SYDNEY (AFP) — Europe should deploy more troops to the dangerous southern regions of Afghanistan, Australia’s foreign minister said Friday as the country mourned its second soldier killed there in three weeks. Alexander Downer said Australia would welcome forces from NATO’s European members joining them in southern Afghanistan, the former …

NATO has “lost” its military campaign in Afghanistan, a former UN envoy warned Thursday, as Britain’s prime minister met his Afghan counterpart and coalition defense ministers struggled with strategies in the war-ravaged country.    

  Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday that Iran’s controversial nuclear program is “a major issue for the entire world” and called for stronger sanctions against Tehran.

Pakistan opposition parties believe the bombing attack against the homecoming parade of former premier Benazir Bhutto scuffles the opposition ahead of the upcoming general elections, scheduled for next January and only serves the interest of President Pervez Musharraf.

US forces hope to hand over half of Baghdad to Iraqi security control by the end of 2008, after violence in Iraq dropped to its lowest level since January 2006, the number two US general in Iraq has said. 

Ukrainian Communist Party leader Pyotr Simonenko plans to propose constitutional amendments to the Ukrainian Supreme Rada, in accordance with which Ukrainian president is to be elected by the parliament. Simonenko’s statement was released today by the Communist Party press office, a REGNUM correspondent informs.   

On Wednesday October 24, UN envoy in Darfur, Jan Eliasson said, speaking from Eritrea via videoconference to New York, that it is still unclear exactly how many rebel leaders will participate in the peace talks in Sirte, Libya. The peace conference scheduled to begin on Saturday faces the risk of …

Canada is putting pressure on individual NATO allies for support in southern Afghanistan, but no definite troop commitments have been made. “They will be badgering, questioning, pushing France, Italy, Spain and other countries to get involved in the south, to take on a much stronger combat role,” CTV’s Paul Workman …

WASHINGTON | The cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could total $2.4 trillion in the next decade, according to a nonpartisan budget analysis issued Wednesday. The White House dismissed the figures from the Congressional Budget Office as hypothetical. “We are on an unsustainable fiscal path, and something has …

Russia hopes final protocol of Joint Control Commission on Georgian-Ossetian conflict settlement will be signed. Russian Co-Chair of the Joint Control Commission (JCC) on Georgian-Ossetian conflict settlement Yuri Popov hopes that during the talks in Tbilisi the sides will manage to sign a final protocol of the meeting.