KABUL, Afghanistan – Vice President Dick Cheney met with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday to discuss ways the country’s fragile government as it faces rising threats from al-Qaida and Taliban militants.

KUWAIT (Reuters) – Kuwait’s ruler dissolved parliament and set an election for May 17 on Wednesday after a political crisis that delayed economic reforms forced the oil exporting state’s government to resign.

BELGRADE (Reuters) – Serbia’s neighbors in Croatia, Hungary and Bulgaria dealt a blow to the Serb campaign to overturn Kosovo’s month-old independence on Wednesday by announcing they would recognize the new republic.