AP - Former President Bill Clinton made a long-anticipated appearance in the upstate New York village where his daughter is getting married tomorrow, drawing crowds of onlookers Friday afternoon as preparations continued largely out of sight for the grand and secretive occasion.

Reuters - A close vote is expected later on Friday when the U.S. House of Representatives decides on legislation to reform the oil industry's offshore drilling practices in response to the massive Gulf oil spill.

AP - Former first-round draft pick Ike Hilliard and Super Bowl hero David Tyree have retired as members of the New York Giants.

AFP - French nuclear group Areva on Friday reported a surge in first half net earnings to 843 million euros (1.1 billion dollars) from 143 million a year earlier that it attributed to a key asset sale.

AP - A Canadian company that owns the pipeline that leaked oil into Michigan's Kalamazoo River says the oil has been contained.

AFP - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Saudi King Abdullah on Friday urged Lebanon's rival factions to avoid violence after an unprecedented joint visit to defuse a tense political situation.

AP - Iraqi police say a roadside bomb north of Baghdad has killed five members of a family, including a 4-year-old girl.

AP - A Ugandan court has charged three men with terrorism and murder related to July 11 twin blasts that killed 76 people in the capital.

AP - A suspected natural gas explosion Friday at an industrial plastic-coating shop collapsed part of the building and hurled two workers into the street, killing one and leaving the other in critical condition, fire officials said.

AP - A disagreement among poultry producers about whether chicken injected with salt, water and other ingredients can be promoted as "natural" has prompted federal officials to consider changing labeling guidelines.

Reuters - Canada's highest court refused on Friday to grant a new trial for serial killer Robert "Willie" Pickton, who was convicted of killing drug addicts and prostitutes and butchering their remains at his pig farm.