President Barack Obama is asking Congress for expanded power to streamline the tangle of agencies he oversees, a move he says would bring the federal government into the modern world.

A new top-secret U.S. intelligence assessment warns that Taliban leaders haven't abandoned their goal of reclaiming power and reimposing harsh Islamic rule on Afghanistan, raising doubts about the success of any peace deal that the Obama administration tries to broker between Kabul and the insurgents.

The Pentagon scrambled Thursday to assure Afghans that it would aggressively investigate a video that shows U.S. Marines urinating on the bodies of three Afghans, while Afghans' reaction varied from outrage to resignation that the video merely reflected behavior that they think is typical of American troops.

The Marine Corps said Wednesday that it was investigating the authenticity of a video that appears to show four uniformed Marines urinating on dead Afghans, potentially the latest example of U.S. troops treating those killed or captured on the battlefield as trophies.

The Pakistani government has mounted a counterattack against moves by the country's military and Supreme Court that could result in what critics call a constitutional coup against President Asif Ali Zardari.

Pakistan's former ambassador to Washington — the focus of a scandal that threatens to topple the government in Islamabad — said Monday that he was caught up in a "witch hunt" against democracy.

The controversial American businessman at the center of the legal case that threatens to bring down the Pakistani government vowed Thursday to fly to Islamabad and tell the court the "unaltered truth" in the so-called Memogate scandal.

The American businessman at the heart of the explosive "memogate" political scandal will not come to Pakistan to testify, blaming concerns for his own safety, his lawyer admitted Monday.

The Obama administration pledge to shift American military strategy toward Asia overlooks a key fact: The United States never really dropped its focus on the region. But the current budget proposal might cut big-ticket items needed to increase its presence in Asia and counter China.

A Santa Maria police officer who was fatally shot early Saturday by another officer after he reportedly resisted arrest was identified Sunday by a family member as Albert Covarrubias Jr.

Pakistani Islamist militants on Sunday pledged to cease their four-year insurgency against Pakistani security forces, and join the Taliban's war against NATO troops in Afghanistan.

Pakistan's powerful army wants President Asif Ali Zardari gone, but it has ruled out staging a coup, and instead is hoping for a legal ruling that could lead to Zardari's impeachment by the country's parliament, analysts and military insiders say.

A destabilizing confrontation between Pakistan's fledgling democratic government and its powerful military is evolving into a debate over the country's controversial nuclear weapons program.

Pakistan's military on Friday ratcheted up tensions with the U.S., rejecting the findings of a Pentagon investigation into the friendly fire deaths of 25 Pakistani soldiers. The rejection came amid increasing political instability in Pakistan over allegations that the president, Asif Zardari, had in May sought American assistance to avert a military takeover.

South Asia's nuclear neighbors, India and Pakistan, tentatively agreed Tuesday to renew an agreement that aims to reduce the risk of an accidental nuclear war.

Mitt Romney lashed out at Newt Gingrich Monday, blasting the former House Speaker and saying "he's got some records which could represent an October surprise."

Newt Gingrich surged to a landslide victory in the South Carolina Republican primary Saturday, a stunning come-from-behind upset that shook the contest for the party's presidential nomination. Mitt Romney came in second, a crushing loss for the one-time front-runner, his hopes dashed for a quick and triumphant march toward the title.

Former House Speaker Gingrich's victory in the South Carolina Republican primary is a testament to him sticking to an unconventional campaign strategy that many experts dismissed as political suicide.

The Republican presidential nomination race is momentarily in turmoil. But Mitt Romney, who long ago prepared for a long, methodical slog, is still in strong shape. Every non-incumbent Republican presidential nominee since 1980 has lost at least one primary on the road to nomination.

In five polls taken over nine days through Jan. 12, Romney had an average of 29 percent support with Gingrich netting 20.2 percent. When the ballots were cast Saturday, after a 10-day barrage of anti-Romney ads that South Carolina political analysts and consultants said was unique in its volume and intensity, Gingrich won with 40.4 percent of the vote, while Romney garnered 27.8 percent.