Mexico's security forces have been swept into the eye of the storm since President Felipe Calderon decided to get tough on the country's drug-smuggling gangs.

The Pentagon is proceeding with plans to build a new, 40-acre detention complex on the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan, officials said, in a stark acknowledgment that the U.S. is likely to continue to hold prisoners overseas for years to come.

The feuding presidents of the Andean countries came together for a summit of Latin American leaders in Peru Friday, but tensions remained high amid accusations of Venezuelan support for Colombian guerrillas.

Osama bin Laden vowed Friday to fight Israel for the liberation of the Palestinians, claiming their cause is at the heart of al-Qaida's holy war with the West.

On the day Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was endorsed by the governor of North Carolina, a supporter gave her a 3-foot-long balloon replica of herself, complete with blonde hair, black pantsuit and wide pink smile, which Clinton promptly took on the plane and laughingly showed off to reporters.

Inside the heavily fortified Green Zone — where a towering wall rings about 1,300 acres of land to protect U.S. diplomats, contractors, Iraqi officials and soldiers — Ingo Sahlmann and Gaylene Scott sat down for a beer in the garden of their Green Zone home and office.

Real estate deals tied to two local developers at the heart of a federal corruption probe cost Harris County at least $4 million more than it would have spent to buy the properties, according to a report by the county's budget management office.

Hair care products maker Farouk Shami wants to turn on its head the old story about manufacturing jobs migrating to cheap labor markets. Shami's privately held Houston company, Farouk Systems, manufactures hairstyling appliances in China and South Korea.

Iraqi officials on Friday gave insurgents in the northern city of Mosul a 10-day amnesty period to turn in weapons for cash payouts, the government's latest effort to regain control of the largest insurgent stronghold in Iraq.

As a letter carrier, Sonia Perez knew her day would come. The 28-year-old, though, had hoped to go up against a pint-sized Chihuahua rather than the enormous Rottweiler that attacked her last weekend.