 AP - Independence Day is normally a booming time for tourism here, with visitors settling into cliffside vacation homes or trekking out to campgrounds nestled among the redwoods. But this year, the only out-of-towners in Big Sur are firefighters working around the clock to save the storied community from flames.
 AP - President Bush will spend some time this July 4th at the home of the man who virtually wrote the Declaration of Independence. Bush plans to visit Thomas Jefferson's hilltop home, Monticello, in Charlottesville, Va. He'll taking part in Monticello's annual naturalization ceremony, addressing 76 new American citizens.
 AP - Fireworks aren't the only thing skyrocketing on this Fourth of July. The price of gas has hit another all-time high.
 AP - Barack Obama is celebrating the 4th of July in Butte, Montana, attending a parade and picnic. It's a state that usually gives its three electoral votes to a Republican. Only two Democrats have carried Montana since 1948. Republicans typically take it for granted and Democrats usually write if off. But this year, Obama is spending a sizeable amount of time and money to try to win it.
 AP - Freed from captivity and humiliation in the jungles of Colombia, Ingrid Betancourt returns to her beloved France and a hero's welcome Friday in the gilded halls of the presidential palace.
 AP - A homemade bomb exploded at an outdoor concert in Belarus' capital early Friday, injuring at least 50 people. Officials blamed hooligans.
 AP - He's gone from hot-dog top dog to underdog. Renowned competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi is aiming to chomp his way back to the top of the annual Fourth of July hot dog eating competition on Coney Island after a disappointing three-dog loss last year shattered his six-year winning streak.
 AP - Dismissing privacy concerns, a federal judge overseeing a $1 billion copyright-infringement lawsuit against YouTube has ordered the popular online video-sharing service to disclose who watches which video clips and when.
 AP - Larry Harmon wasn't the original Bozo the Clown, but he was the real one. Harmon, who portrayed the wing-haired clown for more than half a century, died Thursday of congestive heart failure, said his publicist, Jerry Digney. He was 83.
 AP - The top two players in men's tennis are on course to meet in their third straight Wimbledon final, but both have to get through today's semifinals first. No. 1 Roger Federer plays Marat Safin and No. 2 Rafael Nadal meets Rainer Schuettler.
 Reuters - World stocks slipped back towards this
week's five-month low on Friday as steadying oil prices failed
to erase concerns about slowing economic growth and rising
inflation, and as banking stocks came under renewed pressure.
 Reuters - President Robert Mugabe said on Friday
that although he accepted the need for negotiations to end
Zimbabwe's crisis, the opposition must drop their claim to
power and accept that he was the country's leader.
 Reuters - Iran's ambassador in Brussels has
submitted Tehran's response to an incentives package offered by
six world powers over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program,
the official news agency IRNA reported on Friday.
 Reuters - Poland has rejected a U.S. offer to
boost its air defenses in return for basing a "missile shield"
on Polish soil but remains open for further talks with
Washington, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Friday.
 Reuters - Democratic presidential
candidate Barack Obama waded into controversy on Thursday over
his plans to withdraw U.S. combat troops from Iraq, first
saying he might "refine" his views but later declaring his
stance had remained unchanged for more than a year.
 Reuters - G8 leaders aim to present a united front
against global inflation, driven by soaring oil and food
prices, at a summit in Japan next week, but solving the problem
requires more than just a strong message from rich nations.
 Reuters - About 50 people were wounded by a
home-made bomb in Belarus's capital on Friday at an
Independence Day concert attended by long-time ruler President
Alexander Lukashenko, officials said.
 Reuters - Historic regular flights
between Taiwan and China began on Friday, in a show of
conciliation between the long-time rivals that could bring
large numbers of mainland Chinese visitors to the island.
 AFP - A bomb packed with nuts and bolts injured up to 50 young revellers at a huge outdoor concert in the Belarussian capital Minsk attended by President Alexander Lukashenko, officials said Friday.
 AFP - China and Taiwan resumed regular direct flights Friday for the first time in six decades, ushering in what Beijing called a "new start" in their tense and testy relations.
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