U.S

The United States gave China a six-month reprieve from Iran financial sanctions on Thursday, avoiding a diplomatic spat with a country whose support it needs to try to quell violence in Syria and rein in Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

The failure of a Democratic bid to unseat Wisconsin's Republican governor should not alter the presidential election battle, the White House says.

The Republican governor of the US state of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, has defied an attempt to vote him out of office.

President Barack Obama discussed developments in Europe as well as in Syria on Wednesday in a video conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, the White House said.

Mitt Romney clinched the Republican presidential nomination on Tuesday with a resounding victory in Texas and now faces a five-month sprint to convince voters to trust him over Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 6 election.

President Barack Obama called the treatment decades ago of returning Vietnam War veterans a "national shame" on Monday and promised as commander-in-chief not to send U.S. troops back into harm's way without a clear mission and strategy.

Most Americans, no matter what their political party, believe there is too much money in politics and reject the idea that people should be allowed to spend what they want, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Thursday.

The National Security Agency is trying to expand U.S. cyber expertise needed for secret intelligence operations against adversaries on computer networks through a new cyber-ops program at selected universities.

The US Senate has approved a bill to tighten sanctions against Iran in a bid to force Tehran to abandon its nuclear programme.

NATO will hand over the lead role in combat operations to Afghan forces across the country by mid-2013, alliance leaders said on Sunday as they charted a path out of a war that has lost public support and strained budgets in Western nations.