Reuters - Republican presidential nominee John McCain, seeking to boost his standing in the U.S. presidential race, proposed stricter regulation of Wall Street on Friday and promised to end "reckless behavior" that led to a U.S. financial meltdown.

Reuters - Stocks rallied on Friday, led by a surge in financials, after the government unveiled plans to mop up bad assets and place a temporary ban on bets that financial stocks will fall.

Reuters - U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, leading a push for a taxpayer-funded plan to contain the credit market crisis, said on Friday he would ask Congress to take action on this next week and that the Treasury was taking immediate steps in the meantime.

AP - The Americans find themselves in an unusual position: leading the Ryder Cup. Justin Leonard and Hunter Mahan claimed the first point for the U.S., Phil Mickelson and Anthony Kim rallied to halve their match, and a European three-putt at No. 18 handed another win to Stewart Cink and Chad Campbell on a red, white and blue Friday at Valhalla Golf Club.

AP - Oprah Winfrey announced Friday she'd chosen David Wroblewski's "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" as her latest book club pick, calling the debut novel a classic and the "best novel I've read in a long, long, long time."

AP - In an unprecedented step, a space shuttle was moved to the launch pad Friday for a trip NASA hopes it will never make — a rescue mission. The shuttle Endeavour is on standby in case the seven astronauts who go up on Atlantis next month need a safer ride home.

AP - China's tainted milk crisis widened Friday after tests found the industrial chemical melamine in liquid milk produced by three of the country's leading dairy companies, the quality watchdog said. Singapore suspended the sale and import of all Chinese milk and dairy products because several tested items were contaminated.

AP - Testimony resumed Friday in the O.J. Simpson armed robbery and kidnapping trial after jurors made an unannounced field trip to the scene of the alleged crime at a casino hotel. Clark County District Court Judge Jackie Glass ordered the jury visit late Thursday after deciding that a plywood and pressboard mock-up of the 322-square foot hotel room built in the courthouse basement wasn't suitable, court spokesman Michael Sommermeyer said.

AP - Florida authorities closed their case Friday against former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, saying he won't face charges for allegedly sending salacious computer messages to underage male pages because prosecutors couldn't prove the authenticity of the chats. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement also said in an investigative report that too much time had passed since the February 2003 messages to bring any charges.

AP - Republican John McCain said Friday the Federal Reserve needs to stop bailing out failed financial institutions. The Republican presidential hopeful said the Fed should get back to "its core business of responsibly managing our money supply and inflation" and he laid out several recommendations for stabilizing markets in the financial crisis that has rocked Wall Street and commanded the dialogue in the presidential campaign.

AP - The Bush administration sketched out a multi-faceted effort on Friday to confront the worst U.S. financial crisis in decades, outlining a program that could cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars to buy up bad mortgages and other toxic debt. Relief washed over Wall Street with a surge of buying.

AFP - Chinese supermarkets and shops pulled milk and a wide range of other dairy products off their shelves Friday as a sweeping recall of goods tainted with a dangerous chemical hit full gear.

AFP - The United States said it is putting together a rescue plan to clear away the mountains of bad debt that have weighed down banks and set off the worst financial crisis in decades.