China, Britain | featured news

An air of cautious optimism hung over Almaty, Kazakstan, on Friday as Western and Iranian negotiators began another round of nuclear talks. The six powers – the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany – met Iranian officials with the aim of settling a decade-long tussle over Tehran's nuclear program.

The murder of the British businessman, Neil Heywood, is still seen as stemming from a financial dispute, but the intelligence links add an enticing subplot to his death.

The Chinese shake off their poor qualifying effort to repeat as champions. Japan, which originally finished fourth, wins an appeal and claims silver. Britain is third to win its first medal since 1912.

Even their falls came at the right time. The U.S. men's gymnastics team was in first place overall in team qualifying after the two of the three subdivisions contested Saturday, ahead of the favorites from Japan, the defending gold medalists from China and the hometown squad from Britain.

The British men sure know how to kick off a party. The host country, which was only good enough to send two gymnasts to Beijing four years ago, upset Olympic champion China and took the early lead in qualifying Saturday at the London Olympics. A spectacular pommel horse by Louis Smith capped the day for the British, who finished almost 2.5 points ahead of China with at a total of 272.420.

The British businessman whose murder has sparked political upheaval in China was poisoned after he threatened to expose a plan by a Chinese leader's wife to move money abroad, two sources with knowledge of the police investigation said.

A book chronicling a Chinese tragedy under Mao has won Britain's richest nonfiction book award, the Samuel Johnson Prize. Frank Dikotter's "Mao's Great Famine" won the 20,000 pound ($32,000) award at a ceremony in London on Wednesday.

The United States has not seen a balanced budget since 2001. Although private banks in the U.S. hold the majority of the country’s debt, over 52% according to MSNBC, the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Board estimate that foreign governments hold 4.4 trillion of the country’s $14 trillion debt in Treasury securities.

The United States, Russia, Britain, France and China on Wednesday voiced support for making the Middle East a nuclear-arms-free zone, which would mean Israel would have to scrap any atomic bombs it has.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was appalled at China's execution of a British citizen caught smuggling heroin on Tuesday, prompting China to defend its judicial integrity and denounce interference.