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AP - BP's incoming CEO said Friday that it's time for a "scaleback" of the massive effort to clean up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, but stressed the commitment to make things right is the same as ever.

AP - The panel that charged New York Democrat Charles Rangel with 13 counts of ethical misdeeds recommended he receive a relatively mild rebuke by the full House, one of the investigators said Friday.

AP - Lost in the hoopla over Arizona's immigration law is the fact that state and local authorities for years have been doing their own aggressive crackdowns in the busiest illegal gateway into the country.

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 - 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.

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.

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 - A mother whose three children were found starving after being shut away in a hotel bathroom for as long as nine months changed her plea to guilty Friday, bringing her trial to a sudden end.

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

AP - Heat advisories were posted from the Carolinas to the Great Plains as the South continued to roast Friday under temperatures and humidity that made beaches feel more like bakeries.

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

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.

Reuters - BP Plc said on Friday it could seal its ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well by next week as U.S. lawmakers prepared to vote on reforms that would put tougher restrictions on offshore drilling.

AFP - Italy's Silvio Berlusconi saw the erosion of his once comfortable majority in parliament Friday as 32 lawmakers defected in support of the prime minister's estranged longtime ally.

AP - President Nicolas Sarkozy said Friday that he wants to revoke the French citizenship of immigrants who put the lives of police officers in danger as part of a "national war" on delinquency.

AP - A huge wildfire churned through high desert wilderness north of Los Angeles on Friday, destroying a few buildings and forcing people from about 2,000 homes. Most of the displaced residents were allowed to return as the threat eased.

AP - Rick Pitino never said a woman who claimed the Louisville basketball coach got her pregnant after a one-night stand had to get an abortion but did advise she "go out of town" to get medical care, his longtime aide told a jury Friday.