A new classified U.S. intelligence assessment concludes that Iran's leaders are locked in a heated debate over whether to develop nuclear weapons, even as they enhance their capacity to do so.
A day after Hillary Clinton's pledge to promote Internet freedom world-wide, Chinese censors tried to snuff out efforts by U.S. diplomats to generate debate on the issue on Twitter-like microblogs.
Drug-cartel gunmen were responsible for the shooting of two U.S. government law-enforcement agents, the governor of the Mexican state where the men were attacked said.
Israel's foreign minister accused Iran of staging a "provocation" by sending a warship on a course to sail through the Suez Canal and past Israel's Mediterranean coast to Syria.
Belgium's finance minister proposed to King Albert II a possible compromise that could lead to a new government, a day before the country tied Iraq for an apparent record of the longest period without elected leadership.
Federal grand juries indicted dozens of alleged members and associates of a major Armenian criminal group on charges ranging from kidnapping and extortion to bank fraud and credit-card scams.
Fifty Somali migrants and a Tanzanian captain died after a ship sank off the east African coast, Mozambican police said.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff scored an important legislative victory Wednesday by fending off a bid in Congress to hike the minimum wage hike more than proposed in this year's spending plan.
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Despite complaints from Spain's ailing savings banks that reform efforts are moving too swiftly, the Spanish government is standing firm in its push to quickly convert the local institutions into traditional banks.
With few new gold strikes around the world that can be turned into profitable mines, South Africa's gold miners are planning to dig deeper than ever before to get access to rich veins.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he was "not worried at all" about being indicted on charges of paying an underage girl for sex and abusing his office in a cover-up attempt.
Colombia's largest rebel group on Wednesday released the final two of the six hostages it said it would free as a "humanitarian" gesture, a plan that was criticized by President Juan Manuel Santos as a media show.
Hungary's government agreed to amend a new media law after sharp criticism from the European Union that the legislation imposes unacceptable restrictions on freedom of expression.
Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said he is "ashamed" with the way Russia is run today and warned the Kremlin could face an Egypt-style uprising.
A Somali man was sentenced to more than 33 years in prison after he admitted to hostage-taking and other charges last year in the hijackings of three ships off Somalia's coast.
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Mexico is facing what could be its worst coffee harvest in almost 20 years as a result of bad weather and fewer coffee pickers willing to work. The poor harvest could cause coffee prices, already at a 13½-year high, to climb further.
Antiriot police began assembling in front of striking Colombian truckers, who for three days have been causing major traffic jams by setting up roadblocks on the capital city's main arteries.
Geithner said he thinks China's policy makers have made a decision to allow the nation's currency to rise as inflation flares up in the Asian country.
G-20 officials have agreed to draw up a "limited set" of indicators aimed at curbing economic imbalances and coordinating economic policies, but have yet to decide what those indicators will be.
News from the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires
Riot police firing tear gas and rubber bullets stormed a landmark public square occupied by antigovernment protests early on Thursday in Bahrain, driving out demonstrators and killing at least two people.
Iran's government hijacked the funerals of two students shot dead during antigovernment protests by busing its supporters to take over the procession and preventing the victims' families and friends from attending.
Two antiregime demonstrators died in clashes in Yemen's southern port of Aden Wednesday, triggering pledges by protest leaders there that they would ratchet up pressure on longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Jordan faces a demographic dilemma. Palestinians there, most of whom were born in the West Bank but are now naturalized Jordanians, are starting to outnumber the country's indigenous tribes and it's causing tensions.
A small protest in Libya for the release of a human-rights lawyer flared into an antiregime demonstration that was violently ended by police and government supporters.
Protesters demanding better public services set fire to government buildings in Wassit province south of Baghdad, amid clashes with security forces that left more than 50 wounded.
Israel has agreed to a second deployment of Egyptian troops to the Sinai Peninsula, to guard a pipeline that supplies natural gas to Israel.
The U.S. Treasury on Wednesday issued a warning to U.S. financial institutions, advising them to closely scrutinize any transactions emanating from Egypt, U.S. officials said.
Indian industrialist Ratan Tata lashed out at the government for allowing media outlets to get hold of wiretap recordings of his lobbyist's phone calls, and said stronger privacy protection is needed to prevent similar episodes in the future.
The latest addition to Nike's Air Jordan basketball shoe series comes with a limited-edition celebrating Michael Jordan's Chinese zodiac sign.
This evening all eyes are going to be glued on Bangladesh's capital Dhaka, where the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 will kick off at 5:30 p.m. IST with a grand ceremony that is going to feature about 4,000 performers.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday he hopes to see resolution of the contentious issue of relocating U.S. military facilities on the Japanese island of Okinawa by the “spring.”
North Korea celebrates Kim Jong Il's birthday in low-key style, ahead of an expected blowout next year. And the dictator's seldom-seen No. 2 son, Kim Jong Chol, showed up at a concert in Singpore earlier this week.
Belgium is closing in on Iraq's record for number of days without a government. But how many more does it have to go?
There's one thing about their government that Filipinos can't get enough of: coverage of their bachelor president's love life.
Mervyn King this week presented the strongest signal yet that the Bank of England is about to start on the road towards normalizing monetary policy.
In today's pictures, children seek shelter from the rain in Pakistan, Ugandans support a presidential candidate, skydivers get into formation in Arizona and more.
When Bolivia's president signed a law last year banning live animals from circuses, it posed a problem. What to do with the liberated lions? It didn't take long to find a fix: math teacher Pat Craig.
It isn't enough for governments to offer funding for stressed sovereign; any "grand bargain" must also addresses bank funding, bank capital and also sovereign solvency.
In today's pictures, a Russian cadet eats in the snow, Muslims celebrate the Prophet Muhammad's birthday, Colombian truck drivers strike and more.
As worshippers welcomed the Year of the Rabbit, Hong Kong's Wong Tai Sin temple ushered in an era of its own: high-tech Taoism, including a $13 million electronic prayer hall.
Experience has taught us not to take the labels the European Union chooses to place on its many and various "pacts" at face value.
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