The first day of US government furloughs imposed by a budget crunch saw more than 100,000 federal workers ordered to stay home Friday, including those at the scandal-plagued IRS. The largest non-weather-related US government closure in years saw nearly all employees at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Environmental Protection Agency, the White House's Office of Management and Budget and the Internal Revenue Service placed on unpaid leave.

Lebanese President Michel Sleiman cautioned Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah on Friday over its militants' intervention on the side of the regime in the conflict in neighbouring Syria. "The resistance is more noble and more important than anything, and should not get bogged down in the sands of dissension, whether in Syria or Lebanon," he said in a statement, referring to Hezbollah's traditional focus on fighting Israel. "The resistance has fought and liberated (Israeli-occupied southern Lebanon) because it acts for a national cause and not a confessional one," Sleiman added.

Below is information on the current background air quality in some of North America's major cities based on data taken from http://www.airnow.gov recorded at 1:00 pm GMT on May 24. 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate on Thursday confirmed a White House nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In a break from partisan battles over judicial appointments, the Senate gave bipartisan support to Sri Srinivasan, 46, a political appointee in the Justice Department. The court is one level down from the Supreme Court and Srinivasan is viewed by some as a potential justice on the nation's highest court. (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Doina Chiacu)