Hurry Cain

U.S. military veterans from Iraq staged a protest march against the war on the first day of the Republican National Convention in St.Paul.

Night one at the Republican National Convention got off to a slow start. The World's Jason Margolis and Matthew Bell talk to the foreign press about what they're - not - sending back home.

Patrick Chappatte, International Herald Tribune

Pervez Kambaksh

There's nothing particulary shocking about downloading an article from the internet on the role of women in Islam. But when Afghan journalism student Pervez Kambaksh did just that, authorities charged him with blasphemy. For the past seven months he's been in jail. There is growing pressure from the international community on Afghan president Hamid Karzai, to have him pardoned. But there's also pressure from conservative mullahs to have him hanged. The BBC's Alastair Leithead has more.

Iraq's "Awakening Councils" -- how former Iraqi insurgents are helping to improve security in Baghdad; Italians open up their homes...and dinner tables...to tourists looking for true Italian home cooking; and a French-Algerian singer's multilingual debut album.

One-time Sunni insurgents in Iraq have helped stabilize the country through so-called "Awakening Councils." But as The World's Katy Clark reports, their role in the future could depend on how the Sunnis get along with Iraq's Shiite-dominated government.

New York Times military correspondent Michael Gordon talks with anchor Lisa Mullins about the importance of the military surge in Iraq and other factors affecting security in the country.

Thailand's capital, Bangkok, is under emergency rule after political unrest in the city. Simon Montlake has the story from Bangkok.

In Italy, an association called Home Food is inviting tourists to pull up a chair at a local family's home and enjoy true Italian cuisine. Nancy Greenleese went to one such dinner in Rome.
photo: Tourists from the U.S. dined at the Rome home of Nella Panzarasa (fifth from the left, in the purple) and her husband Luigi Simonetta (far right). Nella volunteers to prepare authentic Roman meals for tourists through the organization Home Food.