politics

BAGHDAD — Al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq threatened military action in a bid to prevent a parliamentary election being held next month, as official campaigning started in the country on Friday.

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan and India will soon hold their first official talks since the Mumbai attacks, Islamabad announced on Friday, in a move seen as a significant bid to ease regional tensions.

SEOUL/BEIJING (Reuters) - North Korea is "not eager" to return to six-party denuclearization talks but has not rejected the idea, a U.N. envoy said on Friday as fresh diplomatic activity raised hopes for progress on the issue.

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. chief tapped the prime ministers of Britain and Ethiopia on Friday to lead the hunt for hundreds of billions of dollars that nations pledged to contribute this decade for dealing with climate change.

Fresh elections may be needed in Zimbabwe after political leaders failed to end their deadlock, former opposition party the MDC says. But MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa did not give a timeframe for any new polls.

ABUJA — A group of eminent Nigerians, including three former heads of state, met Acting President Goodluck Jonathan Friday and asked him to take "decisive" action on a host of problems, their spokesman said.

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian officials on Friday rallied around a top aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after a video surfaced showing him in the nude in an alleged attempt to trade his influence for sex.

The only Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner begged the world to stop her country becoming “another Zimbabwe” yesterday as the regime gloated at foiling the opposition’s plans for another massive demonstration.

WASHINGTON - US Representative Patrick Kennedy has decided not to seek reelection, capping a dramatic year for the Kennedy family and probably leaving it without a member in Washington for the first time in more than six decades.

BEIJING — China on Friday urged the United States to call off a meeting between President Barack Obama and exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to prevent further damage to already strained ties.