SAMARRA, Iraq (Reuters) – A ring of scaffolding around charred bricks is all that now stands in place of the golden dome that adorned one of Shi’ite Islam’s holiest shrines.

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghanistan began registering voters on Monday for elections due next year that will test support for President Hamid Karzai and democracy itself which is threatened by a virulent Taliban insurgency in which thousands have died.

SARAJEVO (Reuters) – Bosnian Serbs, Muslims and Croats voted mostly along ethnic party lines in a local election Sunday, keeping them in power some 13 years after the war, preliminary results showed early Monday.