Gordon Brown has been on defensive amid growing political debate at home over rising death toll among British soldiers

Eclipse began just after dawn Wednesday in India, proceeded across Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Burma, China, islands of southern Japan

Plastic waste is swamping landfills, some ending up at sea, harming marine life

North Korea's nuclear programs and Burma's military government were high on the agenda

Retired professor teaches literacy, carries constitution in pocket, advises citizens

At regional forum with foreign ministers, secretary of state again presses member country Burma to release imprisoned democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi

US has pledged $330 million in response to a UN appeal in May to avoid a humanitarian crisis in Pakistan

UN Children's Fund estimates 60 percent of the two million people who fled their homes in Swat Valley are children under age of 18

July has been deadliest month for international forces in Afghanistan since Taliban-led government was ousted in 2001

US Secretary of State says meetings with counterparts from Russia, China, Japan and South Korea generated 'remarkable' unity on Pyongyang

Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie sharply criticized for stating last year that Iran is friend of all people in world, including Israelis

UN says number of people needing help this year almost doubled while it has received less than half of money it needs to carry out it humanitarian operations

President says United States is on track to remove all of its troops from Iraq by end of 2011

In Thailand for regional dialogue with ASEAN foreign ministers, US secretary of state also says US is concerned about possible North Korean nuclear aid for Burma

Police said gunmen opened fire on buses traveling near city of Baquba, on highway that connects Iran to Baghdad

Benjamin Netanyahu says situation calm because of barrier, improvement on part of Palestinian security services

UN health agency says it is examining what steps governments can take to limit expected jump in infections when northern hemisphere's autumn season begins later this year

Both European Union and Russia say such activity threatens chance for Mideast peace

Many experts say whether Tehran decides to curtail its nuclear weapons ambitions could hinge on how much pressure Russia exerts on Tehran

Since troop pullback on June 30, Iraq has denied US requests to conduct raids