BAGHDAD — The U.S. military Wednesday marked the end of its combat mission in Iraq amid a series of conflicting messages that underscored the mixed feelings many here, both American and Iraqi, have toward a seven-and-a-half-year effort that cost tens of thousands of lives but left the political outcome undecided.
“The problem with this war [...]

Sunnier economic weather has arrived in Europe, offering hope that chilly winds from the US or Asia can be held off for at least a few months yet.
Led by Germany, performances of many of the continent’s main economies have improved noticeably in recent weeks, as shown in the ninth edition of the Financial Times’ economic [...]

MEXICO CITY — Clambering to proclaim victory after more than three years of bloody narcotics warfare, Mexican authorities paraded a Texas -born accused kingpin before the media Tuesday and offered abundant details of his climb through the violent drug underworld before his capture in a mountain hideout.
While speculation surged that Mexico would deport Edgar [...]

KABUL, Afghanistan – The top NATO commander in Afghanistan says international forces will gradually hand over security to Afghan forces in small areas of the country as security allows rather than giving them responsibility for whole provinces at once.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press and two other news agencies on Tuesday, Gen. [...]

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 [...]

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – Since the war began, this southern city and surrounding countryside have been marked as the heartland of the Taliban, the insurgents’ springboard to retake all of Afghanistan. It has witnessed some of the bloodiest fighting.
Now, as U.S. and allied forces wrestle with urban warlords and take on die-hard insurgents in booby-trapped [...]

Ending months of speculation, Germany’s defense minister has outlined a radical plan to restructure the country’s armed forces that includes a controversial proposal to end the draft.
If enacted, the changes to the size and structure of German troops will be among the most far-reaching reforms by any member of NATO since the end of [...]

WASHINGTON – Pakistan has assured the United States it will press its campaign against insurgents inside its borders despite the extraordinary demands the devastating floods have inflicted on its military, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
The U.S. military official leading the U.S. flood relief mission in Pakistan said he is confident that Islamabad will continue the [...]

in his first interview since heavy monsoon rains began lashing his country and causing its rivers to overflow, Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari said it will take Pakistan at least three years to recover from its worst floods in living memory. Even then, he wasn’t certain of the time frame. “Your guess is as good [...]

TEHRAN, Iran – State TV says Iran has inaugurated production lines for two types of assault boats. The defense minister describes them as a boost to the country’s navy.
Monday’s report says one of the boats — dubbed Zolfaghar, after a famed sword — has been equipped with cruise missiles. The second, Seraj or Light, [...]