On Monday, Chinese President Hu Jintao introduced Li Keqiang and Xi Jinping, two new members of the Communist Party's top policymaking body, and likely rivals for the top job.
The reports have delivered sharply critical judgments about the department?s performance in overseeing private security contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.
John Bolton, the recent recess appointee as ambassador to the United Nations, ends his new tell-all book, Surrender Is Not an Option , with a scathing review of the State Department and the foreign service, which he says lean Democratic and often operate independent of the White House.
AP - Wildfires blown by fierce desert winds Monday reduced hundreds of Southern California homes to ashes, forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee and laid a hellish, spidery pattern of luminous orange over the drought-stricken region.
AP - The Bush administration wants deals by the end of the year for missile defense bases in Eastern Europe, but getting the Czech Republic and Poland to go along with that timetable could be difficult.
AP - Osama bin Laden scolded his al-Qaida followers in Iraq and other insurgents Monday, saying they have "been lax" for failing to overcome fanatical tribal loyalties and unite in the fight against U.S. troops.
More than a dozen uncontained wildfires raged Monday across Southern California, threatening thousands of structures and forcing 265,000 people to flee homes. In San Diego, the chairman of the County Board of Supervisors said weather conditions had "all the ingredients for a perfect firestorm."
A panel recommended to the State Department that the U.S. create a "central command center" to improve coordination among agencies using private security contractors in war zones, senior State Department officials and others familiar with the review told CNN Monday.
The U.S. State Department is unable to account for most of $1.2 billion in funding that it gave to DynCorp International to train Iraqi police, a government report said Tuesday.