World briefs: Iran's leader says nation is standing tall

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TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's supreme leader declared Tuesday that the nation's enemies had failed 'to bring the Islamic Republic to its knees,' as advocates and critics of a nuclear deal hastened to put their spin on the latest extension of negotiations with world powers.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, speaking a day after negotiators in Vienna agreed on a seven-month extension of the nuclear talks, boasted that Iran was standing tall against a bullying West.

The supreme leader did not explicitly endorse the extension, maintaining a characteristic aloofness, but it was not necessary for him to do so. Iran's negotiating team would not have agreed to further talks without approval from Ayatollah Khamenei, who has the final say on matters of state policy.

Afghan army review

KABUL, Afghanistan - President Ashraf Ghani has ordered a top-to-bottom review of the operations of Afghanistan's defense forces, including discussing the resumption of controversial night raids banned by his predecessor.

The move appears aimed at revamping the military for the fight against the Taliban amid new indications that U.S. and international forces will play a greater role than initially envisaged after the 13-year U.S.-led combat mission formally ends next month.

Hong Kong clashes persist

HONG KONG - Police arrested at least 86 pro-democracy protesters here on Tuesday, after an attempt to clear occupied streets descended into scuffles, confrontation and chaos in the shopping area of Mong Kok.

Mong Kok, a working-class neighborhood, has been home to a more unruly crowd of protesters than at the main occupation site in the Admiralty district, but demonstrators have also faced more anger and threats there from local residents. As the barricades were dismantled, a small crowd of onlookers applauded.

Intel agencies faulted

LONDON - The two men who killed a British soldier last year had figured in seven investigations by British intelligence agencies, and one of the men had threatened to kill a soldier in an online exchange five months before the attack, lawmakers said in a report issued Tuesday.

A parliamentary committee investigating the brutal killing of the soldier, Lee Rigby, in May 2013 pointed to a series of mistakes by the spy agencies that preceded his death, but also blamed an American technology company for failing to report the online threats, which emerged only after the murder.

Warship sale postponed

PARIS - France will postpone handing over a sophisticated French-built warship to the Russian navy 'until further notice,' President Francois Hollande said Tuesday.

The deal became a source of growing concern this year, especially in Germany and the United States, after Russia seized and annexed the Crimean Peninsula in March and supported the pro-Russian separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine.

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