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 - 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 - Officials who had planned to euthanize an injured and abandoned baby whale postponed the operation Thursday night after being unable to find the animal in the dark waters off north Sydney.

AFP - Eight international troops including three Poles and three Canadians have been killed in Afghanistan over the last 24 hours, a military source said Thursday.

AFP - Andrew Flintoff believes England's revamped team can use their one-day series against South Africa to establish some badly-needed momentum.

AFP - England fast bowler Steve Harmison is to play in the one-day cricket series against South Africa, which starts on Friday, reversing a decision of two years ago not to participate in the one-day international format.

AP - The jetliner that crashed in Madrid abandoned a first takeoff attempt because of an air gauge that showed overheating, but experts said it was unlikely the gauge was a factor in the accident that killed 153 people.

AP - The U.S.-led coalition said Thursday it had killed more than 30 insurgents in a battle in eastern Afghanistan, fighters an Afghan governor said were responsible for an attack that killed 10 French troops this week. Officials announced the deaths of six NATO soldiers in two attacks.

AP - Russian forces dug trenches and built fortifications in key areas of Georgia Thursday, but also rolled columns of tanks north toward home, picking and choosing how their nation would comply with the terms of a peace accord.

AP - Two Taliban suicide bombers blew themselves up at the gates to a huge weapons factory near Pakistan's capital Thursday, killing at least 59 people and wounding 70 in one of the country's worst terrorist attacks.

AP - Iraq and the U.S. have reached preliminary agreement to withdraw American forces from Iraqi cities by next June, six years into the increasingly unpopular war, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Thursday after meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

AP - An Australian environmental official says an abandoned baby whale that has been attempting to suckle boats in the waters off north Sydney will be euthanized.

AFP - Pakistan's coalition government appeared close to collapse Thursday after former premier Nawaz Sharif threatened to quit if judges sacked by ousted president Pervez Musharraf are not restored.