Iraq: The U.S. ambassador to Iraq says talks with his Iranian counterpart were business-like and that both parties agreed they want a stable Iraq.
Ryan Crocker says today's (Monday's) meeting in Baghdad -- the first high-level talks between the U.S. and Iran in nearly three decades -- lasted several hours.
Crocker says he told Iran's Hassan Kazemi that Iran must stop supporting militants in Iraq who are fighting Iraqi and U.S. forces.
Authorities in Tehran have denied they are responsible for attacks by insurgents in Iraq.
The United States broke off diplomatic relations with Iran after young activists stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in (November) 1979 and took hostages.
Iran – US:
Iranian authorities have summoned the Swiss ambassador in Tehran to protest what they describe as U.S. espionage networks.
Iranian state television reports the foreign ministry told Ambassador Philippe Welti that Iran recently discovered spy networks trying to infiltrate and carry out sabotage actions in parts of Iran. It says the networks were created by American intelligence services.
The United States and Iran have no diplomatic relations, but sometimes pass information through Swiss intermediaries.
Iran is currently detaining scholar Haleh Esfandiari, who has dual U.S.-Iranian citizenship. Iran says she admitted under interrogation to trying to establish an unofficial network to topple the Iranian government.
Venezuela: Venezuela's government has taken control of the country's oldest private broadcaster in a move that has been both condemned and congratulated nationwide.
Venezuelan officials ordered Radio Caracas Television to relinquish control of its broadcasting facilities throughout the country at midnight, ending the private station's 53-year history on the air.
Earlier, thousands of RCTV supporters gathered outside the National Telecommunications Commission in Caracas to protest the government's refusal to renew the station's broadcasting license. Police say 11 officers were injured by rocks and other objects thrown by protesters.
Elsewhere in the capital, supporters of President Hugo Chavez gathered to celebrate the closure. Police and national guard troops were deployed across the city to keep the peace.
Just minutes after the shutdown, Venezuelan Social Television - the station replacing RCTV - began broadcasting.
President Chavez says he decided to close the station because it supported a brief coup attempt against his government five years ago.
Afghanistan: Officials in Afghanistan say a suicide bomber has killed two civilians and wounded at least one other person in an attack in the northern part of the country.
Authorities say the bomber detonated his explosives today (Monday) on a road in Kunduz province, apparently targeting a passing vehicle carrying foreigners. No foreigners are reported hurt in the attack.
There is no claim of responsibility for the bombing.
The usually calm northern part of Afghanistan has seen an increase in insurgent attacks in recent weeks.
Earlier this month, a Taleban suicide bomber killed nine people, including three German NATO soldiers, in Kunduz.
Separately, coalition officials said today (Monday) U.S.-led forces backed by airstrikes repelled an ambush on a supply convoy Sunday, killing 24 Taleban militants during a 10-hour gunbattle in southern Helmand province.
Afghanistan Shooting:
Witnesses say Afghan police have opened fire on people protesting against the governor of a northern province.
Doctors at the hospital in Shiberghan, the capital of Jowzjan province, said today (Monday) that at least nine people have been killed and more than 30 others wounded.
The stone-throwing demonstrators are believed to be supporters of Northern Alliance warlord Abdul Rashid Dostam.
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