EDITOR'S NOTE: Iranian authorities have barred journalists for international news organizations from reporting on the streets and ordered them to stay in their offices. This report is based on the accounts of witnesses reached in Iran and official statements carried on Iranian media. Read More

Vice President Joe Biden pressed Iraqi leaders Friday to do more to foster national reconciliation and offered U.S. assistance in achieving that, as concerns grow that a lack of political progress is fueling violence in Iraq. Read More

Syria's leader sent a July 4 message full of praise to President Barack Obama on Friday and invited him to visit Syria _ the latest signs Damascus is hedging its bets in Mideast politics, warming up to its rival the United States at a time when its longtime ally Iran is in turmoil. Read More

As swine flu runs rampant in the Southern Hemisphere winter, world health experts are concerned that some hard-hit countries have been reluctant to take forceful measures to protect public health. Read More

The head of Venezuela's telecommunications regulatory agency said Friday that 240 radio stations will have their licenses revoked for failing to update their registrations with the government. Read More

Brazil's air force released a recording Friday it said proves it handed over control of Air France Flight 447 to Senegalese authorities before it crashed _ but African officials denied that. Read More

Six people, including a 3-week-old baby, were killed and 30 people had to be rescued when fire ripped through a high-rise apartment building in London on Friday, emergency services said. Read More

President Felipe Calderon and his drug war will get their biggest test of support yet when Mexico holds midterm elections Sunday amid growing frustration over rampant cartel violence and a shrinking economy. Read More

Honduras' Supreme Court rebuffed a personal appeal from the Americas' top international diplomat Friday, refusing to restore ousted President Manuel Zelaya before a Saturday deadline. Read More

After bitter wrangling, Africa's leaders agreed Friday to denounce the International Criminal Court and refuse to extradite Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, who has been indicted for crimes against humanity in Darfur. Read More

Protesters linked arms across an entrance at Paris' main airport on Friday to keep passengers off a Yemeni flight to Comoros _ a route that saw a deadly crash this week, after years of complaints about dangerous conditions on the flight path to the Indian Ocean island nation. Read More

Honduras Supreme Court says it has rejected OAS ultimatum to reinstate President Manuel Zelaya. Read More

The head of U.S. Central Command warned Friday that the thousands of American troops surging into Afghanistan's turbulent Helmand province to battle the Taliban are in for a tough fight. Read More

A Canadian soldier in Afghanistan's Kandahar province was killed Friday when his armored vehicle struck a roadside bomb seconds after the senior commander of coalition forces in the province narrowly missed the same explosive device. Read More

Canada's top court on Friday dismissed the case of a young Jehovah's Witness who claimed that her rights were violated when she was forced to get a blood transfusion against her wishes because she was a minor. Read More

Prison guards foiled a new attempt to smuggle a cell phone into a Brazilian prison by carrier pigeon _ this one wearing a tiny backpack _ and said Friday that the practice is becoming almost commonplace. Read More

Cardinal John Henry Newman, an influential 19th-century Anglican theologian who converted to Roman Catholicism, moved a step closer to possible sainthood Friday after the pope approved a miracle attributed to his intercession. Read More

NAWA, Afghanistan _ U.S. Marines pushed deeper into Taliban areas of southern Afghanistan on Friday, seeking to cut insurgent supply lines and win over local elders on the second day of the biggest U.S. military operation here since the American-led invasion of 2001. Read More

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon could leave Myanmar empty-handed after apparently failing to win any concessions Friday from the country's top military ruler or to gain permission to visit opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in jail. Read More

Most members of a group of foreign peace activists seized at sea by the Israeli navy remained in custody Friday, three days after their failed attempt to run Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip, relatives and supporters said. Read More