Dosens dead in an attack of Shiite mosque in Kabul

A suicide attack here that left dozens of Shiite worshipers dead was apparently conducted by a militant group with a history of ties to Pakistan’s main intelligence service, a connection that threatened to escalate tensions in Afghanistan just as the United States plans its exit.

The bombing and a second attack on Shiites in northern Afghanistan killed at least 60 people, including a U.S. citizen, making Tuesday one of the deadliest days for civilians in the decade-long war. The strikes were highly unusual because they targeted members of Afghanistan’s Shiite minority, which was persecuted during the Taliban’s reign but which has not been a focus of insurgent bombings since the Taliban fell in 2001.

The Taliban denied any role in Tuesday’s attacks. But a spokesman for the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-i-Jhangvi called a station operated by Radio Free Europe to assert responsibility. If the claim is true, it would mark the first time that the group, which has ties to al-Qaeda, has carried out a major attack in Afghanistan.

Suddenly Moscow admits the spy suspects are Russian

After U.S. authorities on June 28 announced they had unmasked an intricate network of alleged Russian spies, most of whom were operating under false identities, Moscow conspicuously distanced itself from the suspects.

Surprisingly, in a curt statement released June 29, the Russian Foreign Ministry admitted that the 11 suspected spies were in fact "Russian citizens who ended up on U.S. territory at different times." The ministry added "the suspects did not commit any acts aimed against the interests of the United States. We assume that they will be treated normally in their detention facilities, and that U.S. authorities will guarantee them access to Russian consular officials and lawyers."

The above statement gave no further details about the suspects, but it was enough to blow any cover the suspects had hoped to maintain. The family of one of the accused, Spanish-language journalist Vicky Pelaez, has insisted in media interviews that her only connection to Russia is her love of Tchaikovsky. But asked by TIME whether all 11 of the alleged operatives were Russian citizens, a duty officer at the ministry's press office replied, "All of them."

More about Russian spies' top priorities

Residents of this New Jersey home were among the 10 arrested on Sunday [AFP]. Each of the 10 suspects arrested on Sunday was charged with conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison on conviction. Also charged was an 11th defendant, who allegedly delivered money to the defendants, though he is at large.

The arrests come in a special time period of "resetting" US-Russia relations. Thus, Barack Obama, the US president, and his Russian counterpart Dmitri Medvedev met just last week at the White House after Medvedev visited California's Silicon Valley, and both leaders attended the G8 and G20 meetings over the weekend in Canada.

FBI agents reported in court papers that the defendants communicated with alleged Russian agents using mobile wireless transmissions between laptops computers while they were close to each other.

The court papers reveals many examples of communications intercepted in the FBI probe that spelled out what they were allegedly trying to do.

Among the top priorities for the defendants were Obama's foreign policy positions, particularly as they related to Russia,

In 2009, for example, two of the accused, Richard and Cynthia Murphy, were asked by Moscow to provide information about the US negotiating position on the START arms reduction treaty as well as Afghanistan and the approach Washington would take in dealing with Iran's suspect nuclear programme, ahead of Obama's trip to Russia that summer.

Another task they charged was to send background on US officials who would be travelling with Obama or involved in foreign policy, and to get their views and learn their "arguments, provisions, means of persuasion to 'lure' [Russia] into co-operation in US interests", according to the court documents.

The papers also described one defendant's contact with a prominent New York-based financier who was active in politics and another's conversations with an unidentified man who worked "on issues of strategic planning related to nuclear weapon development" at a US government research facility.

Russian spies file

According to court documents unsealed Monday, June 28th, the FBI arrested 11 people last week in a case related to Russian spies. The documents says that the alleged spies were on 'long-term deep-cover assignments.'

The arrested people have been serving for years as deep cover secret agents of Russia's SVR intelligence agency, with the goal of penetrating US government policymaking circles.

A Justice department official said, they were not assigned to collect classified, secret information, but were allegedly tasked to learn about a broad swath of topics including nuclear weapons, US arms control positions, positions on Iran, White House rumors, CIA leadership turnover, the last presidential election, congress and political parties.

The justice department developed a secret investigation maintained over several years. This investigation used extensive surveillance of communications and wiretaps, including putting listening devices into the homes of the accused.

The Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, , said his country is awaiting an explanation from the US over the arrests.

"The subject was not explained to us. I hope they will explain," Russia's Interfax news agency quoted Lavrov as saying on Tuesday.