U.S. officials say Karzai aides are derailing corruption cases involving elite

Top officials in President Hamid Karzai's government have repeatedly derailed corruption investigations of politically connected Afghans, according to U.S. officials who have provided Afghanistan's authorities with wiretapping technology and other assistance in efforts to crack down on endemic gr...


Political corruption - Afghanistan - Hamid Karzai - Asia - Corruption

Iran delays nuclear talks, threatens retaliation over potential searches

TEHRAN -- Iran is ready to retaliate if its vessels are searched and will postpone nuclear talks with major powers until the end of August in response to new international sanctions, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday.


Nuclear - Iran - Environment - Weapons - Warfare and Conflict

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Israeli Ambassador Oren denies statement of 'rift' with U.S., despite reports

Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren denied Sunday that he had told Israeli diplomats a "tectonic rift" was emerging between the United States and Israel -- incendiary words first reported in the Israeli press and then repeated in media outlets around the globe.


United States - Israel - Middle East - Warfare and Conflict - Israel-Palestine

NKorea says it must bolster nuclear capability

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea threatened Monday to bolster its nuclear capability in a new - though unspecified - way to cope with what it says is a hostile U.S. policy and military threats amid tensions over the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship.



Nuclear - North Korea - Weapons - Warfare and Conflict - Technology

Iceland PM weds partner as gay marriage legalized

REYKJAVIK, Iceland -- Iceland's prime minister has married her partner under a new law legalizing same-sex marriage in the country.


Iceland - Same-sex marriage - Gay Lesbian and Bisexual - United States - Marriage

China says 107 people trapped in a landslide

BEIJING -- A landslide caused by heavy rains trapped at least 107 people Monday in southwestern China and there was little hope for their survival, a local official said. Rescue efforts were hindered by rain that threatened to wash more mud down hill slopes.


China - Landslide - Asia - Earth Sciences - Natural Disasters and Hazards

Israeli flotilla inquiry to question premier

JERUSALEM -- The Israeli commission of inquiry into last month's deadly naval raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla will summon the country's prime minister to testify, the chief investigator announced Monday as the five-member panel officially began work.


United States - Government - Military - Coast Guard - Auxiliary

Panetta says Afghan insurgents show no real interest in reconciliation talks

CIA Director Leon Panetta said Sunday that U.S. officials have not seen "any firm intelligence" that insurgent groups in Afghanistan are interested in reconciliation, and he dismissed reports that a top militant leader is open to a Pakistan-brokered agreement.



Terrorism - Al-Qaeda - Osama bin Laden - Warfare and Conflict - War in Afghanistan

In aftermath of ethnic clashes, Kyrgyzstan votes to approve new constitution

MOSCOW -- The people of Kyrgyzstan voted Sunday to adopt a new constitution in a referendum that appeared to proceed calmly despite smoldering tensions after ethnic clashes left hundreds dead two weeks ago.


Kyrgyzstan - Asia - Constitution - Business and Economy - Government

McChrystal violated not just protocol but Obama tenets on media management

For a cerebral president intent on projecting a united front of seriousness to the public, the story couldn't have been further off message. The general leading the grim war in Afghanistan presented himself not as a hardened warrior-scholar but as the military's most decorated consumer of Bud Light...


Stanley McChrystal - Rolling Stone - Media - Barack Obama - Business

President Obama urges G-20 nations to spend; they pledge to halve deficits

TORONTO -- President Obama warned Sunday that the world economic recovery remains "fragile" and urged continued spending to support growth, an expansionist call at the end of a summit marked by an agreement among developed nations to halve their annual deficits within three years.


G-20 major economies - United States - Barack Obama - Economic - Stephen Harper