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WASHINGTON/KABUL - The United States will meet the Taliban this week for talks aimed at achieving peace in Afghanistan, where U.S.-led forces and the insurgents have fought a bloody and costly war for the past 12 years, U.S. officials said on Tuesday.
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ENNISKILLEN - Russia's Vladimir Putin derailed Barack Obama's efforts to win backing for the downfall of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad at a G8 summit on Tuesday, warning the West that arms supplied to the rebels could be used for attacks on European soil.
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WASHINGTON - The head of the National Security Agency on Tuesday said U.S. surveillance programs had helped disrupt more than 50 possible attacks since Sept. 11, 2001, as sympathetic members of Congress also defended the use of the top-secret spying operations.
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ISTANBUL/ANKARA - A lone, silent vigil by a man in Istanbul inspired copycat protests on Tuesday, as police detained dozens of people across Turkey in an operation linked to three weeks of often violent demonstrations against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.
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ATHENS - Greece has avoided the uncertainty of an early election but the standoff over the state broadcaster's closure has weakened the prime minister and deepened mistrust in his fractious coalition.
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ENNISKILLEN - D ifferences between Russia and the West mean an international peace conference on Syria is now unlikely before August, a source at a meeting of Group of Eight leaders said on Tuesday as surging government forces brought heavy fighting to Aleppo.
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BOSTON - Accused Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger and one of his associates shot dead a bar owner in a phone booth for bragging about helping the "Winter Hill Gang" with another killing, an ex-convict and confessed murderer testified on Tuesday.
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WASHINGTON - The FBI has used secret evidence obtained under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to prosecute at least 27 accused terrorists since 2007, according to a Reuters review of public records.
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SAO PAULO - Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on Tuesday sought to defuse a massive protest movement sweeping the country, acknowledging the need for better public services and more responsive governance at all levels.
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ROME - Italy's top court said on Tuesday it had ordered a re-run of the Meredith Kercher murder trial because the acquittal of American Amanda Knox and her ex-boyfriend contained "shortcomings, contradictions and inconsistencies".
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