BEIRUT, Lebanon — Tens of thousands of protesters chanted and carried banners through the heart of Tehran and other Iranian cities on Friday, hijacking a government-organized anti-Israel march and injecting new life into the country’s opposition movement.The protests, held in defiance of warnings from the clerical and military elite, served...

JERUSALEM, Sept. 18 -- White House special envoy George J. Mitchell finished a week of diplomacy in the region without reaching an agreement with Israel over limits on Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, diminishing chances for a breakthrough meeting between Israeli and Palestinian leaders next week at the U.N. General Assembly session....

WASHINGTON — President Obama's foreign policy has employed a starkly different tone than George W. Bush's, emphasizing engagement and cooperation rather than go-it-alone confrontation. Even so, analysts of various political stripes hadn't seen many big differences on substance.Until now.Obama's decision Wednesday to scuttle a costly and technically...

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin jogged to midfield, briefly shook hands with Florida's Urban Meyer and then darted toward the locker room.Kiffin kept his head up the whole way. Who could blame him? After all, he had more reason to be encouraged than embarrassed after his Southeastern Conference opener against the top-ranked...

LONDON - Greed, hubris, vast fortunes erased at a stroke - the financial crisis is dramatic gold dust for writers.One of Britain's leading playwrights, David Hare, is tackling the world of toxic securities and subprime mortgages in his new play at the National Theatre in London. Author Sebastian Faulks has a new best-seller about a swashbuckling...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve plans new rules on bank pay to curb the type of excessive risk-taking that sparked the global financial crisis and triggered international demands for action.Public outrage at the stratospheric compensation of some bankers has boiled up to the level of the Group of 20 nations, whose leaders meet...

Seven former CIA directors have urged U.S. President Barack Obama to stop a criminal probe into alleged prisoner abuse by CIA interrogators during the Bush administration.The CIA directors, who served both Democratic and Republican presidents, made they request in a letter Friday to the White House.In their letter, the former directors -...

Japan's ruling party conceded a crushing defeat today as voters looked to have handed the main opposition party a historic general election victory.Television exit polls suggested the left-of-centre Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) would win 300 or more of the 480 seats in the lower house, a huge improvement on its current 115 seats.The ruling...

The urgency of dealing with the Iranian nuclear threat was underscored today when a leaked report revealed that the UN inspection agency believes the Islamic republic has "sufficient information" to make a nuclear weapon and has "probably tested" a key component.A day after Barack Obama scrapped plans to deploy missile defence technology...

Republicans have condemned Barack Obama's decision to scrap a US missile defence shield in Europe as a policy of appeasement that will embolden Russia and Iran while letting down America's allies.Obama's decision means the US will not now base US interceptor missiles in Poland and radar in the Czech Republic to protect Europe from Iranian...

Mr Obama will hold separate talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, before a joint meeting.Efforts to restart the peace process have so far been blocked by disagreements over Israeli settlements.A senior US official told the BBC that there was no expectation of an announcement after Tuesday's...

A national debate on race that Barack Obama had hoped to avoid was ignited today when Jimmy Carter claimed that much of the opposition to the president has arisen because he is black.The former president said racism had come to the surface across the country because of a belief held by many whites that an African American is not qualified...

Tomorrow's Russian newspapers are therefore likely to be triumphalist in tone. "See, we were right to give the Americans a hard time on this" will be the line.The climb-down undoubtedly does represent a significant strategic victory for the Kremlin. It also gives substance to Washington's so far woolly "reset" of relations with Russia, and...

DENVER—A man under investigation in a terrorism probe in New York and Denver has indicated he is associated with al-Qaida and played a key role in a planned terror attack, a senior U.S. intelligence official said Friday.Najibullah Zazi's attorney says he has never met with al-Qaida operatives and isn't involved in terrorism. Zazi completed...

The debate over health care reform -- already sidetracked and nearly derailed by a nationwide taxpayer revolt and deep divisions within the Democratic Party -- now is mired in charges of racism.Former President Jimmy Carter fanned the racial flames Tuesday when he branded as racist Rep. Joe Wilson's outburst -- and any vocal opposition to...

Vladimir Putin could be forgiven for having a celebratory shot of vodka with breakfast this morning at news that President Obama plans to abandon America’s missile defence shield in Eastern Europe.His implacable opposition to the project has paid off, leaving the Kremlin emboldened in its drive to re-establish a strategic “sphere of privileged...

It seemed as if Iran’s opposition movement had evaporated during the past two months. Nothing could be further from the truth, as today’s huge protests showed. All the opposition lacked was the right opportunity, and Quds Day provided it.The regime and its security forces could hardly cancel Iran’s traditional annual rally in support of the...

America's European allies are unlikely to commit significantly more combat troops to Afghanistan despite months of pressure from the US and Britain, officials and independent commentators said today.The reluctance of European leaders, including Gordon Brown, to agree to deploy more of their troops, has angered Washington. However, it has...

The unemployment rate for the District rose dramatically to 11.1 percent in August, the highest level since July 1983, but fell for the second consecutive month in Virginia and stabilized in Maryland, according to government data released Friday.Some employment experts attributed the disparity to the higher proportion in the District of undereducated...

“Jennifer’s Body,” a bloody high school demonic-possession serial-killer comedy written by Diablo Cody, directed by Karyn Kusama and starring Megan Fox in the title role, is an unholy mess. I mean that as a compliment. Yes, the movie’s gory set pieces are executed with more carnivorous glee than formal discipline, and its story is as full...

House Republicans succeeded Thursday in eliminating federal funding to ACORN, the community organizing group that has come under heavy fire in the wake of damaging undercover videos that purport to show counselors giving advice on tax fraud to a "pimp" and "prostitute."The House voted 345-75 to strike ACORN funding from a student aid bill...