KABUL (Reuters) – The U.S. military is to provide the Afghan army with armored vehicles and NATO standard weapons in an attempt to boost the capability of the fledgling force, the U.S. military said on Wednesday.

KARALETI, Georgia (Reuters) – Russian troops started pulling back from buffer zones outside South Ossetia on Wednesday, two months after Russia’s brief war with Georgia which increased tension with the West.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) – An onshore associate of Somali pirates holding a Ukrainian ship with tanks and other weaponry on board said on Wednesday an $8 million ransom deal was in the offing which may enable the boat to be freed within days. “A boat will carry the money from Djibouti …