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WASHINGTON — The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials. The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like …

  President Barack Obama has been busy for the past few weeks, thinking of whose ass to kick for the unprecedented environmental damage being caused by the uncontrollable oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. He is under fire for not acting decisively or being soft on the culprits — in this case the all powerful British Petroleum and other …

After several months of closed-door negotiations and shuttle diplomacy, the United States succeeded Wednesday in getting a new Security Council resolution – the fourth in a series – imposing a fresh set of sanctions penalising Iran for its nuclear programme. But the most powerful political body at the United Nations refused to give the United States what it needed most …

  Shock and outrage has swept the globe after Israeli soldiers stormed a flotilla of aid ships bound for Gaza. International powers have closed ranks in condemning the deadly raid. Statement from the Turkish foreign ministry The interception on the convoy is unacceptable … Israel will have to bear the consequences of its actions. We strongly condemn it and await an immediate …

Israel boards Gaza aid ship Israeli forces have taken over the Irish aid-ship Rachel Corrie bound for Gaza. THE challenge for 20-year-old Ahmed Luqman Talib was to follow the trail of blood. Blacking out several times as his captors forced him to drag himself up a flight of stairs, pushing and kicking him along the way, the Gold Coast student …