World

Nearly twice as many U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan than in Iraq so far this month, marking the lowest death toll of any month since the U.S. invaded Iraq and putting July on course to be the first month in which the American military suffered more casualties in Afghanistan than in Iraq.

Iran's plans to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) remain unchanged, the country's ambassador to Moscow said on Monday.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will visit China on August 8-9, a Russian diplomat said on Tuesday.

Supporters of Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader awaiting extradition to The Hague on charges of war crimes, are to hold a demonstration in the centre of Belgrade on Tuesday evening.

U.S.-led coalition troops killed several militants during a raid in central Afghanistan, while a suspected bomb maker and his family died in an accidental blast in the east, officials said Tuesday.

Beijing authorities are likely to announce additional measures to curb pollution in the capital ahead of the Olympic Games, the China Daily reported on Monday.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has flatly denied reports that he suggested deploying a Russian military base in Veneuzela. during his recent visit to Moscow.

Most Czechs questioned in a survey oppose the deployment of a U.S. radar in the country, a pollster said on Wednesday.

Russia is ready to discuss the opening of a full-format office of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at its territory, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told journalists after the Russia-ASEAN summit on Wednesday.

Russia should respond to U.S. missile defense plans for Central Europe by reopening a 'spy' facility in Cuba to gather intelligence on the United States, a Russian analyst said on Wednesday.