BAGHDAD – The two Iraqi leaders vying to become the nation's next prime minister will get personal pleas Sunday from Vice President Joe Biden to end their rivalry that has delayed the seating of a new government as American troops head home.Biden, the Obama administration's point man on Iraq issues, will discuss the stalled politics in separate meetings with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki a
KABUL, Afghanistan – Gen.David Petraeus formally assumed command of the 130,000-strong international force in Afghanistan on Sunday, declaring we are in this to win despite rising casualties and growing skepticism about the nearly 9-year-old war.During a ceremony at NATO headquarters, Petraeus received two flags — one for the U.S and the other for NATO — marking his formal as
CIUDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO Welcome to the bunker, his press secretary says.Elections in 12 Mexican states Sunday are taking place across a tense landscape of and widespread fear that drug cartels are burrowing ever deeper into Mexico's politics, using corruption, intimidation and murder.MurguÃa said, I fear only God. But he also said he's not an idiot. The security is for my family. He declined t
BOGOTA, Colombia – Fans worldwide have fashioned replicas of the World Cup trophy out of everything from papier-mache to plastic.But a lawbreaker in Colombia gets top prize for most original material: cocaine.Airports anti-drug chief Col.Jose Piedrahita says that Colombian authorities found the unusual statue during a routine security check by anti-drug agents Friday in a mail warehouse at
BRISBANE, Australia – Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Sunday offered an olive branch to India but refused to stand aside as Cricket Australia's candidate for the next ICC presidency.Howard's application was rebuffed by the sport's governing body in Singapore last week in a decision that has threatened to divide the sport along racial lines.Australia and New Zealand nominate
LIMA, Peru – Joran van der Sloot has sued the lawyer who represented him during a police interrogation on the day that authorities say the Dutchman confessed to killing a Peruvian woman, his current attorney said Saturday.Maximo Altez told The We have searched the name of Luz Romero Chinchay in the list of public defenders provided by the Ministry of Justice and his name was not on that l
HOVE, England – Bangladesh went down to a mammoth 149-run defeat in a warm-up match against Sussex here on Saturday -- just five days before the start of their one-day series with England.The Tigers' prospects for the three-match campaign against England, which starts at Trent Bridge on Thursday, looked grim after they began the one-day leg of their tour by being bowled out for just 104 in
KABUL – US General David Petraeus appealed Saturday for a united effort to end almost nine years of war against the Taliban as he made his public debut as the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan.The four-star general, who arrived in the Afghan capital on Friday, faces a tough task to bring peace and secure a face-saving exit for allied troops fighting an increasingly deadly insurgency