AP - Groups of people led by apparent ruling-party marshals lined up at polling stations Friday to vote in Zimbabwe's one-candidate presidential runoff, an election condemned by world leaders and expected to deepen the southern African nation's political crisis.

AP - When Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton step onstage in their first joint campaign appearance in New Hampshire, it will be the first public display of a rapprochement between former rivals hoping to set aside differences and unify the party while helping each other.

AP - Oil prices climbed to a record above $141 a barrel in Asian trading Friday as the dollar's protracted slump prompted investors to flock to oil as a hedge against inflation.

AP - North Korea destroyed the most visible symbol of its nuclear weapons program Friday, according to a news report, in a sign of its commitment to stop making plutonium for atomic bombs.

AP - As news spread of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to strike down the handgun ban in Washington, D.C., one thing was clear in Chicago: The city's own ban now faces a challenge as serious as any in its 26-year history.

AFP - Robert Mugabe claimed Friday to be on the eve of securing a fresh mandate to rule Zimbabwe, brushing aside growing calls to shelve a ballot branded a "sham" after the withdrawal of the opposition leader.

AFP - North Korea handed over details of its nuclear programmes Thursday, paving the way for its removal from the US terrorism blacklist amid years of efforts to persuade the North to abandon the atom bomb.

Reuters - California on Thursday took a major step forward on its global warming fight by unveiling an ambitious plan for clean cars, renewable energy and stringent caps on big polluting industries.

Reuters - The White House on Thursday urged the U.S. Senate to reject any bid to deny liability protection to telecommunication companies that participated in President George W. Bush's warrantless spying program.

Reuters - More storms dumped crop-drowning rains on parts of the U.S. Midwest on Thursday, threatening strained levees and slowing recovery from a multibillion-dollar flood disaster in the heart of the world's biggest grain and food exporter.

Reuters - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Thursday rejected African calls to postpone a presidential election on Friday, saying there could be no interference in his country even from the African Union.

Reuters - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama leads Republican John McCain in four battleground states, according to a survey released on Thursday that pollsters said could point to a broad Obama victory in November.

Reuters - North Korea handed over a long-delayed account of its nuclear activities on Thursday, prompting a still-wary U.S. President George W. Bush to ease some sanctions on a country he once deemed part of an "axis of evil."

Reuters - Individual Americans have a right to own guns, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday for the first time in history, striking down a strict gun control law in the U.S. capital.

AP - Former champion Maria Sharapova was knocked out of Wimbledon in a stunning second-round upset Thursday by a 154th-ranked Russian, marking her earliest exit from a Grand Slam tournament since her first full season on tour in 2003.