AP - Pakistani leaders were meeting Friday to discuss differences that threaten to tear apart their shaky ruling coalition, a day after twin suicide blasts killed scores outside Pakistan's largest arms factory.

AP - Harvard University is the country's oldest, wealthiest and most selective university. Now it's back on top of the U.S. News & World Report college rankings, claiming sole possession of the No. 1 spot for the first time in 12 years.

AP - It was a coup for Democrats: An emerging young evangelical voice, a registered Republican no less, accepted their invitation to deliver a prayer at next week's Democratic National Convention.

AP - Russian troops held their position in the key town of Gori and were digging in deeper in other strategic areas of Georgia on Friday, the day that Russia's president said a pullback would be complete.

AP - Tropical Storm Fay continued its slow, wet trudge across the state Friday, prompting communities farther inland and on the state's Gulf coast to brace for what could be drenching rains.

AP - Iraq and the U.S. pushed close to a deal Thursday setting a course for American combat troops to pull out of major Iraqi cities by next June, with a broader withdrawal from the long and costly war by 2011.

AFP - Distraught relatives struggled Thursday to identify the charred remains of 153 victims of the Madrid jet disaster as investigators scoured the wreckage for clues to Spain's worst air crash in decades.

AFP - Two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside Pakistan's main army munitions factory Thursday, killing 64 workers in the deadliest attack on a military installation in the country's history.

Reuters - Grieving relatives on Thursday tried to identify charred bodies from the wreckage of a Spanish jet which crashed at Madrid airport on its second attempt at takeoff after mechanical problems.

Reuters - Two Pakistani Taliban suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the country's main defense industry complex on Thursday, killing at least 59 people as workers were leaving at the end of their shift, officials said.

Reuters - Jamaica made a clean sweep of Olympic sprint golds on Thursday with victory in the women's 200 meters humbling the United States, the traditional track and field superpower.

Reuters - Wall Street research analysts are projecting yet another tough quarter for U.S. investment banks marked by additional writedowns across a series of fixed-income assets amid an already weak operating environment.

Reuters - Heightened expectations for a government bailout of U.S. home-funding giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac drove their debt prices higher on Thursday as investors bet the securities will be guaranteed by the U.S. government even if shareholders are wiped out.

Reuters - The United States and Iraq are close to a deal extending the presence of U.S. troops beyond 2008, but any timetable for their withdrawal must be "feasible," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday.

Reuters - Washington demanded on Friday that Russia pull its troops out of Georgia "now," but Moscow said it would be another 10 days before the bulk of its force left Georgian soil.