AP - Clashes between police and alleged militants left six more people dead Friday in Russia's volatile North Caucasus, even as stunned residents laid flowers in a square where a suicide car bombing killed 17 people and wounded more than 140 only a day ago.

AP - An Iranian news agency says Saturday's planned released of one of three Americans jailed for more than a year is a result of intervention by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Reuters - Stocks were set to rise at the open on Friday after posting gains in six of the last seven sessions, buoyed by a jump in crude oil prices.

AP - Nokia Corp. is replacing CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo with top Microsoft executive Stephen Elop as the world's top handset maker aims to regain lost ground in the fiercely competitive smartphone market.

AP - Fire crews flooded the ruins of burning homes with water early Friday after a massive explosion apparently triggered by a broken gas line sent flames roaring through a neighborhood near San Francisco, destroying more than 50 houses. There was one confirmed death and reports of several others.

Reuters - U.S. crude rose more than $1 to over $75 on Friday due to the shutdown of a major pipeline, but a leading forecaster said demand would remain tepid.

AP - As thousands of Afghans protested a tiny Florida church's plan to burn the Muslim holy book, the church's pastor said he won't follow through with the burning if he's able to meet Saturday with the organizers behind a mosque planned near ground zero in New York.

AP - As thousands of Afghans protested a tiny Florida church's plan to burn the Muslim holy book, the church's pastor said he won't follow through with the burning if he's able to meet Saturday with the organizers behind a mosque planned near ground zero in New York.

AP - The Greek government pledged Friday to radically overhaul loss-making state rail company OSE, as official data showed efforts to cut the country's bloated budget deficit remained on track, if slightly asthmatic.

Reuters - Nokia has hired Stephen Elop, a Canadian Microsoft executive of Silicon Valley pedigree, to replace its embattled chief executive and renew its drive to compete with Apple.

AP - Three U.S. mothers who have pleaded with Iranian authorities for more than a year to free their sons and daughter from a Tehran prison finally received a piece of the news they've been longing for.

AP - Weary firefighters hoped the worst was over from a wildfire that destroyed nearly 170 homes in the Rocky Mountains foothills, but crews monitored were monitoring hot spots early Friday amid concerns that erratic winds could fan the flames and send them into Boulder.

AP - A federal judge said she will issue an order to halt the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, after she declared the ban on openly gay service members unconstitutional.

AP - Minutes after a woman was suspended from her job at a Kraft Foods Inc. plant and was escorted out, she returned with a handgun and opened fire, killing two people and critically injuring a third before being taken into custody, police said.

AP - A federal judge said she will issue an order to halt the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, after she declared the ban on openly gay service members unconstitutional.

AP - Striving to gain the upper hand on a crucial political issue, President Barack Obama is faulting Republicans for refusing to help him turn around the sluggish economy or support some proposed new tax breaks for businesses that the GOP has backed in the past.

Reuters - Deutsche Bank is set to lead rivals raising billions of euros as new global capital rules to be unveiled this weekend bite, and showed it may be good to get the jump on the pack.

AP - A new mosque recently opened in this well-to-do suburb of Philadelphia, but not many people noticed.

AP - Convicted killer Cal Coburn Brown was executed early Friday by lethal injection for the rape, torture and murder of a Seattle-area woman, after delivering a statement complaining he was treated unfairly by the legal system.

AP - After three nights of violent protests, calm mainly prevailed over a gritty neighborhood where police fatally shot an illegal immigrant from Guatemala who was menacing officers with a knife.