AFGHANISTAN

A New Jersey insurance regulator has concluded that Prudential Financial Inc properly handled life-insurance benefits in a controversial matter involving a U.S. soldier killed in Afghanistan, the Wall Street Journal said on Tuesday.

The Pentagon demanded on Thursday that whistle-blower web site WikiLeaks immediately hand over about 15,000 secret Afghan war records it had not yet published and erase material it had already put online.

A total 142 Australian troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan were discharged from the defence force for suffering mental trauma.

Most of the people in Pakistan view the US as an enemy and see a significant threat from India though extremist groups are active in the country, said a poll from Pew Research Centre

DuPont forecast 2010 earnings well above expectations on Tuesday and said its second-quarter profit nearly tripled as the rebounding global economy continued to fuel the company's recovery, sending it shares up 4.6 percent.

The United States and the NATO allies are preparing to disengage and soon withdraw from Afghanistan and even the most vocal advocates of the long-term commitment do not anticipate more than five years of active US and NATO involvement. All the local key players - in Kabul, Islamabad, and countless tribal and localized foci of power - are cognizant and are already maneuvering and posturing to deal with the new reality.

Al Qaeda's No. 2 leader mocked President Barack Obama for voicing confidence over victory in Afghanistan, in an Internet message posted on Monday.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Sunday it was too soon to judge if a surge of U.S. troops into Afghanistan was winning the war and insisted he bore no ill will toward General Stanley McChrystal.

An Al Qaeda magazine posted online with articles such as make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom is a bid to recruit Americans to launch attacks in the United States, a senior U.S. lawmaker said on Monday.

World Bank studies the business environment for FDI in various nations

Tropical storm Alex slowed oil spill clean-up and containment work in the Gulf of Mexico and drove more petroleum into fragile Gulf wetlands and beaches on Thursday, with any permanent fix to BP Plc's ruptured deep-sea well still several weeks away.

Since the recent dustup over the resignation and replacement of General Stanley McChrystal, I ventured out to the local bookstore to pick up the current issue of Rolling Stone magazine to read for myself the story that took down a top general in war time and what possible lessons can be learned.

The former Soviet Central Asian republics are at a precarious crossroad today between accomplishing monumental progress, like Kazakhstan, and flirting with disaster and the prospects of civil war, like Kyrgyzstan.

When we talk about Afghanistan, the first picture we get is Taliban and Osama bin Laden. But Afghanistan has a different face too. It is one of the richest nations as far as minerals are concerned.

The U.S. debt will top $13.6 trillion this year and climb to an estimated $19.6 trillion by 2015, according to a Treasury Department report to Congress.

Xe Services, the U.S. security firm formerly known as Blackwater which has faced criticism for its work in Iraq and Afghanistan, is pursuing a sale of the company, the Associated Press said.

Pakistan's central bank governor said on Thursday he has stepped down for personal reasons, increasing concerns about political instability as the country faces IMF pressure to reform its economy. Salim Raza was the second senior policy-maker to quit in Pakistan this year following Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin's resignation in February.

Senior Senate Democrats clashed on Tuesday over the last disputed pieces of a sweeping Wall Street reform bill headed for final passage within days.

Senior Senate Democrats clashed late on Tuesday as they tried to wrap up loose ends in a sweeping Wall Street reform bill headed for final passage within days.

President Barack Obama launches a new effort on Monday to build business and social ties to the Muslim world, but analysts say the need for progress on big issues like Middle East peace will overshadow the initiative.

World Bank members have agreed to pour more capital into the lender and give developing countries a greater voice in running the bank, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Sunday.