AFP - Irish voters dealt a stunning blow to the European Union's grand reform plans Friday by rejecting a new treaty and plunging the bloc into a new crisis.

Reuters - The U.S. general who recently handed over command of NATO troops in Afghanistan cast doubt on Friday on the ability of Pakistan's Frontier Corps paramilitary force to combat Islamist militants.

Reuters - The EU's top diplomat said he would hand Iran a generous offer on Saturday aimed at resolving a deepening dispute over its nuclear ambitions that has helped push up oil prices to record highs.

Reuters - The U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Guantanamo prisoners have constitutional rights has fundamentally changed the rules for trying them and could bring down the special war crimes court, defense lawyers said.

Reuters - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe said on Friday liberation war veterans would take up arms if he loses a June 27 presidential run-off vote.

Reuters - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Friday talks with the United States on a long-term security pact were at a stalemate because of U.S. demands that encroached on Iraq's sovereignty.

Reuters - Irish voters rejected a treaty on Friday to overhaul the European Union's unwieldy institutions, putting the entire bloc's reform plan in peril and humiliating Ireland's political leaders.

Reuters - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and Republican John McCain failed to agree on Friday on holding a series of face-to-face town hall meetings and each side blamed the other for an inability to reach an accord.

Reuters - Officials in Iowa's capital city urged residents threatened by the rising Des Moines River to evacuate on Friday, calling the situation "extremely dangerous."

AP - Journeyman Kevin Streelman's stay atop the U.S.

AP - The jury in the R. Kelly child pornography case has reached a verdict after less than a day of deliberations. Judge Vincent Gaughan is scheduled to read the verdict Friday afternoon.

AP - Two people were shot and killed Friday morning during an apparent robbery at a soda bottling plant.

AP - President Bush said Friday that just as the United States helped Europe rebuild after World War II, the two powers must now stand with newborn democracies like Afghanistan and Iraq and reach out to people yearning for liberty, especially in the Middle East.

AP - Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki declared Friday that talks with the U.S. on a new security agreement were deadlocked, as Sunni and Shiite preachers spoke out against the deal that would enable American troops to remain in Iraq after year's end.