World

China said Tuesday it would not send any troops to Afghanistan — rejecting recent speculation that Beijing might support the international coalition there.

As U.S. President George Bush hosted world leaders in Washington, President-elect Barack Obama praised his predecessor for calling the meeting to seek a global solution to a global problem.

Russia is ready to restore shaken relations with the United States, suggests developing cooperation with NATO and calls them for participation in preparation of a new treaty on European security. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said this on Saturday.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday that Iran is still trying to build nuclear bombs and the world must make a concerted effort to stop the project.

Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents said on Monday they were drawing up a response to an offer from President Hamid Karzai of safe passage for insurgent leaders who wanted to talk peace.

Russia and the United States plan to hold talks in the near future on replacing the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which expires in December 2009, a deputy chief of the government staff said.

Despite objections by Russia, the outgoing head of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency urged President-elect Barack Obama on Wednesday to stick to the Bush administration's plans to place missile defenses in Eastern Europe.

Iran has successfully test fired a new surface-to-surface missile, the Fars news agency said Wednesday.

A car bomb struck a U.S. military convoy in eastern Afghanistan Thursday, wounding 57 civilians and an American soldier, U.S. and Afghan officials said.

Russia, the United States and the European Union still have time to agree on ways of ensuring security before missiles are deployed in Poland and Russia's Kaliningrad Region, the Russian foreign minister said on Tuesday.