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 - Iran delivered its response Friday to an international offer of incentives for it to suspend uranium enrichment, a central part of its nuclear program, state television reported.

AP - Between surging oil prices, food inflation and a credit crunch that's depressed global growth, leaders from the Group of Eight economic powers face the gravest combination of economic woes in at least a decade when they gather next week.

AP - Hundreds of mainland Chinese tourists ? some in matching white or pink shirts ? arrived in Taiwan on Friday on the first regular commercial flights in nearly six decades between the old foes.

AP - A ferry sank in a river in Myanmar's cyclone-battered Irrawaddy delta, killing nearly 40 people, state-media reported Friday.

AFP - Newcastle United dismissed reports in the British press that owner Mike Ashley had put a price tag of 420 million pounds (840 million dollars) on the English Premier League club during talks with US investors over a possible sale.

AP - Israel says it is keeping Gaza's border crossings closed in retaliation for a rocket attack.

AP - Hugo Chavez, once a key mediator in securing hostage releases from Colombian rebels, could do little more than phone congratulations to President Alvaro Uribe after this week's bold rescue.

AFP - Robert Mugabe ruled out the prospect of talks with his opponents on ending Zimbabwe's political crisis Friday unless they acknowledged his victory in a one-man presidential election.

AP - In an unprecedented attempt to revive the tiger population in western India, authorities airlifted a female tiger to a national reserve Friday where it will join a male tiger delivered there last week.

AFP - Australia is one of the least religious nations in the western world, research showed Friday, as the country prepares to host Pope Benedict XVI and Catholic World Youth Day celebrations this month.