AFGHANISTAN

Incumbent Hamid Karzai defended last month's Afghan presidential election as honest on Wednesday, a day after returns showed him on course to win in a single round but a U.N-backed panel also ordered a partial recount over fraud.

NATO troops released a kidnapped British reporter for the New York Times in northern Afghanistan in a commando raid before dawn on Wednesday, but his Afghan interpreter was killed.

Afghan election returns on Tuesday put President Hamid Karzai on course for a first-round victory, but a watchdog that can veto the outcome said it had found clear and convincing evidence of fraud and ordered a partial recount.

Afghanistan's U.N.-appointed election watchdog said on Tuesday it had found clear and convincing evidence of fraud in last month's presidential election and ordered a recount of suspicious returns.

Five Pakistani soldiers were killed in a land mine blast in the Taliban bastion of South Waziristan on Monday a day after forces killed 33 militants as part of a week-old campaign in the Khyber Pass, officials said.

Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has accused the United States of denouncing his friends and family in an effort to undermine his own position and make him more malleable.

President Barack Obama hopes to use a major speech next week to revitalize his push for healthcare reform -- and his success or failure could help define the rest of his term and perhaps his presidency.

Environmentalists hope the push in Congress for climate change legislation is not overwhelmed by the debate dominating Capitol Hill over changing the U.S. healthcare system. But it might be.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai inched closer to a first-round victory as more results came in from an election last month marred by accusations of fraud.

NATO officers met air strike victims and their families in Afghanistan on Saturday and their commander took to the TV airwaves in a bid to cool anger over an incident that undermines efforts to win hearts and minds.

The Associated Press's decision to release a photo of a dying U.S. Mariner taken in Afghanistan drew lots of controversies in the United States.

The famous couple in the entertainment industry was praised in Vanity Fair's

A photo taken of Marine Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard of New Portland, Maine in Afghanistan and published by the Associated Press has caused much controversy.

NATO forces in Afghanistan were investigating on Friday whether civilians were among scores of people burned to death when they carried out an air strike against two hijacked fuel tankers.

A suicide bomber killed at least 23 people, including the country's deputy head of intelligence, in an attack near a mosque in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, officials said.

Private contractors hired by the U.S. government have jeopardized security at the American embassy in Kabul with lewd, drunken conduct and an understaffed guard force at a time of rising violence in the Afghan capital, a watchdog group said on Tuesday.

President Barack Obama will review a new U.S. military report on Afghanistan this week and any decision on changing the U.S. presence there is weeks away, Obama's spokesman said on Tuesday.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai's main rival Abdullah Abdullah staged a rally of village elders on Tuesday to denounce fraud in last month's election and said he was doing all he could to keep his supporters off the streets.

The United States and its allies must change strategy and boost cooperation to turn around the war in Afghanistan, the top U.S. and NATO commander there said on Monday, wrapping up a much-anticipated review.

Afghanistan's election fraud watchdog said on Sunday it is probing 567 allegations of abuse it considers serious enough to affect the outcome of the Aug 20 vote, more than double the number announced two days ago.

Partial Afghan election returns released on Saturday showed President Hamid Karzai extending his lead in last week's vote, but still falling short of the 50 percent needed to avoid a run-off.