AFP - Music legend Sir Paul McCartney said on Friday he hoped his upcoming concert in Israel would spread a message of peace in the region.

AP - North Korea escalated its renewed confrontation with the U.S. on Friday, saying it is moving to restore a nuclear reactor and warning it "will go its own way" because Washington refuses to remove it from the U.S. terror blacklist.

AP - President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday derided U.S. accusations that Russia was sliding into irrelevance, saying defiantly that Moscow would set its own course without isolating itself behind a new Iron Curtain.

AP - After tainted baby milk, now toxic chairs from China.

AP - Here's a primer for the modern British politician: Smile a lot, give short, punchy answers to questions, mingle easily with the public, and always pretend to be enjoying it.

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.

AFP - Australia will launch a multi-million dollar international carbon capture and storage institute to fight global warming, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced Friday.

AFP - Australia's late-blooming leg-spinner Bryce McGain faces a massive challenge bowling to India's spin batting masters on next month's tour of the subcontinent, Test paceman Stuart Clark said Friday.

AFP - The main militant group in southern Nigeria -- the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) -- said Thursday it had destroyed a major oil pipeline belonging to Royal Dutch Shell.

AP - Human Rights Watch said Venezuela's record on human rights has worsened under President Hugo Chavez, particularly with regard to government critics.

AP - As of Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008, at least 4,168 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

AFP - London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares surged by 4.43 percent to 5,096.40 points soon after the start of trading Friday in the wake of massive gains across Asia and on Wall Street overnight.

AP - A generation ago, when today's new Chinese parents were infants, milk powder was so scarce that it was one of the top items requested from travelers visiting from overseas.

AP - Arabs across the ideological spectrum, from secular-minded liberals to Muslim hard-liners, are denouncing a top Saudi cleric's edict that it was permissible to kill the owners of satellite TV stations that show "immoral" content.