WORLD BRIEFS

BRITAIN: Cameron grilled at inquiry

He'd already admitted that relations were too tight between politicians and Rupert Murdoch's media empire. But on Thursday, Prime Minister David Cameron sat under oath, on the witness stand, answering questions and listening poker-faced as embarrassing evidence of his own coziness was read in court. The grilling, in which a judge and the investigating lawyer often addressed him as "Mr. Cameron" and not "Prime Minister," was the latest chapter in a judicial inquiry on media ethics that he himself had initiated in the shocking phone-hacking scandal. Cameron spent more than four hours testifying, a highlight of a remarkable week in which three current and former prime ministers gave sworn testimony in a London courtroom.

AFGHANISTAN: 15 nations to work together

Regional nations agreed Thursday to work together to fight terrorism and drug-trafficking and pursue economic development, a formidable agenda in an area fraught with power struggles and rivalries. President Hamid Karzai and the Afghan government played host to 14 other countries. The conference, held under heavy security in Kabul, was a follow-up to the first "Heart of Asia" meeting held in November in Istanbul.

ARGENTINA: Appeal at UN for Falklands

President Cristina Fernandez took her country's claim to the Falkland Islands to the United Nations on Thursday, challenging Britain in an emotional speech to "act more intelligently" and sit down to talk about the future of the tiny archipelago. On the 30th anniversary of Britain's ouster of an Argentine invasion force from the Falklands, Fernandez appeared at the annual meeting of the little-known UN Decolonization Committee. She criticized the British prime minister for marking the day by flying the Falklands flag over 10 Downing St. "I felt shame from far away for them because wars are not to be celebrated or commemorated," she said, pointing to the hundreds of deaths in the 74-day conflict over the islands, which Argentina calls Las Malvinas.