North Korea, one of the world's most repressive societies, branded the United States a "kingpin" of human rights abuses Tuesday, following revelations of the U.S. government's Internet surveillance program.

A bylined commentary in the government's official Minju Joson newspaper said U.S. National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden had exposed the global nature of the NSA's intrusive monitoring activities.

Communist insurgents wearing military uniforms abducted five soldiers in the southern Philippines, in the latest of a series of violent acts following the collapse of peace talks, authorities said Tuesday.

The New People's Army guerrillas set up a roadblock on the outskirts of Davao City on Monday and seized the five soldiers as they were passing through on motorcycles, said military spokesman Colonel Ramon Zagala.

President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday announced the transfer of nationwide security from NATO to Afghan control, a major milestone as the U.S.-led war effort winds down after 12 years.

Shortly before Karzai's speech at a handover ceremony, the location of which had been kept a secret, a prominent lawmaker escaped a bomb attack in Kabul that killed three civilians, underlining the country's continuing instability.

Torrential rains have washed away hundreds of homes and roads, leaving at least 64 people dead and thousands stranded, after the annual monsoon hit northern India earlier than expected, officials said Tuesday.

The Indian Air Force scrambled a dozen helicopters to reinforce a military-backed rescue mission in the worst-hit state of Uttarakhand, a spokesman said.

U.S. President Barack Obama said that China has understood his "blunt" warnings against cyber-hacking as he credited new leader Xi Jinping with accepting more global responsibility for Beijing.

"We've had very blunt conversations about this. They understand, I think, that this can adversely affect the fundamentals of the U.S.-China relationship," Obama told "The Charlie Rose Show" in an interview broadcast late Monday.

The Pentagon released Monday the names of Guantanamo Bay's 46 "indefinite detainees," terror suspects considered too dangerous to transfer from the prison and who cannot be tried in court.

The 15-page list, unveiling details about the prisoners for the first time, was released to The New York Times and The Miami Herald in response to freedom of information requests.

South Korea's top envoy on North Korea left Tuesday for a meeting in Washington with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, two days after Pyongyang proposed direct, high-level talks with the United States.

After Washington, Cho Tae-Yong will travel on to Beijing -- where he is likely to overlap with a visit by North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator, Kim Kye-Gwan, to the Chinese capital.

U.S. President Barack Obama said in an interview Monday that Iran's election result showed the country's people wanted to back away from confrontation with the outside world but ruled out for the moment lifting economic sanctions on Tehran.

"Well, I think it says that the Iranian people want to move in a different direction," Obama told PBS television's "Charlie Rose" show.

Canada's top diplomat accused newly-elected Iranian president Hassan Rowhani on Monday of being a "puppet" of the Islamic republic's religious leader.

The moderate cleric's victory raised hopes of eased ties with Western nations after years of tensions, but he used his first news conference to rule out a halt to Iran's controversial enrichment of uranium.

The National Security Agency is expected to reveal details Monday about terror plots it says were thwarted by its surveillance, part of an effort to assuage public concern that government is spying on innocent Americans.

In a rare move the NSA said last week it would declassify data on what its director told Congress were dozens of foiled plots, which could help justify its sweeping surveillance operations in the eyes of U.S. skeptics worried about the amount of information being scooped up by intelligence agencies.