Saudi Arabia's king promised a multibillion dollar package of reforms, raises, cash, loans and apartments on Friday in what appeared to be the Arab world's most expensive attempt to appease residents inspired by the unrest that has swept two leaders from power.

He also announced 60,000 new jobs in the security forces — a move that would employ huge numbers of otherwise jobless young men, while bolstering his kingdom's ability to snuff out protests.

Michael Gough, the British actor best known for playing Bruce Wayne's butler Alfred in a series of Batman movies, has died at age 94.

Gough appeared in more than 150 movies and television shows, including British science-fiction show "Doctor Who." He died of old age at home in England on Thursday, surrounded by family, his ex-wife Anneke Wills said through her agent.

Oil prices rose to near $103 a barrel Friday in Asia as traders worried the United Nations' authorization of military strikes against forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi could prolong the conflict and threaten oil exports.

Benchmark crude for April delivery was up $1.53 at $102.95 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract added $3.44 to settle at $101.42 on Thursday.

Inflation spooked the nation in the early 1980s. It surged and kept rising until it topped 13 percent.

These days, inflation is much lower. Yet to many Americans, it feels worse now. And for a good reason: Their income has been even flatter than inflation.

Singer Nate Dogg, whose near monotone crooning anchored some of rap's most seminal songs and helped define the sound of West coast hip-hop, has died at age 41.

Nate Dogg, whose real name was Nathaniel D. Hale, died Tuesday of complications from multiple strokes, said Attorney Mark Geragos.

Apple Inc. has changed how purchases inside iPhone and iPad games are authorized after customers complained that their kids were racking up hundreds of dollars worth of charges.

The issue was that after a user entered his or her iTunes password on a device, the device didn't prompt for the password again for 15 minutes. Any purchases, whether in the iTunes store or inside kid-friendly games such as "The Smurf's Village," went through without a new password prompt.

An experimental treatment improved symptoms of Parkinson's disease in a mid-stage test, echoing results of an earlier pilot study.

The new research is the first to show positive results in a test of gene therapy against a sham operation in about three dozen U.S. Parkinson's patients.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Iran, Syria and Hizbullah “and other terrorist elements” are making daily efforts “to smuggle weapons into Lebanon and Gaza."

Netanyahu made the remark after inspecting a massive shipment of weapons seized from the "Victoria" ship at the Ashdod port in southern Israel.

Japanese stocks rebounded Wednesday, recovering some of the massive losses sustained over the last two days following a devastating earthquake and tsunami. Markets around the world also bounced back even as the human and economic toll from the disasters, including an escalating nuclear crisis, remained unclear.

Oil prices rose above $98 a barrel as fears that clashes in Bahrain and Libya could further disrupt crude supplies outweighed concern Japan's crises will crimp demand. In currencies, the dollar was little against the yen and up against the euro.

Oil prices rose to above $98 a barrel Wednesday in Asia as fears that clashes in Bahrain and Libya could further disrupt crude supplies outweighed concern Japan's disaster will crimp demand.

Benchmark crude for April delivery was up 97 cents at $98.15 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.