Mexico: Ex-drug czar took cartel money
Mexico's former drug czar took $450,000 to leak information to a powerful cartel, officials said Friday.

Hundreds wait at stores for BlackBerry Storm

Hundreds of people lined up at Verizon Wireless stores on Friday to buy the BlackBerry Storm, the first touch-screen phone from Research In Motion that aims to compete with Apple's iPhone.

Islamists: We'll fight Somali pirates
A radical Islamic group in Somalia said Friday it will fight the pirates holding a Saudi supertanker loaded with $100 million worth of crude oil.

Citigroup's options dwindle; shares plunge
Citigroup's options are dwindling along with its stock price as the credit landscape deteriorates and fears escalate about future loan losses at the company.

WaMu, BNY Mellon latest banks to shed jobs
The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. and Washington Mutual on Friday became the latest in a string of banks to announce layoffs.

Sexism award goes to 'ugly ducklings' mayor
An Australian outback mayor's plea for lovelorn female "ugly ducklings" to move to a remote mining town to reverse a shortage of eligible women has won him the country's yearly award for outrageous sexism.

Bush to promote action plan to deal with crisis

Struggling to get ahead of a global financial crisis, the president hopes to win more converts at a summit in Peru for a plan aimed at showing governments have the will and means to halt the turmoil.

GM plans more cuts, eyes up to 10 factories
General Motors Corp. will extend its holiday shutdown or make other production cuts at up to 10 factories as it deals with a continued U.S. auto sales slump and fights to stay solvent.

Report predicts U.S. decline, Russia rise

Global warming could be a boon to Russia while the U.S. could further decline in importance during the next two decades, says a U.S. intelligence report with predictions for the world in 2025.