The Pentagon issued a proposal on Monday to sell weapons worth $4.2bn to Iraq, including 18 F-16 fighter aircraft, Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, laser-guided bombs and reconnaissance equipment, according to a report from the Financial Times. The Pentagon said the proposed arms sales would make Baghdad “a more valuable partner in an important area of the world as well as supporting Iraq’s legitimate... 

The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany. Germany will finally pay off the last of its debts from World War One this Sunday, on the 20th anniversary of German reunification. Germany’s federal office for central services and unresolved property issues (BADV) said on Tuesday a bond issued to pay remaining debts stemming from the conflict would mature on October 3, two decades after West and East... 

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev stepped out of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s shadow long enough on Tuesday to fire Moscow’s larger-than-life mayor, rattling a political establishment that until now has accepted Putin as the nation’s undisputed authority. The mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, has ruled Russia’s biggest and wealthiest city since 1992 with an authority that would have... 

A French soldier patrols at the Eiffel Tower in Paris. President Nicolas Sarkozy's government has gone out of its way in recent days to warn repeatedly that terrorists may be planning a new attack in France. When an unclaimed package was spotted in a busy Paris subway station Monday, police immediately diverted trains, ordered thousands of frustrated travelers into the street and dispatched a bomb... 

Pakistan’s chairman of IAEA, Ansar Parvez (right) Pakistan became the new chair of the UN nuclear watchdog’s governing body on Monday, despite being outside a global anti-nuclear arms pact. Western diplomats have suggested they do not see the choice as ideal because like India, North Korea and Israel, Pakistan has shunned the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) that is at the heart of the International... 

Though the administration is also on the verge of getting broad powers to destroy the entire Internet on national security grounds, President Obama is also seeking Congressional approval for a bill that would grant him virtually limitless power to wiretap online communications as well. The bill would require every single online service with even a peripheral capability of allowing for communication... 

Tourists were asked to leave the Eiffel Tower on Tuesday after a bomb threat. The Eiffel Tower and the surrounding Champs de Mars park were briefly evacuated on Tuesday because of a bomb alert, the fourth in the Paris region in as many weeks, but a search turned up nothing, police said. The decision to evacuate came after the fire service received a call from a public telephone saying there was a suspect... 

There may be sizeable differences in circulating levels of the inflammatory marker C-reactive protein (CRP) among different ethnic groups, a finding that has implications for statin use, researchers suggested. In a systematic review and meta-analysis encompassing more than 200,000 people, the geometric mean CRP level was the highest in African Americans, at 2.6 mg/L (95% credible interval 2.27 to... 

Venezuela’s opposition won a third of the seats in parliament and claimed a majority of the popular vote in elections, boosting its hopes of defeating President Hugo Chavez at the next presidential poll in 2012. Although Mr Chavez’s Socialist Party retained a majority in the 165-seat National Assembly, it fell short of its goal of keeping at least the two thirds it needs to pass major... 

Pirates seize cargo ship off Somalia’s coast with 12 Ukrainians onboard. The European Union’s anti-piracy force says Somali pirates have hijacked a cargo ship carrying steel bars and wires off the coast of Somalia. The force said in a statement that the MV Lugela sent a distress call to its Greek operator Saturday when pirates attacked it about 900 nautical miles east of the Somali pirate... 

Never has one country enjoyed complete global domination as has America. For about five decades, the United States has been the strongest military, economic and cultural power on earth. For the past two decades, the international order has been America and the others (barely). However, the fun times are coming to an end. After the financial crash of 2008 and concomitant recession, Uncle Sam was revealed... 

Advocates for separation of church and state are urging cancellation of a Christian concert at a U.S. Army base but base officials say the event will be held. “Rock the Fort” — scheduled for Saturday at Fort Bragg, N.C. — is being sponsored by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, which said on its Web site the concert would be a “clear presentation of the Christian... 

Members of the Tea Party rally in Washington. Who would have predicted this a year ago? Certainly not the complacent army of White House spin doctors who have failed to grasp, let alone acknowledge, the momentous political transformation that is sweeping America. CNN’s latest poll confirms that the Tea Party movement has more political clout than the President of the United States in influencing... 

Arizona voters will decide in November whether to ban state and local governments from discrimination or preferential treatment based on race, ethnicity and sex. The state constitutional amendment doesn’t use the term “affirmative action,” but there is no disputing that is what Proposition 107 is aimed at eliminating. Such programs generally give preferences to minorities. Proponents... 

A suicide bomber has blown himself up in the republic of Dagestan, injuring at least 42 people, including several police officers, according to media reports Saturday. The bomber broke through a police cordon in the capital, Makhachkala, where security officers were battling militia fighters. At least two Islamist rebels were killed in that incident. On Friday at least five suspected Islamist terrorists,...