BELFAST, Northern Ireland –
, the next key step in making their Catholic-Protestant government work.
next month. The long-debated move would put law and order back into local hands for the first time since Northern Ireland’s descent into civil war four decades ago.
The British, Irish and American governments long have pressed for former Belfast [...]

Charlie Rangel, the New York Democrat at the centre of an ethics investigation, on Wednesday said he would temporarily step down as chairman of the House of Representatives’ powerful Ways and Means committee.
Mr Rangel sent Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the house, a one-sentence letter asking for a leave of absence from the chairmanship while the [...]

Don Kohn will be stepping down as vice-chairman and member of the Federal Reserve board in June, removing one of the key architects of the US central bank’s response to the financial crisis.
Mr Kohn, 67, served at the Fed since 1970, when he joined the central bank as financial economist at the Kansas City [...]

NEW DELHI (AFP) –
India and Pakistan emerged Thursday from their first official talks since the 2008 Mumbai attacks with a vague promise to keep in contact but no progress on their core disputes.
.
after the November 2008 Mumbai carnage in which 10 Islamist gunmen targeted the country's financial capital, killing 166 people.
India blamed [...]

BHUBASNEWAR, Feb 23 (IPS) – When
5,000 indigenous Dongria Kondhs trekked Sunday to Niyam Dongar hill,
the abode of their presiding deity Niyam Raja, and designated it as
inviolate, it meant they were stepping up their resistance to a
controversial alumina refinery and bauxite mine project here.
They
carried out religious rituals to Niyam Raja — the sacred dispenser of
law [...]

For those hoping to enlist Pakistan’s army in the fight against terror, the arrest in Karachi of the Taliban’s military chief in Afghanistan is an encouraging sign.
Nato’s forces understand that to bring stability in Afghanistan and end the war in the southern Pashtun belt, they need the co-operation of Pakistan’s army. Without it, the [...]

BADULA QULP, Afghanistan – A day after the battle, the elders came to talk.
Ten bearded Afghan men in robes and turbans sat on mats in the chill Monday to discuss their hopes and grievances with American and Afghan officers a day after a patrol of U.S., Canadian and Afghan troops fought insurgents in the [...]

MARJAH, Afghanistan –
fighters stepped up counterattacks Monday against Marines and Afghan soldiers in the militant stronghold of Marjah, slowing the allied advance to a crawl despite Afghan government claims that the insurgents are broken and on the run.
Taliban fighters appeared to be slipping under cover of darkness into compounds already deemed free of [...]

The head of the influential trade association for drug manufacturers announced Thursday night that he is leaving his job.
The development comes amid uncertainty over the fate of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, which the drug association had backed after striking a deal with the White House and Senate Democrats to limit costs [...]

The head of the influential trade association for drug manufacturers announced Thursday night that he is leaving his job.
The development comes amid uncertainty over the fate of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, which the drug association had backed after striking a deal with the White House and Senate Democrats to limit costs to [...]