North Korea fired two short-range missiles, making six launches in three days, and it condemned South Korea for criticizing what it said were its legitimate military drills.

At least 43 people were killed in car bomb explosions targeting Shi'ite Muslims in Baghdad and the southern oil hub of Basra today, police and medics said.

The upcoming midterm elections on October 27 will define whether the federal government will be able to carry out a constitutional reform. The government’s Victory Front (FpV) risks losing 17 of its current seats in the Senate and 127 in the Lower House.

By Ivan Briscoe.
Seth Pecksniff, despite his name, looms large over the syndrome of today’s Europe. Preaching the highest moral values, Pecksniff is nevertheless unsure whether it would be in the general interest to provide everyone with a sound evening meal.

Facing private-sector analysts who support Argentina’s peso currency devaluation, Economy Minister Hernán Lorenzino insisted a devaluation would only create “more recession, more inflation and more debt.”

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner accused judiciary sectors of holding a “media agenda” and urged judges to “punish the guilty, no matter what their social, corporative or political position is.” Twitter, once again CFK’s favourite political "weapon".

July will mark the start of a new era for the Southern Common Market (Mercosur), when it will expand to five full members, if the South American bloc manages to overcome the commotion caused by the admission of Venezuela and the suspension of Paraguay.

Remains of ex Ditator Jorge Rafael Videla are expected to be buried in Mercedes city, hometown of the former de facto ruler during Argentina’s darkest period. Still, time and date of the funeral service have not been yet confirmed.

Venezuelan authorities have released a dissent ex-general who was jailed on charges of inciting unrest after the country’s disputed presidential election. Retired General Antonio Rivero is also a member of the opposition movement Popular Will.

It was just about a day after Argentine strongman Jorge Rafael Videla had seized power in March of 1976, and the bloodletting was already beginning.

Vice President Amado Boudou was meeting today Qatar’s top oil business leaders and officials as part of his international tour in the Middle East country. At his arrival to Doha, he was received by Culture, Art and Patrimony Minister Hamad Bin Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari.

Lebanese Hezbollah militants attacked a Syrian rebel-held town alongside Syrian troops and Israel threatened more attacks on Syria to rein the militia in, highlighting the risks of a wider regional conflict if planned peace talks fail.

Syrian President Bashar Assad said in a newspaper interview that he won’t step down and that the US has no right to interfere in his country’s politics.

The Justice Department's seizure of phone records for journalists at the Associated Press is hurting the agency's ability to gather news, the wire service's Chief Executive and President Gary Pruitt said.

British Prime Minister David Cameron is "losing control of his party", Conservative Party grandee Geoffrey Howe said, as a row raged over whether a close aide to Cameron had labeled grassroots activists "mad, swivel-eyed loons".

Pope Francis warned the Catholic Church to not close in on itself at a Mass to mark Pentecost Sunday attended by more than 200,000 people, urging the faithful to be open in a new and changing world.

European shares held steady after touching a new five-year high, with positive data from the United States and Japan pointing to an improving global economic outlook, boosting the market's near-term sentiment.

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck off the coast of Chile today, the US Geological Survey said, but Chilean emergency authorities said they saw no prospect that the tremor would generate a tsunami.

By Philip Rucker and Peter Wallsten- The Washington Post
President Barack Obama’s professed ignorance of the targeting of conservatives by one government agency and his support of tracking journalists’ sources by another highlight one of the great paradoxes of his presidency.

President Ollanta Humala's approval rating fell 5 points to a six-month low of 46 percent, reflecting the unpopularity of his proposal to buy an oil refinery owned by Spain's Repsol and his support for Venezuela's new government, an Ipsos poll showed.

Juan Caicedo scored twice in Independiente’s 3-1 victory against San Martín of San Juan to win essentials three points in their struggle against relegation. River Plate could not cut the distance with leaders Newell’s as they only drew 2-2 with Unión.

The social consequences of austerity economics have been most visible in Europe’s southern periphery. In the UK, the coalition government has brought in sharp cutbacks in welfare state provision in the name of dealing with the financial crisis.

By David J. Kramer - The Washington Post

Can everyone please stop pretending that Russia can be a partner with the United States and others in solving the crisis in Syria?

After working 37 years in the coal mines of West Virginia, Ronny Justice punctuates his sentences with coughs. He lost his job a year ago, leaving him without health insurance just as he’s battling the early stages of black-lung disease.

Brazil’s Congress approved legislation on Thursday that opens up state-owned ports to private investment and lifts restrictions on the building of private ports in a bid to eliminate serious bottlenecks strangling the country’s export growth.

France will see its first gay weddings within days, after French President François Hollande signed a law yesterday authorizing marriage and adoption by same-sex couples and ending months of nationwide protests and wrenching debate.

The Coen brothers' resurrection of the pre-Dylan folk scene in Greenwich Village serenaded Cannes with its period music and melancholy tale of a self-destructive, feline-toting musician.