Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin suggested in a CNN interview on Thursday that the United States pushed Georgia toward war and said he suspects a connection to the American presidential campaign, the network said.

The US military will transfer security control of Anbar province, scene of some of its bloodiest battles since the 2003 invasion, to Iraqi forces on September 1, the provincial police chief told AFP on Thursday.

The US-led coalition has said that its forces have killed more than 100 militants in four days of fighting in southern Afghanistan.

The US has sought to downplay the controversy surrounding its Ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, over his "unauthorised contacts" with Pakistani presidential candidate Asif Ali Zardari.

More than 37 million Americans live in poverty and nearly 46 million have no health insurance, with children bearing a disproportionate share of the burden, an official report showed on Tuesday.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was to meet his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao on Wednesday, as Moscow looked to bolster support in a diplomatic stand-off with the West over its conflict with Georgia.

The United States accused North Korea on Tuesday of violating a six-nation nuclear accord and retained it on a terror blacklist, after the hardline communist state defiantly suspended disabling its atomic plants.

US new home sales rose 2.4 per cent in July from June to a pace that fell far short of market expectations, in a further sign of housing market distress, government data showed on Tuesday.

China on Tuesday expressed its "dissatisfaction" over US comments on the sensitive issue of human rights and asked Washington to advise its citizens not to break the laws of other nations while touring abroad.

North Korea said on Tuesday that it has stopped disabling its nuclear reactor and will consider restoring the plutonium-producing facility in anger over Washington's failure to remove it from the US list of terror sponsors.

Pakistan's political turmoil deepened on Tuesday as terror attacks continue and the ruling coalition split, weakening the fragile government just a week after President Pervez Musharraf resigned.

The Afghan government wants the review to include the use of airstrikes in civilian areas, following allegations that large number of civilians have died in raids and airstrikes by foreign forces in recent weeks.

Wracked by drought, Iran has turned to the United States for wheat for the first time in 27 years, marking a setback for Tehran's search for agricultural self-sufficiency.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Monday said Washington and Baghdad have agreed that there will be no foreign forces in the war-torn country after 2011.

North Korea's nuclear programs were on the agenda on Monday as the Chinese and South Korean presidents met for a summit amid recent angry rhetoric from Pyongyang.

The chill left on US-Russian relations by Moscow's military incursion into Georgia could spell problems for future US access to the International Space Station, US experts said.

The Russian parliament voted overwhelmingly on Monday to recognise the independence of two breakaway Georgian regions - while President Dmitry Medvedev linked the Georgia conflict to tensions over another separatist region.

Two boats carrying dozens of international activists sailed into the Gaza Strip on Saturday in defiance of an Israeli blockade, receiving a warm welcome from thousands of jubilant Palestinians, after a two-day journey.

Kobe Bryant provided a crucial late spark and the United States won the Olympic men's basketball gold medal for the 13th time, defeating world champion Spain 118-107 in the championship game on Sunday.

The United States, led by the tournament's best player Clayton Stanley, won the Olympic men's volleyball gold on Sunday beating defending champions Brazil by three sets to one in the final.

The United States on Sunday urged China to release eight US citizens who were sentenced last week to 10 days in detention for their role in a series of protests in support of Tibetan independence.

The United States won their fourth straight Olympic women's basketball crown on Saturday with a 92-65 triumph over Australia in the Beijing Games final.

Brazil won its first gold medal in women's volleyball on Saturday, ending the United States' dramatic run.

Jeremy Wariner anchored the US 4x400-meter relay team to victory in an Olympic record 2mins 55.39secs on Saturday, enabling the Americans to avoid the shame of matching their worst athletics gold haul.