Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - General Stanley McChrystal, who President Barack Obama fired last week as the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, has informed the U.S. Army he plans to retire, an official said on Monday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - 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.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senator Russell Feingold said on Monday that he will not vote to advance the financial-reform bill, denying his fellow Democrats the 60th vote they need to clear a final hurdle in Congress.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has been probing major financial firms' exposure to BP Plc to ensure that if the oil giant buckles under the costs of the Gulf oil spill, it won't put Wall Street or the global financial system at risk, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A university can legally deny recognition to a Christian student group that bars gays and nonbelievers, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday in a case that pitted anti-discrimination principles against religious freedom.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The sinking of a South Korea warship widely blamed on North Korea does not by itself justify putting Pyongyang back on a U.S. terrorism blacklist, the U.S. State Department said on Monday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court refused on Monday to consider whether the Vatican has legal immunity over the sexual abuse of minors by priests in the United States, allowing a lawsuit filed in 2002 to go forward.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Monday struck down part of a law to prevent fraud committed by companies like Enron and WorldCom, saying a board to police public companies' auditors violated the Constitution.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday extended gun rights to every state and city in the nation in a ruling likely to spur new challenges to gun control measures across the United States.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan promised on Monday to take an impartial approach to the law after Republicans criticized her qualifications and objectivity on the first day of her Senate confirmation hearing.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran is prepared to return to negotiations on its nuclear program but insists the West drop its "bullying" stance and include friendlier countries in the talks, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday.

KABUL (Reuters) - The deaths of four Norwegian soldiers in a roadside bomb attack brings to around 100 the number of foreign troops to die in Afghanistan in June, the bloodiest month since the insurgency started in 2001.

LONDON (Reuters) - Western prisons could root out militant Islamism among inmates by adopting the more imaginative approaches to prisoners used in parts of the Middle East and Asia, a British study suggests.

BASEL, Switzerland (Reuters) - Governments must slash budget deficits decisively and central banks should not wait too long to raise borrowing costs as side effects from measures prescribed to tackle the global recession may create the next crisis, the Bank for International Settlements said.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's prime minister and defense chief will be called to testify in an investigation into a deadly raid on a Gaza aid flotilla, the leader of an Israeli commission of inquiry said in an opening statement Monday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Robert Byrd, who evolved from a segregationist to a civil rights advocate in becoming the longest serving member ever of the Congress, died on Monday. First elected in 1952, Byrd was 92.

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea warned of military action against South Korea and the United States Monday, claiming the allied forces had brought "heavy weapons" into the DMZ truce village of Panmunjom.

CAMPECHE, Mexico (Reuters) - Tropical storm Alex was set to become a hurricane on Tuesday, delaying BP Plc's efforts to increase siphoning capacity at the gushing oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico while some companies pulled workers from the area.

TORONTO (Reuters) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Sunday he was alarmed by U.S. assertions that Iran may have enough fuel for two nuclear weapons and warned that if confirmed the Islamic Republic may face new measures.

TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto police clashed with protesters for a second straight day on Sunday, with a final standoff played out in the downtown core near the just-finished G20 summit of world leaders.