WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The IMF on Monday released 2.2 billion euros ($2.95 billion) in rescue funds for Greece, giving a nod to new Prime Minister Lucas Papademos’s commitment to a tough reform program.Delayed for months by political turmoil that led to the early November downfall of Prime Minister George Papandreou, the move opens the way for the European Union to release its 5.8 billion euro share of the latest bailout installment.The funds could help Athens to avoid a looming default on its debt

CAIRO (AP) ― The runoff Monday for Egypt’s first-round parliamentary elections heated up tensions between competing Islamist groups that have so far dominated the vote, with scuffles breaking out and allegations of death threats.The strife shows the challenges facing the front-runner, the Muslim Brotherhood, after hard-line Islamist parties made a surprisingly strong showing. The more moderate Brotherhood is now under pressure to reassure both Egyptians and foreign allies that the country is not

BRUSSELS (AP) ― Belgium’s soon-to-be prime minister set up a slimmed-down coalition Monday, in one of the final steps before his team formally ends the record 541 days the country has gone without a government.The swearing-in on Tuesday will be a long-awaited relief to the entire nation of 6.5 million Dutch speakers and 4.5 million French speakers who long ago grew frustrated with the deadlock between politicians over linguistic differences.One radio presenter finally shaved off the beard he has

NEW YORK (AP) ― Germany agreed after a year of tough negotiations to pay pensions to about 16,000 additional Holocaust victims worldwide ― mostly survivors who were once starving children in Nazi ghettos, or were forced to live in hiding for fear of death.The agreement announced Monday between the New York-based Claims Conference and the German government is “not about money ― it’s about Germany’s acknowledgment of these people’s suffering,’’ said Greg Schneider, the conference’s executive vice

One-third of fathers with working wives are now the regular caregivers for their children, the result of the depressed economy and large numbers of out-of-work men, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today. The number of such dads caring for children under age 15 increased to 32 percent in 2010 from 26

BRUSSELS (AP) _ Standard & Poor's threatened Monday to downgrade the credit rating of 15 eurozone countries, piling pressure on the currency union's leaders to take radical steps to resolve their debt crisis at a summit later this week.The decision to put 15 eurozone countries _ including AAA-rating

LONDON (AP) — A British court Monday gave WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange permission to continue his legal battle to avoid extradition to Sweden over sex crimes allegations.The decision means Assange does not face immediate deportation. British judges said Assange could apply to the Supreme C

ISLAMABAD (AP) ― Battered by Pakistani military operations and U.S. drone strikes, the once-formidable Pakistani Taliban has splintered into more than 100 smaller factions, weakened and is running short of cash, according to security officials, analysts and tribesmen from the insurgent heartland.The group, allied with al-Qaida and based in the northwest close to the Afghan border, has been behind much of the violence tearing apart Pakistan over the last 4 1/2 years. Known as the Tehrik-e-Taliban

Tehran warns of  retaliation against violation of its airspace; Washington denies drone was downedTEHRAN (AP) ― Iran’s armed forces have shot down an unmanned U.S. spy plane that violated Iranian airspace along the country’s eastern border, the official IRNA news agency reported Sunday.An unidentified military official quoted in the report warned of a strong and crushing response to any violations of the country’s airspace by American drone aircraft.“An advanced RQ-170 unmanned American spy plan