13+DEC

 **** __Interest Rates Are Low, but Banks Balk at Refinancing__ **** By DAVID STREITFELD Banks that once handed out home loans freely are now imposing such stringent requirements that many homeowners who might want to refinance are effectively locked out.

**** __In Shift, U.S. Talks to Russia on Internet Security__ **** By JOHN MARKOFF and ANDREW E. KRAMER After years of rejecting Russia’s overtures, the United States is seeking a new approach needed to blunt an international arms race in cyberspace.

****21ST-CENTURY BABIES**** **** __Uncertain Laws on Surrogates Leave Custody at Issue__ **** By STEPHANIE SAUL Surrogacy is largely without regulation, creating an emerging commercial market for babies that raises vexing ethical questions. **** __Chile’s ‘Children of Democracy’ Sitting Out Presidential Election__ **** By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO As Chileans head to the polls with a historic opportunity to break the 20-year hold of the governing Concertación coalition, young voters are not likely to play a major role.

**** __U.N. Experts Get Threats in Inquiry Into Somalia__ **** By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN Businessmen may be funneling aid to terrorist groups, and members of a panel investigating this possibility have received death threats.

**** __Retrofitted Vehicles Offer Window Into Mexico’s Cartels__ **** By MARC LACEY Much can be learned about the drug traffickers that the Mexican Army is combating by examining their confiscated, decked-out vehicles. **** __Church Works With U.S. to Spare Detention__ **** By NINA BERNSTEIN An unusual agreement between a New Jersey church and U.S. immigration officials has freed some Indonesians.

**** __Houston Is Largest City to Elect Openly Gay Mayor__ **** By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr. The city controller, Annise Parker, who avoided making an issue of her sexual orientation, won a run-off election.

**** __Body Found on Mount Hood; 2 Climbers Still Missing__ **** By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Crews found the body of one climber but continued searching for two others nearly two days after the three set out to climb the west side of the 11,000-foot peak. **** __Legal Battles Over E-Book Rights to Older Books__ **** By MOTOKO RICH The ownership of the e-book rights to older titles is a growing source of conflict in the publishing industry.

**** __Menopause, as Brought to You by Big Pharma__ **** By NATASHA SINGER and DUFF WILSON Lawsuits and internal documents show how Pfizer and its predecessors promoted the idea of taking hormone drugs.

**** __Can Nokia Recapture Its Glory Days?__ **** By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ The cellphone maker is losing ground to iPhones and BlackBerrys and recently posted its first quarterly loss in more than a decade.