If Afghanistan had a tourist industry, the postcard-pretty Korengal Valley would be a star attraction. Majestic mountains soar to the heavens. Sunlight spills over terraced fields. Gleaming snow dusts the jagged peaks. But for the United States soldiers stationed there, Korengal is IED Valley, a perilous, exhausting battlefield and the heart of the US war against al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.

The White House on Monday bowed to Senate opposition and gave up its attempt to keep its controversial ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, in his job — the latest sign of President George Bush’s diminishing authority. Bush issued a statement denouncing the senators, including a Republican moderate, who had blocked Bolton’s confirmation process in the chamber’s foreign affairs committee.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, who flaunts his ideological fervour, has been accused of undermining Iran’s Islamic revolution after television footage appeared to show him watching a female song and dance show. The famously austere Ahmadinejad has been criticised by his own allies after attending the lavish opening ceremony of the Asian games in Qatar.

Research in Kenya indicates that the rapid spread of HIV/Aids across Africa is linked to malaria. “We knew the relationship, but not the impact it had on the spread. Now we have a reference point,” says Ayub Manya, an epidemiologist with the Kenyan National Malaria Control Programme.