• Mexico shifts strategy in border city violence
  Mexico's top domestic security official said Friday that sectors of the general public have cooperated with drug cartels in the violent border city of Ciudad Juarez, and the government is about to launch new social programs there to combat gangs.

• Argentina forces dirty war orphans to provide DNA
  Valuing truth over the right to privacy, Argentina's Congress has authorized the forced extraction of DNA from people who may have been born to political prisoners slain a quarter-century ago - even when they don't want to know their birth parents.

• McCain urges Obama to speed up Afghan decision
  U.S. Sen. John McCain predicted success in the Afghan war effort Friday if President Barack Obama makes a decision quickly to send the reinforcements requested by his top commander there.

• Mexican reporter on organized crime goes missing
  Authorities in the western Mexican state of Michoacan are investigating the disappearance of a journalist who wrote about organized crime.

• Mumbai still vulnerable 1 year after attack
  The walls that the rockets blew out have not been repaired, and the plaster is a dense scattershot of bullet holes. Dozens of holes, blasted by grenades, pockmark the linoleum floors.

• Kidnapped Britons say Somali pirates may kill them
  A British couple being held hostage by Somali pirates said in an interview broadcast Friday that they fear they will be killed or handed to a terrorist group if a ransom is not paid soon.

• Egyptian soccer fans riot against Algeria
  Egyptian soccer fans burned Algerian flags and rioted outside the Algerian Embassy in Cairo, smashing cars and shop windows, in an escalating row between the two countries over a bitter World Cup rivalry.

• Kidnapped Britons say Somali pirates may kill them
  A retired British couple snatched from their yacht by Somali pirates said in an interview broadcast Friday they fear they could be killed within a week or handed to a terrorist group if a ransom demand is not paid.

• Lesbian US war deserter wins stay of deportation
  A lesbian who deserted the U.S. military and fled to Canada must be given another chance to plead her case for refugee status, Canada's Federal Court ruled Friday.

• Guatemala reopening international adoptions
  Guatemalan officials on Friday announced the resumption of international adoptions after a nearly two-year suspension prompted by the discovery that some babies were being sold.

• Museum: Galileo's fingers, tooth are found
  Two fingers and a tooth removed from Galileo Galilei's corpse in a Florentine basilica in the 18th century and given up for lost have been found again and will soon be put on display, an Italian museum director said Friday.

• WHO investigating Norway swine flu mutations
  The World Health Organization said Friday it is investigating samples of variant swine flu linked to two deaths and one severe case in Norway, but that so far the significance of the mutation is unclear.

• Afghan police are weak link in security force
  Underpaid, under-equipped and under-trained, Afghanistan's 93,000-member police force is the weak link in an ambitious security strategy to hand over defense of the country to Afghans so American and other foreign troops can go home.

• Gates: US to do its part to slow Afghan corruption
  The United States will do its part to reduce corruption in Afghanistan by examining its own contracts and projects, even as it is demanding the same from the Afghan government, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday.

• The new EU chiefs: Rompuy-pumpy and Cathy Who?
  Catherine Ashton: International woman of mystery.

• Russia's Gorbachev considers political comeback
  Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev criticized Kremlin policies Friday and toyed with the ambitious idea of attempting a political comeback.

• Ugandan army kills 34 tribesmen on cattle raids
  Ugandan officials say the army has killed 34 tribesmen who were stealing cattle in Uganda's volatile northeastern region.

• Brazil leader urges freeze on Israeli settlements
  Brazil's President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva is joining his Palestinian counterpart in calling on Israel to stop building new settlements in areas claimed by Palestinians.

• Queen, Prince Philip mark 62 years of marriage
  Buckingham Palace says the queen and her husband Prince Philip are celebrating 62 years of marriage quietly - without the fanfare of two years ago, when they marked their diamond anniversary.

• UK man cleared of wife's death during nightmare
  A British man who said he strangled his wife during a nightmare about fighting off an intruder has been found innocent in her death.

• 6 world powers press Iran on nuclear issue
  Representatives of six world powers urged Iran on Friday to accept a U.N. plan aimed at delaying its ability to build a nuclear weapon, as the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency warned Tehran not to miss the opportunity to resolve the dispute.

• Iraq cleric's aide urges end to political crisis
  A top aide to Iraq's Shiite spiritual leader on Friday urged the country's fractious political blocs to resolve a crisis over a key election law that threatens to delay national polls planned for January.

• Palestinians to set new date for elections
  Palestinian officials announced Friday that a new date for parliamentary and presidential elections will be set next month now that President Mahmoud Abbas has agreed to postpone the January vote, though the Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers maintain they will boycott the voting.

• Baby gorillas to get new sanctuary in east Congo
  Conservationists say Congolese schoolchildren will soon be able to take a closer look at baby mountain gorillas.

• Cosmonaut says Russia falling behind in space race
  Russia lacks a viable program for developing a new spacecraft and risks losing its place as a leader in space travel, a veteran Russian cosmonaut said in an interview published Friday.