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Afghan challengers target Karzai

In less than three weeks, Afghan voters — still reeling from one of the most violent months since the war on terror started — head to the polls for what some call the country’s first-ever truly contested election. Two candidates, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah and former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani, have emerged as the top contenders among the dozens hoping to unseat President Hamid Karzai, who has led the country since shortly after the 2001 fall of the Taliban and is seeking re-election.

Moussavi, Khatami blast Iran trials

Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi and reformist former President Mohammad Khatami on Sunday blasted the trials of people arrested in post-election demonstrations. Those on trial had been tortured into confessions, Moussavi said in a statement posted on his Ghalam News Web site. “They have been stepped on so severely that they would have confessed to anything else, had they been instructed to do so,” Moussavi said.

Media Freak-outs: Every Week Is Shark Week

Tracy Jordan on 30 Rock once sagely declared, “Live every week like it’s Shark Week!” But what does that mean? You could say it means to seize the day, to live as if at any moment, a hammerhead might chomp through your torso.

Alleged rebel diary ties Ecuador president to FARC guerrillas

A diary reported to have come from a top Colombian guerrilla leader killed last year says key officials in Ecuador accepted money from the rebels and had connections with Mexican drug gangs.

The Henry Louis Gates Jr. Arrest: When Race Matters

One of the most telling, and overlooked, aspects of the brouhaha over the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the particular cast of Gates’ defenders. There was Deval Patrick, the fresh-faced black governor of Massachusetts, who called the arrest “every black man’s nightmare.” There was Vernon Jordan, noting that the event “tells us that the election of Barack Obama did not automatically erase racism.” There was former Congressman Harold Ford, moderate to a fault, passionately insisting that once Sergeant James Crowley realized Gates had not broken into his own home, the officer should have said, “I’m sorry you’re upset, sir

Obama, prof, cop to sit down over brews

President Obama will sit down for a beer at the White House Thursday night with a top African-American professor and the policeman who arrested him earlier this month. The arrest, in response to reports of a possible break-in at the home of Harvard academic Henry Louis Gates Jr., sparked a national debate about race, class and police attitudes towards minorities. Obama himself quickly got involved, saying at a news conference that police in Cambridge, Massachusetts, acted “stupidly.” His comment itself drew criticism and later he softened his stance, saying, “I could’ve calibrated those words differently.” But Obama’s spokesman said the sight of Gates and Sgt.

Obama Health-Care Interview: On His Push for Reform

TIME senior writer Karen Tumulty sat down with President Barack Obama on Tuesday afternoon to talk about his work both in public and behind the scenes to push a health-care-reform measure through Congress. Here’s an excerpt of the full transcript, which will be published on TIME.com on July 30.

Joe Klein: How Special Interests Could Block Reform

“Sometimes I get a little frustrated,” Barack Obama admitted to AARP in late July, “because this is one of those situations where it’s so obvious that the system we have isn’t working well for too many people, and that we could just be doing better.” He was talking about health care, of course.

Obama’s weapon: A dose of homecoming king charm

As President Obama pushes forward with his agenda, he may find that a homecoming king’s likeability is just as integral as the power and authority inherent to the Oval Office. “I just don’t think you can be effective without being liked,” said Bruce Newman, a professor of marketing at DePaul University and editor of the Journal of Political Marketing. Newman describes Obama’s leadership as a “two-pronged support system of both being popular but yet having the respect.” “I don’t think you can be effective without that first step of making that emotional connection with the voter, but to continue to be effective, it’s not enough,” he said

Iran: Memorials planned to mark Neda’s death

In death Neda Agha-Soltan became the face of Iran’s post-election demonstrations. On Thursday, the religiously significant 40th day after her fatal shooting, mourning ceremonies were planned in Tehran to remember her. For Iranians, a predominantly Shiite Muslim population, the 40th day marks the last official day of mourning.