BRUSSELS – NATO proposed a new era of cooperation with Russia yesterday, calling for joint work with Moscow and Washington on missile defence after the United States scrapped a planned anti-missile system.

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KOHAT, Pakistan – A suicide car-bomber killed 33 people in northwest Pakistan in an explosion on a road that brought down shops where people were stocking up before a holiday.

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WASHINGTON – The US Federal Reserve is close to proposing wide-ranging rules on bankers’ pay that would apply to any employee able to take risks that could imperil the institution, a Fed source said.

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LONDON – In the past two days, one US and three British generals have laid out their thinking on Afghanistan, and in doing so have revealed just how complex and even muddled the effort to defeat the Taliban has become.

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BERLIN – Angela Merkel responded to critics of her election campaign, vowing to return Germany to sustained growth if voters give her both a new term and the centre-right coalition that eluded her four years ago.

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SEOUL – North Korean leader Kim Jong-il told a visiting Chinese envoy he will work to end his country’s nuclear arms programme through multilateral talks in an apparent breakthrough, but similiar vows in the past have not been met with action.

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TOKYO – Japan’s new prime minister ordered the cabinet to root out wasteful projects in a $154 billion extra budget crafted by his predecessor, but his deputy stressed the aim was to redirect stimulus spending, not cut it.

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TAIPEI/BEIJING – South Korea and a city in Taiwan have moved to deny exiled Muslim Uighurs from China’s far-west platforms for voicing their cause, apparently bowing to fears that Beijing could use its growing muscle to hit back.