Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev announced substantial progress in crucial nuclear arms talks and on military cooperation after their much-anticipated first summit in the Kremlin on Monday.

Negotiators on both sides reached a framework agreement on replacing the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which expires Dec. 5, with a deal that will cut their arsenals to the lowest level of any U.S.-Russia arms control agreement, both presidents told reporters after more than three hours of talks Monday afternoon.

Unmanned weapons are condemned by Lord Bingham as 'beyond the pale'

The use of unmanned drones as weapons of war in conflicts around the world has been called into question by one of Britain's most senior judges. Lord Bingham, until last year the senior law lord, said that some weapons were so "cruel as to be beyond the pale of human tolerance".

Comedian Al Franken has been declared the winner of Minnesota's junior seat in the Senate.

The Democratic upstart and alleged funnyman was running against Norm Coleman, the Republican incumbent. The result was so close it set off a legal squabble that will no doubt ensure new cars for untold legions of Minnesota lawyers.

The issue eventually came down to thousands of absentee ballots. In the end, justices of the state's Supreme Court ruled for Franken. He squeaked in by a razor-thin margin, 312 votes out of the nearly 2.9 million cast and is expected to be sworn in next week.

US Vice-President Joe Biden has hinted the administration will not restrain Israel if it decides on military action to remove any Iranian nuclear threat.

Mr Biden told ABC television the US could not "dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do".

Mr Biden also said President Obama's offer of dialogue with Iran remained.
Mr Obama has given Iran until the end of the year to talk about its nuclear programme, which Iran insists is for energy purposes only.

Western countries are concerned Tehran is working to acquire a nuclear weapons capability.

Saddam Hussein left open the possibility that he had weapons of mass destruction rather than appear vulnerable to neighbouring Iran, according to declassified FBI documents.

The FBI reports, released on Wednesday (local time) are based on interrogations of the former Iraqi leader.

The Vatican is quietly conducting two sweeping investigations of American nuns, a development that has startled and dismayed nuns who fear they are the targets of a doctrinal inquisition.

Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan has ridiculed recent comments by Opposition spokesman Joe Hockey about tax cuts.

The tax breaks promised before the election start from today.

Yesterday Mr Hockey said it would have been legitimate for the Government to scrap them because of the global financial crisis.

"There would have been a legitimate justification for the Government to say 'our economic recovery will be slower if we are running a big deficit', and I think it should have been considered as part of the mix," he said.

Malcolm Turnbull has sought refuge from negative opinion polls and the OzCar affair in the politically safer territory of Afghanistan.

The federal Opposition leader visited Australian Defence Force members in Kandahar and Tarin Kowt that they have the support of all Australians during a visit to the strife-torn country.

The Liberal Party risks being labelled weak and pathetic if it replaces Malcolm Turnbull as Opposition Leader on the back of poor opinion polls, a Coalition frontbencher says.

Opposition MPs have today rallied behind Mr Turnbull following a barrage of dreadful poll data.

A pastor in the US state of Kentucky told his flock to bring handguns to church in what he said was an effort to promote safe gun ownership.

Pastor Ken Pagano told parishioners to bring their unloaded guns to New Bethel Church in Louisville for a service celebrating the right to bear arms.

He said he acted after church members voiced fears the Obama administration could tighten gun control laws.

The Opposition's Treasury spokesman, Joe Hockey, has dismissed claims he is jockeying for the leadership position.

An article in The Australian newspaper claims senior Liberals believe he has been too keen to distance himself from the OzCar affair, rather than stand by leader Malcolm Turnbull.

But Mr Hockey says it is a beat-up.

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Mr Turnbull has refused to say whether Mr Grech has been supplying him with information
The Treasury official at the centre of the OzCar affair, Godwin Grech, has supplied unofficial information to the Coalition, dating back to its days in government, the ABC has learned.

The revelation lifts already intense pressure on Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull to explain how much he knew, and when, about the email forgery that has backfired so spectacularly.

Independent Senator Nick Xenophon says his bid to defer a vote on an emissions trading scheme is not designed to delay action on climate change.

He wants debate on the scheme to be pushed back to the next sitting period in August to allow more economic modelling to be done.

Senator Xenophon says the Parliament should consider alternative designs for the scheme that would have less economic impact.

But he says a decision should be made during the next sitting week.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has challenged the opposition to prove claims that he abused his position to help a friend's car-dealing business.

Mr Rudd said opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull must resign if he fails to produce an e-mail on which the claims are based by Monday afternoon.
Mr Turnbull has called for the prime minister to stand down, accusing him of lying to parliament over the issue.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Thursday that the BRIC economies are a factor of stability and growth amid the global economic crisis when commenting on the first BRIC summit meeting in Russia earlier this week, according to local media reports. Singh told Indian journalists that there was a need for reforming the present systems of global governance and international financial system.

He expressed his hope that the BRIC countries -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- would not remain only a "talk-shop" and they would work together so that their voice is heard in the global arena.