AP - The Palestinian who went on a deadly rampage on a Jerusalem street this week had spent years in a romantic relationship with a Jewish Israeli woman, relatives said, a rarity in a city where such ties between Arabs and Jews are nearly nonexistent.

AFP - Hashim Amla's fine start to South Africa's tour of England continued with another big century on Friday while Ashwell Prince also weighed in with a hundred on the first day against Middlesex at Uxbridge.

AP - Dmitry Medvedev's grand debut on the world stage at the Group of Eight summit Monday promises insights into the riddle all Kremlinologists are trying to crack: Is he calling any of the shots as Russia's president — or is he merely a puppet of Vladimir Putin?

AP - Nigeria. Rwanda. Uganda. Ethiopia. Gabon. Robert Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe has plenty of competitors for the title of "least democratic in Africa."

AP - Could Ingrid Betancourt become Colombia's next president?

AP - The disgraced architect of Pakistan's nuclear program said Friday that it provided centrifuges to North Korea in a 2000 shipment supervised by the army under President Pervez Musharraf.

AP - "I cry with joy," Ingrid Betancourt said. And she did. After six years as a hostage in the Colombian jungle, the former Colombian presidential candidate and French citizen flew back to her beloved France to be embraced Friday as an icon by the country that raised her.

AFP - Australia is one of the least religious nations in the western world, research showed Friday, as the country prepares to host Pope Benedict XVI and Catholic World Youth Day celebrations this month.

AFP - North Korea said Friday it would not push ahead with an international deal to scrap its nuclear programme until negotiating partners fulfil their side of the bargain.

AFP - Rwandan President Paul Kagame threatened to charge French nationals over the 1994 genocide in his country if European courts did not reverse indictments on Rwandan officials, in an interview published Friday.

AP - Tropical Storm Douglas weakened to a depression off Mexico's coast on Thursday and was forecast to die at sea.

AFP - Bradford & Bingley said on Friday that US investment group TPG Capital had pulled out of an agreement to buy about one quarter of the struggling British bank.

AP - The plan was nothing if not audacious: A turncoat persuades rebels to bring together their most prized hostages and march them 90 miles through Colombia's wilderness. A month later, disguised commandos primed with acting lessons land in a helicopter and trick the rebels into handing them over.

AP - More than 50 people were injured Friday when a bomb went off at an outdoor concert in the Belarusian capital. Officials blamed "hooligans."