Relying on the help of an Iraqi political party, the United States has moved to resurrect parts of the Iraqi intelligence service, with the branch that monitors Iran among the top priorities, former Iraqi agents and politicians say.

Liberia said Tuesday that more than 600 civilians had been killed in a rebel onslaught as fighting raged for a fifth day on the outskirts of the capital.

It is often said that war is too important to be left to the generals. But what about the CEOs? The Pentagon's plan to hire a private paramilitary force to guard sites in Iraq may have surprised many Americans, but it was really just another example of a remarkable recent development in warfare: the rise of a global trade in hired military services.

The United States took another step toward eliminating the last vestiges of Cold War nuclear weapons production in May when the U.S. Energy Department awarded contracts for construction of fossil fuel power plants to replace three Russian nuclear reactors.

It's not all that surprising that the oligarchs have been experiencing some unpleasantness of late.