international

BETHESDA, Md. - A yellow ribbon -- ceramic to withstand the passage of time -- still hangs from the old oak tree in L. Bruce Laingen's front yard, a 30-year-old reminder of the Minnesota farm boy's ordeal as the highest-ranking diplomat among 52 U.S. Embassy workers held hostage in Iran for 444 days.

NEW DELHI - Nagesh Simha knows about pain. He has had three kidney transplants, one of which led to such severe complications that he had to have both hips replaced. But when he's not a patient, he's a surgeon, supervising a cancer hospice in Bangalore -- where he sees patients in what he calls the "catastrophic pain" that frequently accompanies the disease.

Icelanders like Jon Ogmundsson have endured many hardships in the last year, including soaring inflation, rising unemployment and a banking crisis so serious the country nearly declared bankruptcy.

Now Iceland's battered economy is claiming one more victim -- McDonald's.

Relations between the world's two fastest-rising superpowers are suddenly as chilly as their snowy mountain border, with China and India trading blows in a high-stakes verbal war.

A few years ago, Peggy Perry found herself scratching her head over the cost of ice.

Her store in Canada -- Calgary-based Willow Park Wines and Spirits -- sells bagged ice along with a wide variety of alcoholic beverages. When she sat down to do the math, buying the ice seemed unreasonably expensive.

When Mark Kolke books flights from Calgary to Hawaii for his vacation, he keeps his mind on the Pacific paradise and blocks out memories of being trapped in the dreaded middle seat.

General and Chief of Army Staff Pervez Musharraf became president of Pakistan
in 1999, following a bloodless coup. He and his country became integral in the U.S. war on terror after the 9/11 attacks. Pakistan helped capture hundreds of al-Qaeda operatives and continues to be allied with the United States against extremists.

As 200 officials from Europe and Canada gathered in an Ottawa meeting room Monday to begin the most comprehensive trade talks in recent history, there is great fear on both sides that the whole thing could become bogged down over the price of butter.

SEATTLE - There were the inevitable questions when two constables from Canada came to Seattle this week to a job fair, recruiting for the Edmonton Police Service.

In less than two decades, the Arctic Ocean could be all but ice-free all summer, every summer, which would have potentially devastating implications for the rest of the planet, British researchers say.