Germany to allow third gender option at birth
Germany on Friday will become the first European country to allow babies born with characteristics of both sexes to be registered as neither male nor female.
30 October 2013
US spy chiefs hit back in Europe row
US espionage chiefs turned the tables on European allies in the transatlantic spat over intercepted phone records, saying in many cases it was European agencies -- not the NSA -- that gathered and shared them with America.
Obama, Netanyahu discuss Iran
US President Barack Obama spoke to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Iran, a day after the Israeli leader warned Tehran could convert uranium into weapons-grade material within weeks.
Peace envoy heads for Syria, Russia slams rebel threats
UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi headed for Damascus to seek support for a Syria peace conference, as Russia slammed rebels for threatening those planning to attend the so-called Geneva II talks.
US denies Obama knew of Merkel spying
The imbroglio over the tapping of Angela Merkel's phone deepened Sunday, after a US denial that President Barack Obama was informed years ago of electronic surveillance of the German chancellor.
28 October 2013
Georgia PM ally revels in big win at presidential poll
An ally of billionaire Georgian PM Bidzina Ivanishvili on Monday basked in an overwhelming win at presidential polls in the ex-Soviet state to replace larger-than-life moderniser Mikheil Saakashvili.
Serbia buries Tito's widow, the last symbol of Yugoslavia
The widow of the former Yugoslav leader Tito will be buried in a Belgrade mausoleum on Saturday with full state honours as the last symbol of the communist federation that broke up in the 1990s.
27 October 2013
Madagascar vote results trickle in
Madagascar began announcing results in dribs and drabs Saturday after its first post-coup presidential elections, with only 52 polling stations out of 20,001 reported in the morning.
26 October 2013
Germany, Brazil want UN privacy resolution
Germany and Brazil are working on a UN General Assembly resolution to highlight international anger at US data snooping in other countries.
26 October 2013
'Internal error' downs NSA website: official
The National Security Agency's website went down for several hours Friday, but the US spy service known for hacking into computer networks blamed the outage on a technical mistake.
26 October 2013
Pakistan makes UN call for end to US drone strikes
Pakistan on Friday renewed demands for an end to US drone strikes on its territory as two UN experts called for greater transparency in the use of the weapons.
26 October 2013
NSA eavesdropped on 35 world leaders: report
US spies eavesdropped on the phone conversations of 35 world leaders after White House, Pentagon and State Department officials gave them the numbers.