AP - Former Sen. Jesse Helms, who built a career along the fault lines of racial politics and battled liberals, Communists and the occasional fellow Republican during 30 conservative years in Congress, died on the Fourth of July. He was 86.

AP - Independence Day is normally a booming time for tourism at Big Sur, 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 - Roger Federer beat Marat Safin in straight sets Friday, leaving him one win from his sixth consecutive Wimbledon title and 13th Grand Slam championship.

Reuters - French-Colombian politician IngridBetancourt landed in Paris on Friday to an emotional welcomefrom President Nicolas Sarkozy, who had made her release fromcaptivity in the Colombian jungle a foreign policy priority.

Reuters - Jesse Helms, a die-hardanti-communist firebrand who championed a wide range ofconservative causes as a U.S. senator from North Carolina for30 years, died early on Friday, aged 86, his foundation said.

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.