standing in front of an American flag and wearing not his uniform, but a short-sleeved polo shirt.

Protesters have pledged continued civil unrest until Wilson is arrested and charged in Brown's death. A grand jury in St. Louis County is examining the case, as is the U.S. Department of Justice.

Another violent protest erupted in Ferguson late on Tuesday night. Two officers suffered minor injuries and five people were arrested in the protest, which lasted into Wednesday.

Benjamin Crump, an attorney for Brown's parents, declined to comment on Jackson's apology. Brown's parents were in Washington on Thursday calling for federal legislation requiring police officers to wear body cameras to document their activities.