AP - Thousands of eager fans who had waited for up to two days swarmed sales windows Friday for the final batch of tickets to next month's Olympic Games, knocking people to the ground and bending metal barricades in the chaotic crush.

AP - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Pakistan needs to do more to prevent Taliban militants from launching attacks into Afghanistan from its territory.

AP - It's art ornamenting life: murals of soothing landscapes and historical heroes covering the blast walls that are now as much a part of Baghdad's cityscape as date palms and desert dust.

AP - A hole the size of a small car in the underside of a Qantas jumbo jet carrying 346 passengers forced the pilot to make an emergency landing Friday after a rapid descent over the South China Sea.

AFP - The United States and Australia on Friday urged Pakistan to do more to control militant activity in its border areas to stem the growing insurgency in Afghanistan.

AFP - South Korea's financial watchdog said Friday it will resume a regulatory review of the proposed six-billion-dollar sale of Korea Exchange Bank to global giant HSBC Holdings in the coming week.

AFP - Ex-Zambian president Frederick Chiluba, on trial for corruption, has been allowed to return to South Africa for medical treatment following the rise in his blood pressure, his spokesman said Friday.

AFP - The economy grew 0.2 percent in the second quarter compared with the first three months of 2008 -- the slowest pace for more than three years, official data showed on Friday.