Pakistan was actively collaborating with the Taliban in Afghanistan while accepting U.S. aid, new U.S. military reports showed, a disclosure likely to increase the pressure on Washington’s embattled ally. Read the full story

U.S. authorities said on Monday they have broken up a spy ring that carried out deep-cover work in the United States to recruit political sources and gather information for the Russian government. Read the full story

The U.S. is negotiating with Egypt a proposal to make the Middle East a region free of nuclear weapons, as the U.S. seeks to prevent Iran from derailing a monthlong U.N. conference on nuclear nonproliferation that begins Monday. Read the full story

Western-backed sanctions on Iran to crimp its disputed nuclear activities will not have the desired impact as the country increasingly turns to Asian and regional countries, an Iranian business official said. Read the full story

President Dmitry Medvedev approved Friday a new military doctrine identifying NATO expansion as a national threat and reaffirming Russia’s right to use nuclear weapons if the country’s existence is threatened. Read the full story

China dismissed on Thursday U.S. threats it would get tough with Beijing on trade and currency to ensure American goods did not face a competitive disadvantage, saying its yuan currency was at a reasonable level. Read the full story

A U.S. attempt to shoot down a ballistic missile mimicking an attack from Iran failed after a malfunction in a radar built by Raytheon, the Defense Department said. Read the full story

The concern over the long absence of President Umaru Yar’Adua from office and its implication on the polity, assumed a global dimension yesterday, as world powers warned that Nigeria’s instability could be a threat to global peace. Read the full story

Political directors from the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany will meet behind closed doors to assess Tehran’s response to their offer in October to exchange uranium for nuclear fuel and to consider possible next steps.

After weeks of conflicting responses, Iran’s Foreign Minister Manochehr Mottaki in mid-December accepted the proposal “in principle.” But in what is almost certain to be a deal breaker, he spoke of exchanging the material in phases rather than all at once as called for in the plan.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday the Obama administration has concluded that the best way to pressure Iran to come clean on its nuclear ambitions is to impose new sanctions aimed at the country’s ruling elite.

U.S. Undersecretary of State William Burns, who will attend Saturday’s talks, warned Iran of consequences if it does not comply with the international proposal to limit its uranium enrichment program.

Burns, who was is in Moscow for talks with Russian officials on Iran and other issues, said in an interview with the independent Gazeta.ru portal on Thursday that “we will … need to begin to look at ways in which we can make clear the consequences of not responding constructively.”

But with Russia, and especially China, skeptical of any new sanctions, the U.S. and its Western allies have to tread carefully to maintain six power unity on how to deal with Iran.

Taking over the rotating presidency of the Security Council in early January, China’s U.N. Ambassador Zhang Yesui said Beijing opposes new sanctions against Iran for now because diplomatic efforts to bridge differences over the country’s nuclear program are taking place.

China — which relies on Iran for much of its energy needs — is a veto-wielding member of the council along with the U.S., Russia, Britain and France.

Zhang’s opposition means the council almost certainly won’t discuss Iran sanctions in January, but whether they may be open to future sanctions talks remains to be seen — and the Western diplomats will almost certainly be looking for clues during Saturday’s closed-door talks.

The Security Council has imposed three rounds of sanctions on Iran over suspicions it is hiding nuclear activities and fears that it could retool its enrichment program from making low-grade uranium to produce nuclear power into producing weapons-grade uranium used for nuclear warheads. Iran denies the charge and insists its program is for peaceful purposes.

Under the U.N. plan proposed in October, Iran would ship most of its uranium — up to 2,600 pounds of it — abroad. It would then be enriched to higher levels in Russia, turned into fuel rods in France and returned to power a research reactor in Tehran that produces medical isotopes.

The material in the fuel rods cannot be enriched to higher levels, denying Iran the ability to use it to make weapons.

One well-informed diplomat said recently that the Revolutionary Guard would be a key target of a fourth round of sanctions, but others in Iran’s power structure could also be included. Sanctions against companies and organizations controlled by the Revolutionary Guard that have links to weapons proliferation may also be considered, the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity because all talks are going on in private.

The Security Council would likely ban travel and freeze the financial assets of individuals, and freeze the assets of any companies.

The State Department is planning to welcome thousands of immigrants from terror-watch list countries into the United States this year through a “diversity visa” lottery — a giant legal loophole some lawmakers say is a “serious national security threat” that has gone unchecked for years. Read the full story