AP - The fight over Arizona's immigration law showed no signs of letting up Friday as the federal judge who blunted its force faced threats and the Republican governor who signed it considered changes to address any faults.

AP - In a summer of suffering, America's military death toll in Afghanistan is rising, with back-to-back record months for U.S. losses in the grinding conflict. All signs point to more bloodshed in the months ahead, straining the already shaky international support for the war.

AP - President Barack Obama on Friday called ethics charges against Democratic Rep. Charlie Rangel "very troubling" and said he hopes the longtime lawmaker can end his career with dignity. Several House Democrats went further, flat-out urging the New York congressman to resign.

AP - The House's rejection of bill that would have provided up to $7.4 billion in aid to people sickened by World Trade Center dust has opened a sharp rift between two New York congressmen, Republican Peter King and Democrat Anthony Weiner.

AP - The Obama administration, unable to push an immigration overhaul through Congress, is considering ways it could go around lawmakers to let undocumented immigrants stay in the United States, according to an agency memo.

AP - BP's new boss says it's time for a "scaleback" in cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Federal officials say there is no way the crude could reach the East Coast. And fishing areas are starting to reopen.

AP - Former Vice President Al Gore won't be prosecuted over allegations by a masseuse that he groped and assaulted her in his Portland hotel room in 2006, the county prosecutor said Friday.

AP - Fifteen months after saying "I do," reality TV stars Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt are headed for divorce. The 23-year-old starlet and plastic surgery devotee filed for divorce Friday in Santa Monica, Calif., citing irreconcilable differences.

AP - The Yankees are working on a trade to acquire Lance Berkman from the Houston Astros.

Reuters - The House of Representatives on Friday approved the toughest reforms ever to offshore energy drilling practices, as Democrats narrowly pushed through an election-year response to BP's massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Reuters - BP Plc said on Friday it could seal its ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well by next week as the House of Representatives voted to toughen regulation of offshore energy drilling.

Reuters - President Barack Obama on Friday called on Iran to immediately release three Americans who were detained a year ago after straying across the border while hiking in the mountains of northern Iraq.

Reuters - Heavy monsoon rains have triggered the worst floods in decades in Pakistan's northwest, killing more than 400 people and forcing thousands from their homes as authorities struggle to reach stranded villagers.

AFP - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Saudi King Abdullah on Friday urged Lebanon's rival factions to avoid violence, on an unprecedented joint trip to Beirut aiming to defuse political tensions.

AFP - Italy's Silvio Berlusconi saw the erosion of his once comfortable majority in parliament Friday as 33 lawmakers defected in support of the prime minister's estranged longtime ally.