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.

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 - 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 - 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.

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 - 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 - 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.

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 - The Mexican police officers who arrested infamous drug suspect Edgar Valdez Villarreal, alias "La Barbie," did not initially know who they had caught, according to a booking report obtained Thursday.

Reuters - Democrats in Congress are distancing themselves from President Barack Obama's push to let taxes rise for the wealthiest Americans, fearing it will further harm them in November's mid-term elections.