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France deported Afghan migrants on a charter flight Wednesday, officials said, the second such controversial expulsion to war-torn Afghanistan in as many months. "The plane arrived. There are nine people. All from France," said Noor Ahmad Sarwary, an official with the German charity AGEF, which helps returnees reintegrate into society with cash assistance and employment opportunities. It was the second expulsion of Afghans by charter plane since the closing in September of the so-called... Read Full Story
The top US military officer held talks in Pakistan Wednesday on the new war strategy for Afghanistan, which Washington says hinges on Pakistan's own battle against Islamist extremists. Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, began talks with Pakistan's powerful army chief General Ashfaq Kayani on Wednesday morning, a senior military official told AFP. Mullen arrived from Kabul late Tuesday and has already met General Tariq Majid, ceremonial head of the armed forces... Read Full Story
President Barack Obama has written a personal letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il as part of an intense effort to draw the reclusive nation back to nuclear disarmament talks, a senior State Department official said Tuesday. The letter was delivered to North Korean officials last week by Obama's special envoy for North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, during a visit to Pyongyang aimed at restarting the stalled negotiations, the official said. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity... Read Full Story
Iraqi Kurds on Tuesday slammed a Turkish court's ban on the main Turkish Kurdish political party and said it hoped the decision would not derail Ankara's efforts to end a Kurdish rebellion that has repeatedly spilled over the border. "The president's office expresses its anger at the Turkish constitutional court's outlawing of the Democratic Society Party (DTP)," said a statement released by the office of the president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, Massoud Barzani. "But at the same... Read Full Story
The US State Department said Tuesday it believes the United States and Russia are "getting very close" to agreeing on new cuts in the two superpowers' nuclear arsenals. "All I can tell you is the teams remain hard at work. They have made progress," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters when asked if a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) is imminent. "I think we think we are getting very close to an agreement," he added. "Whether we can cross the finish line sooner... Read Full Story
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday he is "positively considering" a request to extend a U.N. investigation into the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto for an additional three months. The six-month mandate of the three-member commission Ban appointed to determine the facts and circumstances of Bhutto's death expires at the end of December. The secretary-general said Chile's U.N. Ambassador Heraldo Munoz, who heads the commission, requested another three... Read Full Story
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday that a U.N. panel looking into the 2007 assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto needed more time to complete its investigation. The head of the inquiry commission, Chilean U.N. Ambassador Heraldo Munoz, has requested a three-month extension of the mandate, which expires at the end of the year. "They need more time to continue their investigation," Ban said. "I think this is reasonable and I'm... Read Full Story
The Pentagon's top military officer visited Afghanistan on Monday just as the first of the 30,000 U.S. reinforcements are starting to deploy to the 8-year-old war. Adm. Mike Mullen arrived in the Afghan capital of Kabul for a series of meetings with the government of President Hamid Karzai, a spokesman for the international coalition force said. The Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman said last week that 16,000 troops have received their orders for Afghanistan since President Barack Obama... Read Full Story
The United States and North Korea agreed to discuss a peace treaty on the Korean peninsula at four-nation talks involving the two nations, China and South Korea, a news report said Sunday. The "common understanding" was reached when US envoy Stephen Bosworth visited Pyongyang from December 8 to 10, Yonhap news agency said, citing an unnamed Seoul official. A peace treaty would replace an armistice to formally end the 1950-1953 Korean War at which Communist North Korea, backed by Chinese... Read Full Story
Turkey's main Kurdish party said Saturday its lawmakers would boycott parliament after being outlawed, as violent Kurdish protests hit government efforts to mend fences with the restive minority. "Our (parliamentary) group has effectively pulled out from parliament as of today. It will not participate in any work there," Ahmet Turk, co-chair of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), said after a party meeting. The constitutional court outlawed the DTP Friday on grounds it was linked to the... Read Full Story
From Spain's Princess Letizia to Italy's Mara Carfagna, the game of politics is no stranger to beautiful, powerful women. Following is a list of women whose influence is matched only by their sheer hotness.
We've rounded up the fifty most infamous female teacher sex scandals the Internet has seen, and ranked them from most famous to least. We do it because we care.
