A senior Iraqi official pointed out that the latest support from Moscow demonstrated America's diminished role in the conflict. "The American influence is getting sidelined ... due to the lack of security and military support to the Iraqi government and people in its war of survival," the official told Foreign Policy.

It might not be fashionable to spew racial slurs during the World Cup anymore (though they do on a near-continual basis), yet fans apparently feel it's okay to accuse the German team of being goose-stepping, Heil Hitler-ing Nazis. Especially when they score against team USA. This graphic from Regressing shows that during the Germany-U.S. game (which Germany won 1-0), plenty of people were thinking about the former country's murderous past:

he Honourable Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade, today welcomed the announcement by SkyPower Global that the company is donating 5,000 solar-powered lights to South African villages without electricity so children can have light for reading and writing. The announcement was made during Minister Fast's trade mission to South Africa. In its 2010 Integrated Resource Plan, South Africa identified the need for more power generation from renewable sources to meet its growing energy needs and also to reduce greenhouse gases.

President Barack Obama's administration has taken the US gay rights revolution global, using American embassies across the world as outposts in a struggle that still hasn't been won at home. Sometimes US advice and encouragement is condemned as unacceptable meddling. And sometimes it can seem to backfire, increasing the pressure on those it is meant to help. With gay pride parades taking place in many cities across the world this weekend, the US role will be more visible than ever.

Inside his room at the Addis Ababa University campus, 23-year-old Bereket reached into a cupboard and pulled out a pack of Sensation Honey condoms. He had used them with the last three women he had intercourse with. Bereket, who did not want to use his last name because of cultural sensitivities about sex, said he prefers this brand because it's “modern,” adding that he avoids the free condoms that are widely available in Ethiopia because he cannot be sure of their quality.

This week Western newspapers had a field day with North Korea’s response to the release of a trailer for the upcoming movie “The Interview” starring Seth Rogan and James Franco. The BBC, NPR and Washington Post all carried headlines announcing that North Korea had threatened war over the movie. Not to be outdone, the New York Post ran a headline proclaiming North Korea “threatens ‘merciless’ war” over the movie, while the Huffington Post announced “North Korea Threatens… ‘All Out War.’” 

Soccer used to be their game -- the Europeans, the South Americans, the Africans. Today it is our game too, bringing the nation together in a passionate embrace of its athleticism, its skill and, yes, its excitement. But it hasn't always been this way. Even after the U.S. hosted the World Cup for the first time in 1994 -- setting attendance records that still stand today -- many still dismissed soccer as somehow not quite American.

Look out, mainland China: Batman, cloaked in the cause of Hong Kong independence, is coming to get you, along with the cast of 2012's special-effects filled, genre-busting summer extravaganza Cloud Atlas.