WASHINGTON – The United States will temporarily send 1,400 more Marines to Afghanistan in an effort to hold onto fragile security gains, but overall U.S. troop levels will not surpass previously announced limits, the Pentagon said yesterday.
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SEOUL – South Korea has dismissed a North Korean call for unconditional talks to ease tensions, saying yesterday the offer was “propaganda” it does not take seriously.
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ISLAMABAD – The supervising police officer of the bodyguard accused of killing a Pakistani politician had asked for his removal from all sensitive security duties because of his extreme religious views, an investigator said yesterday.
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WASHINGTON – Republican efforts to scrap President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform hit new trouble yesterday when budget analysts put the cost of a repeal at billions of dollars and Senate Democrats promised to defend the law.
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ABIDJAN/WASHINGTON – The U.S. Treasury Department yesterday barred U.S. citizens from financial dealings with Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo until he steps down and his rival offered him a guarantee of safety if he does.
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ABUJA – Legal battles have begun within Nigeria’s ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) even before it has chosen its nominee for presidential elections in April, undermining hopes that the process will run smoothly.
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BAGHDAD – Anti-U.S. Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s return to Iraq from exile in Iran is a product of the rise to political power of the Sadrist movement, and declining U.S. influence as its military withdraws this year.
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SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt – Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said yesterday Israel must revise its position over peace talks and settlement-building to reach a final accord with the Palestinians.
