AFP - Mystery shrouded secret talks between Democratic presumptive White House nominee Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, which sparked new speculation Friday over her vice presidential prospects.

AFP - Zimbabwe opposition chief Morgan Tsvangirai was forced Friday to halt his campaign to topple Robert Mugabe at a run-off poll this month after being detained by police for the second time in a week.

Reuters - Protests and strikes over fuel price rises spread across India on Friday despite moves to take the sting out of the hikes, while anger fizzled out in Malaysia as the government stood firm after larger increases.

Reuters - A U.S. carbon-capping bill aimed at curbing climate change died on Friday in the Senate but its supporters looked to the next president to enact a global warming law as early as 2009.

Reuters - Iraq said on Friday it would not grant U.S. troops freedom of movement for military operations in a new agreement being negotiated on extending the presence of American troops on its soil.

Reuters - An Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites looks "unavoidable" given the apparent failure of sanctions to deny Tehran technology with bomb-making potential, one of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's deputies said on Friday.

Reuters - Zimbabwean police detained opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Friday for the second time this week after blocking him from reaching a campaign rally for the June 27 presidential run-off vote.

Reuters - A day after he fired the top two Air Force leaders, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is expected to pick Michael Donley, a senior Pentagon official, as Air Force secretary, a senior defense official said on Friday.

Reuters - The U.S. unemployment rate surged to 5.5 percent in May, its highest in more than 3-1/2 years, as the barely growing economy lost jobs for the fifth straight month.

Reuters - Democrat Hillary Clinton laid plans on Friday for an event she hoped she would never have to hold, her endorsement of U.S. presidential campaign rival Barack Obama, which party strategists say needs to be convincing to avoid a rift.

AP - Barry Bonds renewed his claims of innocence Friday, pleading not guilty to 15 federal charges of lying to a grand jury about his performance-enhancing drug use.

AP - Derrie-Air has been exposed. Readers of The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News opened their papers Friday to see ads for a new airline called Derrie-Air, which purportedly charges passengers by the pound.

AP - Ed McMahon blames the possible foreclosure of his multimillion-dollar Beverly Hills house on a set of problems all too familiar to many Americans: a foundering economy, health problems and poor planning.

AP - More than three years after a poacher shot off her upper beak, a bald eagle named Beauty can finally live up to her name — with the help of volunteers.