Members of an Iranian opposition group claimed Friday that Iraqi authorities are limiting their access to outside health care at a camp in northern Iraq where they have been under watch since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Read More

He compared al-Qaida in Iraq to wolves, urging that the terrorist group be crushed since he believed its members would never reject violence. But the wolves got to the Iraqi counterterrorism officer first. Read More

Kidnap victims freed from a rehab center in Mexico City said they were snatched from the streets and held in slave-like conditions _ beaten, robbed and forced to work 16 hours a day making shopping bags and clothes pins. Read More

Highly anticipated immigration talks between Cuba and the United States have been pushed back because of scheduling concerns that each side blames on the other, another hint that reconciliation may be more difficult than it once appeared. Read More

Foreign migrants caught while in Mexico illegally can now at least fight boredom while mourning their bad fortune. Read More

Thousands of Chileans including President Michelle Bachelet paid their respects Friday to a folk singer who became a martyr of the country's 1973 military coup and whose remains will be reburied following a search for clues to identify his killers. Read More

U.S. Marines swooped down behind Taliban lines in helicopters and Osprey aircraft Friday in the first offensive since President Barack Obama announced an American troop surge. Read More

The United States and Russia said Friday they have agreed to maintain the provisions of a major nuclear arms control treaty just hours before its expiration. Read More

A young giant panda who became a major draw after his birth at Washington's National Zoo will leave for China early next year for breeding. Read More

A least 20 people died and two were injured when fire engulfed a third-floor karaoke bar in one of Indonesia's largest cities on Friday, police said, adding that the death toll could rise. Read More

Militants stormed a mosque near Pakistan's army headquarters, killing at least 36 worshippers, including six military officers, during Friday prayers as they sprayed gunfire and threw grenades before blowing themselves up, officials said. Read More

At least 20 people have died in mudslides triggered by heavy rains across southern Brazil as rivers rose to rooftops and thousands were left homeless Friday. Read More

Austrian police have arrested an American woman sought in connection with the killing of her ex-husband, who died when a pipe bomb exploded in his car more than a decade ago, law enforcement officials said Friday. Read More

In Bolivia's biggest municipality, a scrub-brush expanse of cattle ranches and hardscrabble farms, Sunday's national elections aren't all about Evo Morales. Read More

It was a story meant to captivate the United Nations: A dozen Cuban children with heart defects were forced to endure unnecessary surgery because the U.S. embargo blocked them from receiving American-made catheters. Read More

Some two dozen countries will send an estimated 7,000 more troops to Afghanistan next year, an infusion of forces that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday is crucial to turning the tide in the long war. Read More

An underground network of Christian missionaries that usually works with North Korean refugees says it has helped smuggle nearly two dozen Muslim Uighurs out of China following last summer's deadly ethnic violence and the subsequent government crackdown. Read More

A gigantic sculpture that is one of the most admired examples of Soviet socialist realism is back on view in Moscow after six years of restoration. Read More

A trio of Swedish entrepreneurs launched a line of designer jeans made in North Korea, saying Friday they hope to help break the country's isolation by joining the handful of foreign manufacturers operating in the communist nation. Read More

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani says Rio de Janeiro can become a safe city before it hosts the 2016 Olympics. And his consulting firm will be paid to offer advice on how to make that happen. Read More