U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said he would raise American concerns about the unintended consequences of any military action against Iran during talks with his Israeli counterpart on Friday, including its potential impact on the world economy. Panetta, speaking to reporters traveling with him to Canada, said the United States believed the most effective way to confront Iran still was to use... 

Zeroed in: The weapon, which could look similar to this Falcon HTV-2, left, was fired from Hawaii, glided south westwards through the upper atmosphere over the Pacific at 'hypersonic speed' before hitting its target on the Kwajalein atoll in the Marshall Islands - some 2,500 miles away. A hypersonic flying missile that can strike a target anywhere in the world in just 30 minutes has been unveiled... 

Obama meets with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and announces a permanent military presence in Australia beginning next summer. Communist Party paper attacks Obama’s plan to deploy up to 2,500 troops and boost air force co-operation with Canberra. China has reacted angrily to remarks by Barack Obama signalling a significant shift in US policy vis-a-vis Asia. The US president has pledged... 

(L-R) Nursultan Nazarbayev, Dmitry Medvedev and Aleksandr Lukashenko Three former Soviet republics have launched a new regional integration project, with at least two others on track to join in. Critics accuse Moscow of rebuilding the USSR, but architects of project say the aim is to become a better version of the EU. The idea of the Eurasian Union – initially between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan... 

Moscow in aggressive move to stop another American “humanitarian intervention”. Russian warships have entered Syrian territorial waters in an aggressive move designed to prevent any NATO-led attack on the country under the guise of a “humanitarian intervention”. “Russian warships are due to arrive at Syrian territorial waters, a Syrian news agency said on Thursday, indicating that the move... 

India has planned to recruit and deployed another 100,000 troops along the disputed borders with China and the Chinese southwestern Tibet. The troop increase will come over the next five years, as part of a $13 billion modernisation programme that will mark the largest expansion of the Indian army throughout the sub-continental country’s 60-year history, a Chinese scholar has reported in state media. Earlier... 

A mock North Korean missile at the War Memorial of Korea in Seoul Two members of the ‘axis of evil’ conspiring to make nuclear weapons? Such a nightmare scenario would be dreadful indeed. But with unnamed sources claiming North Korea is helping Iran go nuclear, something about the plot seems dreamt up. George W. Bush’s long-awaited chance to utter an “I told you so” may have arrived, as reports... 

Malaysian activists are preparing to hold a symbolic trial against former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former US President George W. Bush for alleged war crimes related to the Iraq War. The initiative is led by the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal, established by Malaysia’s retired Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, a vocal critic of the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The tribunal,... 

Republican Presidential Candidate Ron Paul Less than two months before the Iowa caucuses occur — the next monumental step in the course of events leading up to the Republican Party makes their nomination for the presidency — Texas Congressman Ron Paul has taken the lead in the latest poll. According to the results of the latest poll from Bloomberg News, Paul is neck-and-neck with pizzaman Herman... 

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has expressed her support for a parliamentary vote on same-sex marriage, despite her personal opposition to changing the existing law. In an opinion piece published in the Sydney Morning Herald and other Australian newspapers, Gillard emphasized that politicians should have the freedom to vote in parliament based on their own values and beliefs. This stance... 

Santorum, polling at less than 1.8%, asked five times as many questions, speaks almost four times as many words during “debate”. Congressman Ron Paul’s campaign chairman has hit back hard at CBS news following the blatant exclusion of Paul from Saturday’s GOP debate in South Carolina. The televised portion of the debate, which was solely focused on foreign policy, was an hour long. During... 

Damascus: Syrians hold up a large national flags as they rally to show their support for their President Bashar al-Assad in the capital in Damascus. The “illegitimate” decision to suspend Syria from the Arab League has received wide support from the EU and the US. Russia, however, has strongly opposed the measure, which is starting to look like another step on the road to a Libya-style scenario. During... 

A recent survey shows that only four percent of the population in the European Union support a military attack against Iran over its nuclear program. According to the phone survey conducted between October 18 and 24 by Der Deutsche Marshall Fund Research Company, with a sampling of 2,000 people, 32 percent of the respondents said they believe economic incentives will resolve the impasse over Iran’s... 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday called on her country’s allies, specially the US, to fully exploit diplomatic efforts over Iran’s nuclear issue, rather than discussing the possibility of military solution. In an interview with German newspaper Leipziger Volkszeitung’s weekend edition, Merkel said that diplomatic solutions to Iran’s nuclear issue “have not exhausted”... 

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) speaks. While Republican attitudes towards Occupy Wall Street protesters have been largely negative, GOP hopeful Ron Paul aligned himself with those participating in the movement during last night’s televised presidential debate. ­In support of the agenda of the thousands of Americans participating in the Occupy movement, Texas Congressman Ron Paul said Wednesday night,...