US plays tough with Karzai on Afghan troops
US officials plan a mix of hardball negotiating and flattery during a visit by Afghan President Hamid Karzai as President Barack Obama decides how deeply to cut forces in America's longest war.
11 January 2013
Obama lines up Jack Lew for Treasury
President Barack Obama was expected to name Washington veteran Jack Lew as his next Treasury chief as early as Thursday, stocking his team for the next tense budget showdown with Republicans.
China paper: regulation must 'keep pace with the times'
A Chinese newspaper at the centre of a dispute over censorship said Thursday that Communist regulation of the media must "keep pace with the times", in its first edition since the row began.
Czechs to vote in first direct presidential election
Czechs vote Friday and Saturday in their country's first direct presidential election, with recession, austerity and graft weighing heavily on the nation as it turns the page on a decade under ardent eurosceptic Vaclav Klaus.
Passions rise in France ahead of anti gay marriage protest
Passions and tensions are rising in France ahead of an expected giant weekend rally against the government's plan to legalise same-sex marriage and adoption that has angered influential Catholic and Muslim groups.