J.J. McGrath

An estimated 40 Occupy Boston protesters were arrested by police at their former campsite early Saturday. Those arrested had ignored an advisory to vacate the premises by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino.

Despite some recent signs the sluggish U.S. economy might be improving, President Barack Obama warns it could be years before the country is on a sound footing in an interview with CBS' 60 Minutes program that will air Sunday,

The deputy commander of the Pakistan Taliban, who have been waging a four-year war against the government in Islamabad, confirmed the two sides were in peace talks, a move that could further fray the U.S.-Pakistan relationship.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's opponents hope to bring large numbers of people out onto the streets across Russia on Saturday for rallies that will test their ability to channel outrage over allegations of election fraud into a powerful protest movement.

The crash of a CIA drone in Iran has brought into the open what U.S. intelligence agencies would prefer to have kept secret: intense spying efforts in a country where the United States has no official presence.

Democratic and Republican lawmakers skirmished on Friday over plans to extend a payroll-tax cut seen as crucial to a fragile U.S. economic recovery, but aides predicted a last-minute deal.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., will offer a compromise on Monday to extend a popular payroll-tax cut, a fellow Democrat said Sunday. He also said Reid's proposal would not increase the nation's record $15 trillion debt.

Iran's military said on Sunday it had shot down a U.S. reconnaissance drone aircraft in eastern Iran, a military source told state television.

Earnings season is about a month away, but the early signals are not comforting. Companies lowering estimates outpace those raising them by the greatest ratio in 10 years -- and some sectors, such as materials, have seen a dramatic fall in expectations for the fourth quarter.

Iran's Foreign Ministry believes that if the West seriously considered blocking Tehran's ability to export oil, the global price of crude would more than double, Foreign Ministry representative Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted as saying on Sunday.

India has put a plan to open its retail industry to foreign supermarkets on hold, a senior government source said Sunday, an embarrassing turnaround for a beleaguered government fighting to retain the support of key allies.

Puerto Rico's Miguel Cotto avenged his controversial loss to Mexico's Antonio Margarito three years ago when he won Saturday to retain his World Boxing Association super-middleweight world title at Madison Square Garden in New York.

China said it was deeply concerned about a preliminary ruling by a U.S. trade body that trade practices by Chinese solar makers are hurting U.S. producers and said the decision underscored a U.S. inclination to trade protectionism.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti met political-party leaders Saturday to solicit support for new measures designed to shore up public finances, help growth, and calm the debt crisis in the Eurozone's third-largest economy.

The head of an independent Russian election watchdog was detained for 12 hours at a Moscow airport Saturday as part of attempts to stop it monitoring Sunday's vote for a new parliament, the group's lawyer said.

U.S. President Barack Obama sought on Saturday to boost pressure on Republican lawmakers to back an extension of a tax cut for workers that he views as vital to help the fragile economy.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood called on its rivals to accept the will of the people on Saturday after a first-round vote set its party on course to take the most seats in the country's first freely elected parliament in six decades.

Overnight clashes between security forces and army defectors in northern Syria left 15 people dead early Saturday, activists said. Seven were soldiers, five were defectors, and three were civilians.

The Eurozone will once again serve as the source of Wall Street's angst next week, as investors look to a summit of the region's political leaders for decisive solutions for the ballooning debt crisis.

George McGovern, the longtime U.S. senator from South Dakota who ran as the Democratic Party candidate for president in 1972, was hospitalized on Friday in South Dakota after falling and striking his head.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is set to urge key European officials to take decisive action next week at a make-or-break summit to prevent a debt crisis from turning into runaway contagion.

New Hampshire's largest newspaper endorsed Newt Gingrich in the Republican presidential campaign on Sunday, giving the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives a boost in a state where Mitt Romney has been expected to excel.

Colombian FARC rebels executed four members of the security forces during a botched mission to free them after a decade as hostages, the most violent act by the group since troops killed its leader Alfonso Cano this month.

Protesters gathered again in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Sunday to try to evict the generals who replaced Hosni Mubarak, in a trial of strength that has muddied the run-up to Egypt's first vote since a popular revolt deposed the former leader this year.

Vladimir Putin accepted his ruling United Russia party's nomination on Sunday as its candidate in a March 4 presidential vote, paving the way for his return to the country's top office after four years as prime minister.

Pakistan on Sunday buried 24 troops killed in a NATO cross-border air raid that has pushed a crisis in already-strained relations with the United States toward rupture.

Yemen's vice president on Saturday called presidential elections for Feb. 21 under a deal aimed at ending months of protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh that have brought the country to the edge of civil war.

An unmanned Atlas 5 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Saturday, launching a $2.5 billion nuclear-powered NASA rover toward Mars to look for life habitats there.

Egyptian protesters demanding an end to army rule clashed with police firing tear gas in central Cairo on Saturday in a flare-up that cast another shadow over a parliamentary election billed as the nation's first free vote in decades.