UMM QASR, Iraq (Reuters) – Iraq’s fledgling navy of battered patrol boats is bulking up for a greater role in protecting the country’s economic heart, its offshore oil terminals, officials said. Putting on muscle to protect the two terminals that account for 90 percent of Iraq’s revenues, the tiny navy …

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s foreign ministry on Wednesday called Georgia a threat to stability in the South Caucasus, just hours before U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was due to visit Tbilisi. The Russian foreign ministry’s statement listed occasions when it said Georgian forces had stirred trouble with its two …

PRAGUE (Reuters) – The United States and the Czech Republic signed an agreement on Tuesday to build part of a U.S. missile defense shield in the central European state despite opposition from its former Cold War master Russia. The U.S. and Czech foreign ministers toasted with champagne after signing the …