AFP - A vote by Russia's parliament to recognise two breakaway Georgian regions as independent nations triggered an outbreak of diplomatic roulette Monday as Washington said it would review its "entire relationship" with Moscow.
AP - The remnants of Tropical Storm Fay spread over a wide swath of the South on Monday, bringing heavy rain and wind from Georgia to Louisiana that many hoped would help land parched for months by drought conditions.
Reuters - U.S. stocks fell sharply on Monday as
credit concerns hounded financial stocks while global growth
worries hurt big technology and industrial companies.
AP - Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki dug in his heels Monday on the future of the U.S. military in Iraq, insisting that all foreign soldiers leave the country by a specific date in 2011 and rejecting legal immunity for American troops.
Reuters - Defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton urged
her frustrated followers to fall in line behind Barack Obama on
Monday as a party rift threatened to rain on Obama's nominating
parade.
Reuters - The U.S. envoy for nuclear talks
with North Korea had "substantive" discussions with his North
Korean counterpart last week, the State Department said on
Monday, but officials gave no hint of progress in breaking a
deadlock over verifying Pyongyang's nuclear programs.
Reuters - Former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz
Sharif pulled his party out of the ruling coalition on Monday,
deepening a political crisis that has diverted government
attention from pressing security and economic problems.
Reuters - Sales of previously owned U.S. homes
ticked higher in July thanks to lower prices, but record
inventory suggested the battered housing market is unlikely to
recover soon, a trade group report showed on Monday.
AFP - Iraqi Premier Nuri al-Maliki said on Monday Washington and Baghdad have agreed there will be no foreign forces in Iraq after 2011, setting a timeline for a US withdrawal from the war-torn country.
Reuters - Americans who go without health
insurance for any part of 2008 will spend $30 billion out of
pocket for health care and they will get $56 billion worth of
free care, according to a report released on Monday.
AP - The remnants of Tropical Storm Fay lingered Sunday, forcing residents in several parts of northern Florida to leave their homes as floodwaters rose.
AP - Francisco Rodriguez earned his 50th save, and the Los Angeles Angels got RBI triples from Vladimir Guerrero and Gary Matthews Jr. in the eighth inning to rally past the Minnesota Twins 5-3 Sunday for a split of their four-game series between AL division leaders.
AP - On the eve of the Democratic National Convention, Barack Obama said Sunday he hoped a week of political speechmaking would persuade reluctant middle-class voters to swing behind his bid for the White House, while Republicans sought to stir discontent among Hillary Rodham Clinton's supporters.
Reuters - Democrats preached party unity on Sunday
on the eve of a four-day convention to nominate Barack Obama
for the White House, with former rival Hillary Clinton
preparing to release her delegates and urge them to back Obama.
AP - A U.S. Navy destroyer loaded with humanitarian aid reached Georgia's Black Sea port of Batumi on Sunday, bringing baby food, bottled water and a message of support for an embattled ally.
AFP - A passenger plane bound for Iran crashed shortly after takeoff from the Kyrgyzstan capital of Bishkek on Sunday, claiming the lives of 68 people onboard, the health ministry said.
Reuters - Russian lawmakers meet on Monday to
discuss pleas by Georgian separatists for Moscow to recognize
their independence, a move that could stoke tensions with the
West over Russia's military intervention in pro-Western
Georgia.
AP - A suicide bomber blew himself up Sunday in the midst of a celebration to welcome home an Iraqi detainee released from U.S. custody, killing at least 25 people, Iraqi officials said.
Reuters - A suicide bomber in an explosive vest
killed 25 people at a dinner banquet in western Baghdad's Sunni
Arab Abu Ghraib district on Sunday, police said.
AP - People worried about the high cost of keeping warm this winter will draw little comfort from the Farmers' Almanac, which predicts below-average temperatures for most of the U.S.
AP - Taliban insurgents once derided as a ragtag rabble unable to match U.S. troops have transformed into a fighting force — one advanced enough to mount massive conventional attacks and claim American lives at a record pace.
AP - A passenger jet carrying 90 people, including a Kyrgyz high school sports team, crashed shortly after takeoff Sunday near the Kyrgyz capital, killing 68, government officials said.
Reuters - About 70 people, including members of a
teenage basketball team, died on Sunday when a Kyrgyz airliner
crashed in a ball of flames shortly after take-off from the
Central Asian state's main airport.
Reuters - The Beijing Olympics ended with a blaze
of deafening fireworks on Sunday, bringing down the curtain on
a Games that dazzled the world with sporting brilliance and
showcased the might of modern day China.
Reuters - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice returns to the Middle East on Monday in another effort to
bridge gaps holding up an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal that
Washington says could still be achieved this year.
