AP - The U.S. military is reinforcing the sides of its topline mine-resistant vehicles to shore up what could be weak points as troops see a spike in armor-piercing roadside bombings across Iraq, The Associated Press has learned.

AP - Barack Obama all but erased Hillary Rodham Clinton's once-imposing lead among national convention superdelegates on Friday and won fresh labor backing as elements of the Democratic Party began coalescing around the Illinois senator for the fall campaign.

AP - Big corporations give him money. Presidential candidates seek his endorsement. He has influential friends in Congress and the governor's mansion. The Rev. Al Sharpton has emerged over the past decade as perhaps the nation's most prominent civil rights leader, a status that was demonstrated again this week when he led protests against police brutality that briefly shut down six of Manhattan's major bridges and tunnels.

AP - More aid is on the way to cyclone-ravaged Myanmar — but so is the heavy rain. A week after Cyclone Nargis flattened low-lying villages and killed whole families at a time, the military junta finally agreed Friday to allow a U.S. cargo plane to bring in food and other supplies to the isolated country. Myanmar gave the green light after confiscating other shipments, prompting the U.N. to order a temporary freeze in shipments.

AP - The sheriff of the remote region where Charles Manson hid after a killing spree in the summer of 1969 said Friday that he will allow researchers to begin digging into the sandy soil in search of possible human remains.

AP - Jon Edwards often manages what appears impossible. He has recovered precious data from computers wrecked in floods and fires and dumped in lakes. Now Edwards may have set a new standard: He found information on a melted disk drive that fell from the sky when space shuttle Columbia disintegrated in 2003.

AP - DMX was arrested on drug and animal-cruelty charges following an overnight raid on the rapper's house Friday, authorities said. The 37-year-old rapper, whose given name is Earl Simmons, initially tried to barricade himself in his bedroom but emerged when a SWAT team entered his north Phoenix home during the 3 a.m. raid, sheriff's spokesman Capt. Paul Chagolla said.

AP - Seattle slugger Richie Sexson was suspended for six games and fined Friday by Major League Baseball after charging the mound and throwing his helmet at a Texas pitcher the previous night. Bob Watson, baseball's vice president in charge of discipline, cited Sexson for "violent and aggressive actions."

Reuters - Lebanon's Iranian-backed Hezbollah group took control of the Muslim half of Beirut on Friday in what the U.S.-backed governing coalition called "an armed and bloody coup."

Reuters - The United Nations appealed for $187 million in aid on Friday to help 1.5 million victims in cyclone-ravaged Myanmar and said it would resume relief flights despite the military government's seizure of food supplies.

Reuters - Democrat Barack Obama turned his focus to a U.S. general election showdown with John McCain on Friday and said the Republican White House candidate would continue the "failed policies" of President George W. Bush.

Reuters - Good weather will help the world's farmers reap record wheat and rice crops this year, the U.S. government said on Friday, which should allay fears of shortages and help bring prices down from current high levels.

Reuters - Did U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain vote for President George W. Bush in 2000?

Reuters - Canadian health officials said on Friday that a death and reported outbreak of flu-like symptoms aboard a cross-Canada train were not due to an infectious disease and in fact were likely not related at all.

Reuters - A group of senior U.S. senators urged President George W. Bush on Friday to visit Tibet when he travels to China in August to attend the Beijing Olympics.

Reuters - The Dalai Lama says he understands why Tibetan exiles were angry that the Olympic torch reached the top of Mount Everest but had advised them against protesting.

AFP - The UN said Friday it would resume aid flights into Myanmar after a suspension triggered by a tussle with the military regime over two planeloads of goods meant for desperate cyclone survivors.

AFP - Hezbollah fighters, their guns blazing, seized control of west Beirut on Friday after three days of deadly street battles with pro-government foes pushed Lebanon dangerously close to all-out civil war.