SANAA (Reuters) – Attackers blew up Yemen’s main oil export pipeline on Friday, halting the flow of crude, the government and industry sources said. “Subversive elements” in Serwah in central Maarib province had blown up the pipeline, which leads to the Red Sea, at dawn on Friday, the Defense Ministry said in a statement. The Arabian Peninsula state, which relies on crude exports to replenish its reserves and finance up to 70 percent of budget spending, has suffered frequent bombings of its main oil pipeline since an uprising broke out in 2011. …

Read more here: Yemen's main oil pipeline attacked, pumping stopped

KABUL (Reuters) – A large blast was heard in the center of the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Friday with a Reuters witness hearing heavy shooting directly afterwards. The explosion occurred at about 4 p.m. (11:30 GMT) in the downtown district of Borj-e Sharahah, a Kabul police spokesman said. There was no word on any casualties. (Reporting by Amie Ferris-Rotman and Mirwais Harooni; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Read more here: Large blast heard in center of Afghan capital

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — A Zimbabwean human rights activist says he wants the nation’s highest court to order prison authorities to ensure suspects in jail can receive their life-prolonging HIV/AIDS medications.

Read more here: Zimbabwe activist: Prisoners denied Aids drugs

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The U.S. Embassy says an American diplomat accidentally killed a pedestrian while driving in the Pakistani capital.

Read more here: Pakistan: US diplomat kills pedestrian in accident

By Martin Santa and Huw Jones BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) – The role of the European Banking Authority must be beefed up beyond current plans to ensure that regulation of Europe's banks does not fragment into two competing systems, one of the architects of the reforms told a public hearing on Friday. Jacques de Larosiere, former head of the Bank of France and IMF, said the European Central Bank's role in a European Banking Union to supervise euro zone lenders risked creating a “duopoly” that would split the bloc's single market next year. …

Read more here: EU risks "too big to cooperate" bank supervision

By Sarah Marsh BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany's economy will recover from a bout of winter weakness but fall well short of the dynamic growth rates of previous years as euro zone recession and global slowdown stunt exports and investment. There are homegrown problems too. What hue of government will result from September elections is injecting uncertainty and foreign investors cite worries about over-regulation and Germany's future energy mix after Chancellor Angela Merkel turned her back on nuclear power. …

Read more here: Analysis: German economy to pick up but fall short of traditional pace

TEL AVIV (Reuters) – The United States on Friday called into question the credibility of Iran's presidential election next month, criticizing the disqualification of candidates and accusing the government of disrupting Internet access. Iran's Guardian Council, the state body that vets all candidates, had struck former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and others from the roster in the June 14 ballot. “The Council narrowed a list of almost seven hundred potential candidates down to the sort of…officials of their choice, based solely on who represents the regime's interests,” U.S. …

Read more here: U.S.casts doubt on credibility of Iranian election

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Niger's government spokesman told The Associated Press that the jihadists who attacked a military installation in the town of Agadez on Thursday had never taken any hostages, unlike their earlier statements.

Read more here: Niger government: No hostages in Agadez

Between the faction of gay Christians who are happy with their sexual identity and “ex-gays,” who say they've removed their homosexual yearnings, is a third group that gets little attention. These so-called Side B Christians identify as gay and believe it's not sinful to do so. But because they see acting on their orientation as ungodly, they commit to a life of celibacy.

Read more here: How Celibate Gay Christians Deal With Desire

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stock futures fell on Friday, setting up Wall Street for its first weekly decline since mid April, amid concern the central bank may scale back its support to the economy. Trading has been choppy in the second half of the week as market participants assess the Federal Reserve's evolving stance towards markets. Fed support has been instrumental in a rally that has boosted U.S. stocks to record highs this year. Procter & Gamble shares rose 2.9 percent in premarket trading, a day after the world's largest household products maker brought back A.G. …

Read more here: Futures slip, Wall Street set for weekly decline