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BAGHDAD, Nov. 21 -- Thousands of followers of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr demonstrated Friday against an agreement that would extend the U.S. military presence in Iraq, shouting "America out!" and burning an effigy of President Bush.

The drive for dwindling resources, including energy and water, combined with the spread of nuclear weapons technology could make large swaths of the globe ripe for regional conflicts, some of them potentially devastating, according to a report released by the National Intelligence Council yesterday.

TOKYO -- The American poet Theodore Roethke called it "the inexorable sadness of pencils." It's the desolation of time lost and dreams forsaken while sitting in an office.

BAGHDAD, Nov. 20 -- U.S. forces said Thursday that they had killed an Iraqi insurgent leader responsible for the death of a 20-year-old Army reservist who became a focus of national attention in the United States during the four years he was missing in action.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov. 20 -- Argentina's Senate on Thursday night gave final approval to the government's plan to nationalize the private pension system in an attempt to protect retirement investments from the international financial crisis.

Vowing to protect Sudanese civilians, the International Criminal Court prosecutor yesterday requested arrest warrants for three rebel commanders he accused of war crimes in an attack that killed 12 African Union peacekeepers in the Darfur region of Sudan.

BEIJING -- They have been coming here from all over China, businessmen and local officials looking for a slice of the Chinese stimulus.

MOSCOW, Nov. 20 -- The trial of three men accused of helping to organize the murder of one of Russia's most prominent investigative reporters, Anna Politkovskaya, took a surprise turn Thursday as a juror publicly challenged the court's decision to hold the proceedings behind closed doors.

An internal CIA probe has concluded that agency officials deliberately misled Congress, the White House and federal prosecutors about key details of the 2001 downing of an airplane carrying U.S. missionaries in Peru, according to a senior lawmaker who called yesterday for a new criminal inquiry i...

For the first time, a federal judge ordered the release yesterday of detainees from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay after evaluating and rejecting government allegations that five men were dangerous enemy combatants.

BEIJING, Nov. 20 -- A top Chinese official on Thursday described the country's employment outlook as "grim" and said he will expedite a new system to mediate employment disputes as China seeks to head off social unrest amid a weakening economy.

NEW YORK, Nov. 20 -- The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously Thursday to reinforce the beleaguered U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, approving the temporary deployment of more than 3,100 additional personnel to help protect hundreds of thousands of civilians.

BANGKOK, Nov. 20 -- An explosion at an anti-government protest site in central Bangkok early Thursday killed one person and wounded 23 others, prompting a leader of the demonstration to call for a mass rally against the government on Sunday.

WASHINGTON -- Global warming could be a boon to Russia, a European country could be overrun by organized crime and the U.S. dollar _ and the United States itself_ could further decline in importance during the next two decades, says a U.S. intelligence report with predictions for the world in 2025.

BAGHDAD, Nov. 19 -- It was billed as a peace concert in war-scarred Baghdad. But after 30 minutes of poetry and patriotic songs, only a scattering of tribal leaders and dark-suited bureaucrats were sitting in the vast expanse of white plastic chairs before a stage painted with doves.

MANAGUA, Nicaragua -- The U.S. Embassy has been accused of counterrevolutionary subversion. A nervous Catholic Church is appealing for calm. The opposition party is crying electoral fraud, while roaming gangs armed with clubs are attacking marchers. The mayor here has called it anarchy. And everyone...

Evo Morales, the charismatic but controversial president of Bolivia, this week came to Washington for the first time, saying he hoped for a fresh start with President-elect Barack Obama while defiantly reiterating the policies that have led to the near-collapse of his relations with the Bush...

BEIJING, Nov. 19 -- Civil unrest stemming from economic concerns flared in southwestern China on Wednesday as several hundred taxi drivers in Chongqing went on strike over a government plan to put more cabs on their district's roads. The protest took place two days after rioting erupted in the...

KABUL, Nov. 19 -- A suspected U.S. airstrike deep inside Pakistani territory Wednesday killed six insurgent fighters and wounded several others, according to a Pakistani security official.

Poland's foreign minister said yesterday that his country will wait for the Obama administration to make up its mind on basing missile defense interceptors in his country and will not lobby to have the project proceed.