AFP - Afghan President Hamid Karzai Friday used his traditional message marking the Eid Muslim holiday to call on the leader of the Taliban to stop fighting and join peace talks to end Afghanistan's long war.

AFP - A justice minister on Friday admitted hiring private investigators to spy on colleagues, after publication of their findings revealed they thought he was dishonest, lazy and a "disaster" who needed to be removed.

AP - As thousands of Afghans protested a tiny Florida church's plan to burn the Muslim holy book, the church's pastor said he won't follow through on the plan if he's able to meet Saturday with the organizers behind a mosque planned near ground zero in New York.

AP - The leader of a tiny Florida church says he won't follow through on a plan to burn copies of Islam's holy text if he's able to meet Saturday with the organizers behind a mosque planned near ground zero in New York.

Reuters - Stock index futures rose slightly on Friday in low volume and were up for the seventh day in eight, buoyed by a jump in crude oil prices.

AP - Weary firefighters hoped the worst was over from a wildfire that destroyed nearly 170 homes in the Rocky Mountains foothills, but crews monitored were monitoring hot spots early Friday amid concerns that erratic winds could fan the flames and send them into Boulder.

AP - German stocks led European markets modestly lower Friday following reports that Deutsche Bank AG is planning to raise as much as euro9 billion ($11.4 billion) to lift its stake in Deutsche Postbank AG and shore up its capital base.

AP - Some of Britain's best-known artists are opposing planned government cuts that could slash arts funding by 25 percent.

Reuters - Deutsche Bank is set to lead rivals raising billions of euros as new global capital rules to be unveiled this weekend bite, and showed it may be good to get the jump on the pack.

AP - Fire crews flooded the ruins of burning homes with water early Friday after a massive explosion sent flames roaring through a neighborhood in the hills south of San Francisco, killing at least one person, injuring many others and destroying more than 50 houses.

AP - The rate at which Greece is narrowing its budget deficit slowed slightly over the summer, although the country is still on track to meet the targets laid out in an agreement with the International Monetary Fund and EU, finance ministry figures showed Friday.

AP - Will he or won't he? Negotiations between a local Muslim cleric and the leader of a tiny Florida church who had threatened to publicly burn copies of Islam's holy text left the heated debate in a state of confusion with the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks a day away.

Reuters - Imagine driving across America using a fuel so new you have to carry your own supply wherever you go.

Reuters - U.S. crude approached a three-week high near $76 on Friday, after record U.S. inventories were offset by the shutdown of a major pipeline, but a leading forecaster said oil demand would remain tepid.

Reuters - Nokia, the world's top cellphone maker, brought in Microsoft's Stephen Elop to replace its embattled chief executive and lead a renewed effort to compete in the smartphone market.

AP - Minutes after a woman was suspended from her job at a Kraft Foods Inc. plant and was escorted out, she returned with a handgun and opened fire, killing two people and critically injuring a third before being taken into custody, police said.

AP - Three U.S. mothers who have pleaded with Iranian authorities for more than a year to free their sons and daughter from a Tehran prison finally received a piece of the news they've been longing for.

AP - Three U.S. mothers who have pleaded with Iranian authorities for more than a year to free their sons and daughter from a Tehran prison finally received a piece of the news they've been longing for.

AP - A federal judge said she will issue an order to halt the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, after she declared the ban on openly gay service members unconstitutional.

AP - A federal judge said she will issue an order to halt the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, after she declared the ban on openly gay service members unconstitutional.

AP - Striving to gain the upper hand on a crucial political issue, President Barack Obama is faulting Republicans for refusing to help him turn around the sluggish economy or support some proposed new tax breaks for businesses that the GOP has backed in the past.

AP - Iran is denying an opposition group's claim that it is building a secret nuclear facility west of the capital.

AP - Flags flew at half-staff in the southern Russian city of Vladikavkaz on Friday and stunned residents laid flowers in a square where a suicide car bombing killed 17 people and wounded more than 140.

AP - A new mosque recently opened in this well-to-do suburb of Philadelphia, but not many people noticed.

AP - Convicted killer Cal Coburn Brown was executed early Friday by lethal injection for the rape, torture and murder of a Seattle-area woman, after delivering a statement complaining he was treated unfairly by the legal system.

AP - President Barack Obama has chosen one of his longtime economic advisers, Austan Goolsbee, to be the chairman of his Council of Economic Advisers, a White House official said.

AP - After three nights of violent protests, calm mainly prevailed over a gritty neighborhood where police fatally shot an illegal immigrant from Guatemala who was menacing officers with a knife.

AFP - An independent Australian politician whose support was crucial to keeping Prime Minister Julia Gillard in power Friday knocked back an offer to become a minister in her minority government.

AP - At least three people were still missing early Friday after flooding caused by the remnants of Tropical Storm Hermine swept vehicles from Texas roads and overpowered swimmers in the Guadalupe River.

AP - A Metrolink commuter train struck and killed two people who may have been sleeping on the tracks and injured a third in Orange County on Thursday, authorities said.