India and China, the world's two most populous countries, agreed on Monday to create a "strategic partnership" in an effort to end their longstanding border dispute and boost trade and economic cooperation. The agreement signaled a significant shift in relations between the two Asian giants after decades of mutual distrust and suspicion.

Two years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, the American-led military campaign in Iraq is making enough progress in fighting insurgents and training Iraqi security forces to allow the Pentagon to plan for significant troop reductions by early next year, senior commanders and Pentagon officials say.—New York Times

The Pentagon has been accused of smuggling wounded soldiers into the US under cover of darkness to avoid bad publicity about the number of troops being injured and maimed in Iraq. The media have also been prevented from photographing wounded soldiers when they arrive at hospital. Records show that flights from military bases in Germany arrive in the US only at night.--The Independent

Air travel has returned to its pre-9/11 figure for the first time, it was revealed yesterday. The worldwide number of plane journeys has overtaken those of the first quarter in 2001 after four years of gradual recovery. It is expected that during this month, airlines will operate more than 2.27 million flights - 45,000 more than in April 2001. Much of the increase is due to the boom in no-frills airlines.

Russia ranks second in terms of the number of its super-rich citizens, according to Forbes magazine. A survey by Russia’s leading center for public opinion studies revealed that only 7 percent of Russians are proud of that fact.—MosNews

If Americans cannot take effective and timely action collectively in the political process to reassert control over the General Government, can they nonetheless promote reform of money and banking individually in what remains of the free market? Paradoxically, the answer is both "Yes" and "No":In a sufficiently long run, almost certainly "Yes"; but in the actual short term facing them, most probably "No" -Dr.Edwin Vieira, Jr.,Ph.D.,J.D./NewsWithViews

The Northwest faces what could be one of its worst wildfire seasons in years, but military duty in Iraq means forestry officials might not be able to call on their states' National Guard units as much as they'd like.Wildland fires burned more than 155,000 acres in 2004 across Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington, and this year a preliminary outlook shows above-normal fire potential in the region because of a run of unusually dry weather

Thousands of protesters in two southern Chinese cities marched on a Japanese consulate on Sunday and threw paint and bottles at businesses selling Japanese goods, a day after anti-Tokyo demonstrations in Beijing turned violent.The protests in Guangzhou province were the latest eruption of anger at what many Chinese see as Tokyo's whitewashing of World War II atrocities and its bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao Sunday said India and China should join hands and pool resources to lead the world IT industry and usher in an "Asian century" in the hi-tech field.Lauding the strides made by India in industrialisation and in science and technology, Wen said India's software industry was taking an important position in the world even as China had started making rapid progress in the IT industry -Newkerala IN

The bottom line is that the outlandishly unconstitutional powers above don’t catch terrorists. All they do is violate the constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans, and create a federal monster that only Orwell could have imagined.If Congress really wants to safeguard our nation, it should do something about the 500,000 illegal, undocumented, and potentially terrorist aliens that flood through our borders every year.Congress should not create a prison-like police state in the land of the free -Peyton Knight/Michigan News

A list of detainees at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, and home countries where available, whose cases before U.S. military tribunals are detailed in records in a federal court.(Click on a name to see related court documents)

Protection of life and liberty must once again become the issue that drives political thought in this country.If this goal is replaced by an effort to promote world government, use force to plan the economy, regulate the people, and police the world, against the voluntary desires of the people, it can be done only with the establishment of a totalitarian state.There’s no need for that.It’s up to Congress and the American people to decide our fate, and there is still time to correct our mistakes -HON. RON PAUL OF TEXAS BEFORE THE US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

The U.S. choice to lead the Organization of American States is dropping out of tomorrow's election for the post, amid indications he had garnered little support despite heavy lobbying from Washington.Francisco Flores, the former president of El Salvador, said at a news conference Friday evening that he would abandon his bid to run the OAS, the main forum for political cooperation in the hemisphere -Washington Post

Three scientists involved with e-mails about falsifying documents on the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump won't be made available to testify before a congressional panel, the Interior Department said Friday.The department's U.S. Geological Survey also released a letter from the panel that reveals the scientists' names for the first time

The Washington area has not spent the majority of $145 million in anti-terrorism grants awarded by the federal government over the past three years, including funds earmarked for such critical items as hospital beds and protective gear for rescue workers.Long after the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, homeland security spending across the country remains bogged down by administrative problems, back orders for equipment and long timelines to implement new technology, such as communications systems -Washington Post

Former president Bill Clinton will spend at least two years in his new role as the top U.N. envoy promoting recovery in tsunami-hit countries and demanding accountability for the unprecedented billions of dollars donated by countries and individuals, his deputy said -Washington Post

Hundreds of young Chinese broke windows at the Japanese Embassy and other buildings Saturday after as many as 10,000 people marched through Beijing calling for a boycott of Japanese goods in a demonstration that appeared to have been sanctioned by the government.The Chinese government rarely approves public demonstrations but appeared to make an exception for the throng of mostly college-age protesters who converged in the city's high-tech district and for smaller groups that marched from there to the embassy -Washington Post