BAGHDAD - Merchants at Baghdad's oldest market say reports by U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that security has improved were fallacies and unrealistic.McCain led a congressional delegation through the market on Sunday and afterwards at a news conference told reporters they were able to mingle freely and chat with merchants."Things are better and there are encouraging signs," McCain said.However, a New York Times correspondent said that before the visit about 100 U.S. soldiers restricted entry ... [full story]

NEW DELHI - Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai told a South Asia summit that extremism and terrorism in all forms, as well as its sponsorship and funding, should be banned.Speaking Tuesday at the summit of the eight-nation South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation in India's capital of New Delhi, Karzai warned, "It is our duty to ban extremism and terrorism in all forms and sources, including political sponsorship and financing," reported the Press Trust of India.Afghanistan ... [full story]

GAZA - Journalists in Gaza protested the disappearance of a BBC colleague Tuesday by boycotting coverage of the Palestinian government.The head of the Palestinian Journalists' Union, Naim Tubasi, told the BBC journalists were refusing to report on Palestinian government proceedings because leaders had not done enough to secure the release of veteran BBC journalist Alan Johnston."This is unacceptable for us ... We will boycott coverage of (President Mahmoud) Abbas if Johnston is not released," Abu ... [full story]

ISLAMABAD - An assembly of Pashtun tribal elders in Pakistan's semi-autonomous Waziristan reportedly has declared war against foreign militants linked to al-Qaida.The Pakistan Times reported that at the Jirga of Ahmedzai Wazir tribesmen, local religious scholars issued a decree saying execution of foreign militants and their supporters would be lawful acts. Some of the foreign militants, mostly Uzbeks, are believed to be linked to the al-Qaida.The Jirga also decided to launch a major offensive against ... [full story]

KABUL - Taliban rebels in Afghanistan staged three public hangings of men they accused of being spies for British NATO forces in the area.A correspondent for The Independent said two of the men were hanged Sunday from trees in front of a crowd in a village between Musa Qala and Gereshk and the third was hanged in the main street in Musa Qala.Nizamuddin Khan, a Taliban commander, said the hangings were an example for the ... [full story]

TEHRAN - Citing "positive changes" in relations with Britain, Iranian state television said it would stop airing videotape of 15 detained British sailors and marines.Since the group was taken into custody March 23, Iranian state television has repeatedly shown videos of three males and one female sailor in its claims they had been in Iranian waters.However, a Novosti news agency correspondent in Tehran said Monday that despite the announcement, state television showed another clip of ... [full story]

MUNICH – Baron Bernd Freytag von Loringhoven, who was with Adolf Hitler just before the German dictator died at the end of World War II, has died in Munich at age 93.Von Loringhoven, who escaped Hitler's bunker with the dictator's permission one day before Hitler shot himself, died in February, The New York Times reported.After the war, von Loringhoven spent two and a half years as a British prisoner of war. Later, he reportedly gave ... [full story]

PESHAWAR - An eruption of riots after an Afghan refugee was killed in Pakistan prompted United Nations officials to stop the refugee repatriation program indefinitely.Police fired tear gas shells and used batons to disperse the rock-throwing demonstrators who had blocked the Peshawar-Torkham road Saturday, the Dawn news agency reported. A U.N. refugees commissioner said the refugee verification center was closed as a precaution.Witnesses said a refugee died when paramilitary forces fired on a crowd that ... [full story]

LONDON - A teenager who revealed a sex-for-asylum scandal in the British Immigration Service is among hundreds of Zimbabweans facing deportation.The 19-year-old, known only as "Tanya," learned last month her claim for asylum was rejected, The (London) Observer reported Sunday. She said she would "rather die" than return to her violence-plagued home country, the newspaper said."Going back to Zimbabwe is not an option," Tanya said. "Even death is better. My husband was shot in Zimbabwe. ... [full story]

WASHINGTON - A new generation of al-Qaida leaders has formed under Osama bin Laden to consolidate control over the terror network's operations, The New York Times said.Citing U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism officials, the newspaper said the new leaders rose within the ranks of al-Qaida following the death or capture of operatives who built the organization before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The emergence of the new leaders is being seen as evidence of al-Qaida's ... [full story]

MOSCOW - As of Sunday, foreigners no longer are allowed to sell goods at markets and retail outlets in Russia.Vyacheslav Postavnin of the Russian Federal Migration Service said migrants still have the right to work at markets as "loaders, cleaners, wholesalers, managers or to take workplaces on lease," the Itar-Tass news agency said.Last year, Russia implemented a range of new immigration laws aimed at managing immigration. The service said migrant workers who come to Russia ... [full story]

LONDON - Britain and Iran are talking directly about 15 kidnapped Royal Navy personnel, British Defense Secretary Des Browne says.Browne said British leaders "are anxious that this mater be resolved as quickly as possible and that it be resolved by diplomatic means," Sky News reported. "It is not my intention to go through the detail of that (negotiation process) blow by blow, and it wouldn't be appropriate to do that, but we are in direct ... [full story]

HONIARA - A strong earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale was reported early Monday in the South Pacific Ocean, prompting a tsunami warning.Citing the U.S. Geological survey, the BBC said the quake struck about 7:40 a.m. local time six miles below the surface, and was centered about 220 miles west-northwest of the Solomon Islands' capital Honiara, northeast of Australia.There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said nations with ... [full story]