AP - Firefighters plan an aggressive air attack at first light Friday against a fast-moving wildfire that exploded in northern Los Angeles County, chewing through more than 7 square miles of dry brush, forcing thousands of evacuations and burning at least three structures.

AFP - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad arrived in Lebanon on Friday for the first time since the 2005 murder of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri in a joint mission with Saudi King Abdullah to defuse a tense political situation.

Reuters - Three employees of the U.S. embassy in Paris were being treated for poisoning on Friday after opening mail, but there was no immediate information on the seriousness of their condition, police said.

AP - Three U.S. troops died in blasts in Afghanistan, bringing the death toll for July to at least 63 and surpassing the previous month's record as the deadliest for American forces in the nearly 9-year-old war.

AP - Former Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli has accepted an invitation from Mississippi coach Houston Nutt to visit the school this weekend, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Friday.

AP - Former "Fly Girl" Jennifer Lopez is poised to return to television — this time as a judge on "American Idol."

AP - Invasion of privacy in the Internet age. Expanding the reach of law enforcement to snoop on e-mail traffic or on Web surfing. Those are among the criticisms being aimed at the FBI as it tries to update a key surveillance law.

AP - Republicans wanted an election-season ethics case against Democratic powerhouse Rep. Charles Rangel of New York. And now, it looks like they have one.

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 - President Barack Obama is going to the heart of the U.S. auto industry to push an important election-year claim: his administration's unpopular auto industry bailout has turned into an economic good-news story.