WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Commerce Department decided on Tuesday not to investigate whether China subsidizes exports to the United States by undervaluing its currency, prompting renewed calls for Congress to act on the issue.
“It's clear that China games the system by manipulating its currency,” Senator Sherrod Brown said in a statement after the [...]

Forty years ago, Justo Gallego wanted to thank God for curing his tuberculosis, so he decided to build a cathedral – by himself. Since then the former monk, who has no construction training, has labored every day on his 8,000-sq-m (86,000-sq-ft) creation in the center of Mejorada del Campo, on the outskirts of Madrid. Today [...]

RAMALLAH, West Bank – The rival Palestinian governments in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have clamped down harder on opponents and critics in recent months — deepening a nasty split that could prevent Palestinian statehood even if peace talks with Israel kicking off this week succeed against long odds.
New reports by Palestinian rights [...]

TOKYO (AFP) – Japan's consumer prices continued to slide while the unemployment rate fell for the first time in six months in July, as mixed data Friday illustrated the headwinds facing a fragile recovery.
Japan's core consumer price index fell 1.1 percent in July from a year earlier, government data showed, marking the 17th straight [...]

Just a few months ago, the going story on al-Shabab, an Islamic insurgent group in Somalia, was that it could carry out well-coordinated, very deadly attacks, but posed no existential threat to the country’s central government, weak as it may be.
Now, after a series of bombings on Tuesday that culminated with the brazen killing [...]

CARACAS, Venezuela – President Hugo Chavez’s allies launched their campaigns Wednesday for crucial congressional elections that come just as recession, crime and inflation have pushed the socialist leader’s popularity to a seven-year low.
A survey by the Venezuelan polling firm Consultores 21 indicates just 36 percent of Venezuelans approve of Chavez’s performance, the lowest figure [...]

CARACAS, Venezuela – President Hugo Chavez’s allies launched their campaigns Wednesday for crucial congressional elections that come just as recession, crime and inflation have pushed the socialist leader’s popularity to a seven-year low.
A survey by the Venezuelan polling firm Consultores 21 indicates just 36 percent of Venezuelans approve of Chavez’s performance, the lowest figure [...]

Just a few months ago, the going story on al-Shabab, an Islamic insurgent group in Somalia, was that it could carry out well-coordinated, very deadly attacks, but posed no existential threat to the country’s central government, weak as it may be.
Now, after a series of bombings on Tuesday that culminated with the brazen killing [...]

LONDON (AFP) – MK Dons produced the upset of the English League Cup second round on Tuesday with a 4-3 victory over Premier League Blackpool.
Sam Baldock gave the League One side a first-minute lead before an extraordinary burst of four goals in six minutes at the start of the second half.
Brett Ormerod levelled [...]

CAIRO (AFP) – Egypt pledged on Tuesday to implement strict measures to protect its cultural and archaeological riches after the theft of a Vincent Van Gogh masterpiece in broad daylight from an unguarded Cairo museum.
Antiquities supremo Zahi Hawass said alarm systems in museums across the country would be upgraded and linked to a central [...]