WORLD

U.N. nuclear watchdog governors voted on Friday to rebuke Iran for building a uranium enrichment plant in secret but Tehran dismissed the move as intimidation which would poison its negotiations with world powers.

The U.S. and Russian presidents will sign a new deal to cut Cold War arsenals of nuclear weapons by the year end, but may miss an early December deadline by several days, a Kremlin source told Reuters on Friday.

China is preparing to unveil a target to curb carbon emissions ahead of a major climate summit in Copenhagen next month, but experts and negotiators worry Beijing's much-anticipated figure may disappoint.

South Korea has launched a dispute at the World Trade Organization against the United States over U.S. measures to raise prices on imports of steel, a South Korean embassy official said on Thursday.

A U.S. debt that is topping $12 trillion is raising fresh questions about the cost of President Barack Obama's proposed healthcare overhaul, but those concerns are unlikely to sink the legislation.

The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) asked judges on Thursday for approval to launch a formal investigation into post-election violence in Kenya last year.

Mumbai held tearful memorials and police staged a show of strength on Thursday as India's financial hub marked the first anniversary of militant raids that killed 166 people and ratcheted up tensions with Pakistan.

The head of the German armed forces Wolfgang Schneiderhan has resigned over reports the military withheld information about a September 4 air strike in Afghanistan believed to have killed dozens of civilians.

Philippine police filed murder charges on Thursday against the main suspect in the massacre of 57 people in the south of the country this week as authorities moved to dismantle his clan's control over the region.

World powers are demanding that Iran immediately mothball a uranium enrichment site it hid for years, heightening fears it is planning to build atom bombs, in a resolution to be voted on by U.N. nuclear watchdog governors.

China has unveiled its first firm target to curb greenhouse gas emissions, laying out a carbon intensity goal on Thursday that Premier Wen Jiabao will take to looming climate talks as his government's central commitment.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez used a visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday to brand Israel as a murderous agent of Washington.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday he plans to stay on in his post until the next election is held and that he would be ready to hold the vote as soon as consensus was reached with Islamist group Hamas.

An Australian freelance journalist kidnapped in Somalia in August last year feared he would be handed over to hardline rebels when he was bundled into a car Wednesday night.

Israel announced on Wednesday it was limiting settlement construction for 10 months to try to revive peace negotiations with the Palestinians, but they said the step fell short of their terms for talks.

President Barack Obama is paying a price for a recession that began before he took office, and fellow Democrats have started to balk at his legislative agenda and demand greater efforts to create jobs.

The United States will not be in Afghanistan eight years from now, the White House said on Wednesday, as President Barack Obama prepared to explain to Americans next week why he is expanding the war effort.

The fight over a U.S. government-run public insurance plan may be getting louder and noisier, but for now the program's political symbolism far exceeds its practical impact on expanding health coverage.

The United States unveiled a plan to cut greenhouse gases by 2020 on Wednesday and said President Barack Obama will attend U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen next month -- before other world leaders show up.

U.S. and U.N. officials have proposed solutions to Iraq's Sunni Arab vice president to stop him vetoing for a second time a law needed for an election to take place next year, an official said on Wednesday.

A Pakistani court indicted seven Pakistani suspects on terror charges on Wednesday in connection with last year's attack on the Indian city of Mumbai, a defense lawyer said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on Wednesday told the visiting Chinese defense minister that his isolated country's friendship with China was unbreakable, even as ties have been tested by the North's nuclear tests.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is optimistic other allies will send more troops to Afghanistan, backing up an expected sharp increase in U.S. forces, according to a letter to NATO released on Wednesday.

Iran has detained scores of students in an apparent bid to prevent new opposition protests during annual Student Day events next month, a Western-based human rights group said.

Philippine security forces found 11 more bodies Wednesday at the site of an election-related massacre in the south of the country, taking the toll to 57 dead, officials said.

President Barack Obama will unveil his new strategy for the war in Afghanistan in an address to Americans on December 1, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said on Wednesday.

An Israeli prisoner exchange with Hamas has not yet been agreed and may not happen, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday, after a senior cabinet colleague predicted a breakthrough within weeks.

Iran could consider sending its low-enriched uranium abroad, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, apparently softening its opposition to a U.N. plan aimed at keeping a check on its nuclear ambitions.

The World Bank will start a trust fund to boost agriculture in poor countries with an initial $1.5 billion, its president Robert Zoellick said on Tuesday, warning of the risk of another food price crisis.