AP - Barack Obama's speech to a huge Berlin crowd sent a "positive signal" to Europe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman said Friday, praising the presidential candidate's focus on working with America's partners.

AP - Business at reopened restaurants was humming, grocery store parking lots were packed and residents of south Texas were venturing out on the newly dry roads again as the remnants of Hurricane Dolly moved well away from the Rio Grande Valley.

AP - One of the worst outbreaks of foodborne illness in the U.S. is teaching the food industry the truth of the adage, "Be careful what you wish for because you might get it."

AP - The State Department must develop a "comprehensive, long-term strategy" to meet the public's rising demand for passports and avoid a repeat of the frustrating backlog fiasco of last summer, congressional investigators have concluded.

AP - Scientists have exposed some of the mystery behind the northern lights. On Thursday, NASA released findings that indicate magnetic explosions about one-third of the way to the moon cause the northern lights, or aurora borealis, to burst in spectacular shapes and colors, and dance across the sky.

AP - Wall Street headed for a slightly lower open Friday ahead of economic reports on durable goods, new home sales, and consumer sentiment.

AP - China's booming Internet population has surpassed the United States to become the world's biggest, with 253 million people online despite government controls on Web use, according to government data reported Friday.

AP - It sounds like a scene from "Fight Club." French police say camouflaged paparazzi who got on to the grounds of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's chateau in southern France fought with the Hollywood couple's guards.

AP - No team in baseball is playing as well as the Milwaukee Brewers and no hitter is on a tear like Ryan Braun. The left fielder hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning to cap his second straight four-hit game and Milwaukee won its eighth straight, 4-3 over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday night.

Reuters - U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama hopes his visit to Europe and the Middle East will show U.S. voters that he is a safe pair of hands, the Democrat said in an interview on Friday.

Reuters - Home foreclosure filings rose 14 percent in the second quarter, the eighth consecutive quarterly climb, and more than doubled from the same period a year-earlier, real estate data firm RealtyTrac said on Friday.

Reuters - Deadlocked global trade talks will fail unless countries can find compromise in the coming hours, the chair of World Trade Organization negotiations warned on Friday.

Reuters - A Qantas Airways plane made an emergency landing in Manila on Friday after part of its undercarriage blew off, triggering a loss in cabin pressure during a flight from Hong Kong to Melbourne.

Reuters - New Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani can expect U.S. demands for action against militants in tribal lands on the Afghan border, along with usual statements of support, when he visits Washington next week.

Reuters - An influential Iranian cleric told the West on Friday an ultimatum would not help talks with Iran over its nuclear plans, after Washington told Tehran it had two weeks to respond to a package of nuclear incentives.

AFP - Barack Obama headed for Paris Friday on a European tour that saw 200,000 cheering fans turn out in Berlin to hear the US presidential hopeful call for the world to tear down walls of division and hate.

AFP - A Qantas Boeing 747 flying to Melbourne made an emergency landing in Manila on Friday after a dramatic mid-air rupture that punched a "gaping hole" in its fuselage, officials and passengers said.