HONDURAS
Legislature may rule on ousted Zelaya
TEGUCIGALPA — The interim government made a new offer in talks on resolving Honduras' political standoff Friday, just hours after a negotiator for ousted President Manuel Zelaya said the talks had been broken off.
Vilma Morales, a representative of interim President Robert Micheletti, said the administration was willing to allow Zelaya to appeal directly to the country's legislature to decide whether he should be restored to office. Micheletti had previously insisted the decision be left to the Supreme Court, which had already ruled out Zelaya's reinstatement.
Zelaya has said he wants Congress to make the decision, even though the latest estimates suggest he currently enjoys the support of only about a fifth of lawmakers.
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CANADA
DNA tests help acquit man jailed for 13 years
WINNIPEG, Manitoba — A Canadian man who spent 13 years in prison for the murder of a teenage girl in 1990 was acquitted Friday.
A judge acquitted Kyle Unger, 38, after prosecutors said Friday they had no evidence against him. Unger was wrongfully convicted of beating, sexually assaulting and killing 16-year-old Brigitte Grenier at a rock concert southwest of Winnipeg.
"It's the first day of the rest of my life, a new beginning," Unger said outside a Winnipeg, Manitoba, courthouse.
Unger was jailed in 1991 and found guilty and sentenced to life in prison the following year.
He was convicted partly because a forensics expert testified that a hair found on the victim's body belonged to Unger. But Unger was granted bail after DNA tests in 2005 showed the hair came from someone else.
PORTUGAL
Sen. McCain's mother hospitalized after fall
LISBON — The 97-year-old mother of U.S. Sen. John McCain spent the night in a Lisbon hospital after a fall, Portuguese health officials and the senator's office said Friday.
The Sao Jose hospital said in a written statement that Roberta McCain was in stable condition and was undergoing tests after being admitted Thursday evening. It provided no further information.
Sen. McCain's office in Washington said Roberta McCain "had a fainting episode and injured her head" while on vacation in the Portuguese capital.
The U.S. embassy in Lisbon issued a statement from McCain's office saying his wife Cindy would travel to Lisbon to accompany her mother-in-law home.
Portuguese news channel TVI24 cited unnamed sources saying Roberta McCain bumped her head in a fall in the street.
JAPAN
Disagreement narrows on US deployments
TOKYO — Japan's new government appeared to bow to intensifying pressure from visiting top U.S. military officials, saying Friday it supports keeping a major U.S. Marine airfield on the southern island of Okinawa.
The move narrows — but doesn't close — a rift between the two alliance partners ahead of President Obama's visit in three weeks. The new Tokyo administration, elected in a landslide in August, is eager to assert a more independent stance with Washington — but doesn't want to unduly strain ties with its chief ally and key trading partner.
The government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has suggested it would like to make changes to a 2006 agreement that would realign the 47,000 U.S. troops in Japan, including moving 8,000 Marines to the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam.
FRANCE
Sarkozy's son elected to business board
PARIS — President Nicolas Sarkozy's son was elected to the board of the organization that runs France's most important business district Friday, after a dramatic withdrawal of his bid for the top spot amid accusations of favoritism that carried political risks for his father.
The president maintained an official silence, then turned to Facebook to say he was proud of his 23-year-old son.
Jean Sarkozy had been the leading candidate to head EPAD, a quasi-governmental organization overseeing real estate and the administration of La Defense, the neighborhood of skyscrapers west of Paris that is home to top companies and the workplace of 150,000 people. He withdrew that bid Thursday night after two weeks of cries of favoritism — and vows not to back down.
The 45-member board — 30 of whom hail from the French president's conservative UMP party or its allies — voted, as expected, to give him a spot on the board of directors. He will fill the seat of a member who stepped down in October.
The Associated Press
