BAGHDAD – The United States will reduce the number of troops in Iraq by around 12,000 in the next six months, the U.S. military said yesterday, a step in President Barack Obama’s plan to end combat operations in August 2010.
JERUSALEM – Iran has sufficiently mastered nuclear technology to be able to produce a bomb if it chooses, Israel’s military intelligence chief was quoted as saying yesterday.
TEHRAN – Iran has test-fired a new air-to-surface missile, Iranian media reported yesterday, in the Islamic Republic’s latest display of its military capability.
EL FASHER, Sudan – Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir threatened yesterday to expel diplomats and more aid groups, brandishing a sword at a Darfur rally days after a Hague court issued a warrant for him for war crimes.
WASHINGTON – The White House named three nominees yesterday for senior jobs at the U.S. Treasury Department, which still is trying to fill out its top ranks while dealing with a financial crisis.
DAR ES SALAAM – Developing countries could face a financing gap of $270-$700 billion — equivalent to the latest U.S. economic rescue package — to help deal with the effects of the global crisis, the World Bank said yesterday.
SEOUL – North Koreans voted yesterday in carefully controlled polls analysts say will help start grooming a successor to Kim Jong-il in leading a reclusive country at loggerheads with Washington over its nuclear programme.
ANTANANARIVO – Mutiny broke out in a Madagascar military camp outside the capital Antananarivo yesterday as the island’s opposition leader spent a second day in hiding after a crackdown on his anti-government movement.
