Experts: U.S. must prepare for day North Korea can put a nuclear warhead on a rocket

Scientists and security experts studying North Korea’s nuclear test on Tuesday believe the rogue nation is closing in on being able to place a nuclear weapon atop a missile and loft it at another country. | 02/12/13 19:29:33 By - By Matthew Schofield and Jonathan S. Landay

U.N. condemns North Korea nuclear test, but it’s not clear what happens now

Hours after carrying out a nuclear test in defiance of international warnings not to, North Korea warned Tuesday that it will take new unspecified actions if the United States doesn’t curb its hostility toward the rogue nation. | 02/12/13 18:46:22 By - By Tom Lasseter and Hannah Allam

North Korea tests ‘miniaturized’ nuclear device; may be seeking warhead for ballistic missile

North Korea on Tuesday announced that it had conducted a nuclear test in what amounted to a sharp challenge of the U.N. Security Council, which warned the rogue nation last month of “significant action” if it undertook such a provocation. | 02/12/13 02:20:12 By - By Tom Lasseter and Jonathan S. Landay

By exiting papacy still alive, Pope Benedict follows a precedent not seen for 598 years

Before April 19, 2005, Cardinal Josef Ratzinger talked warmly of retiring. He was looking forward to a leisurely life, with his books, his brother and his beloved gray cat back in ancient Regensburg, Germany, where he owned a house. | 02/11/13 19:30:20 By - By Matthew Schofield

Afghan peace plan in trouble as Pakistani clerics balk at proposed meeting in Kabul

A portion of a peace plan intended to smooth the way for an exit from Afghanistan of U.S.-led military forces already is in trouble, before it has even gotten underway. | 02/11/13 17:46:20 By - By Saeed Shah

Guantanamo is used for mass-migration scenario training by U.S. military

The boat people trying to reach U.S. soil are imaginary and so is the Caribbean nation in crisis. But the Army general who flew in from Texas to take charge is the real deal for hundreds of troops rehearsing to get ready for a humanitarian crisis. | 02/11/13 07:06:18 By - Carol Rosenberg

Change of commanders in Afghanistan starts clock on end of U.S. war there

Inside the heavily secured headquarters of the NATO-led forces here, the man who could be the last commander of America’s longest war will officially take charge Sunday of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. | 02/08/13 16:06:16 By - By Jay Price and Matt Schofield

China sentences man to 13 years, says he incited Tibetan monk to set himself on fire

A Chinese court on Friday sentenced a man to 13 years in prison for inciting an ethnic Tibetan monk to set himself on fire, the latest punishment meted out in a crackdown as Chinese authorities try to stop a string of self-immolation protests that has reached almost 100 incidents. | 02/08/13 14:45:42 By - By Tom Lasseter

Pakistan Supreme Court again considers military’s secret detentions

A year ago, Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered the country’s military to produce seven men who’d been held in a secret prison after the civilian terrorism charges against them had collapsed. It was a dramatic scene, as the men, who hadn’t been seen in years, appeared in court – emaciated, ill, with one carrying a colostomy bag. | 02/07/13 15:14:07 By - By Saeed Shah

Syrian air attacks worry some at camps for displaced people

On Jan. 13, bombs dropped by Syrian aircraft destroyed this town’s open-air market and at least five buildings around it. U.S. officials and Syrian opposition leaders say the bombings were part of a Syrian government tactic to target people who’ve fled because of violence in their home cities. | 02/07/13 15:08:17 By - By Roy Gutman

Aid doesn’t reach camp for displaced Syrians just outside Turkey

The Atma camp jars the senses of any visitor. Syrian jets routinely fly over it or nearby villages, scaring everyone inside. The Atma clinic is in chaos: unheated, unlighted and with threadbare supplies. But the most surprising thing here is the near-complete absence of the international community. | 02/07/13 17:57:54 By - By Roy Gutman

Islamist retreat in Mali was orderly, witnesses say, suggesting force will return to fight again

One day in early January from her home in the middle of the Sahara Desert, Rakia Wallet al Hamdou watched as a hoard of Islamist rebels pulled out of the town of Kidal on what would turn out to be a surprise offensive into central Mali. When they returned in a trail of dust more than two weeks later, this time in retreat, their numbers had swelled. Then, they disappeared again. | 02/07/13 14:58:51 By - By Alan Boswell

Obama agrees to let Congress see secret legal memo on drone program

President Barack Obama on Wednesday ordered the Justice Department to share with Congress a classified memo that explains the legal rationale that justifies the targeted killing of Americans suspected of being members of al Qaida. | 02/06/13 21:12:34 By - By Mark Seibel

Leaked U.S. justification for drone killings assailed as rewriting definition of ‘imminent threat’

Civil and human rights advocates Tuesday denounced a leaked Obama administration “white paper” that sets out the legal justification for killing U.S. citizens suspected of being members of al Qaida, an issue certain to arise during the confirmation hearing Thursday of White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan to be CIA director. | 02/05/13 19:45:15 By - By Jonathan S. Landay

U.S., Israel pressure EU over Hezbollah after Bulgaria says group behind bus attack

Israel and the United States on Tuesday urged the European Union to declare the Lebanese group Hezbollah a terrorist organization after the Bulgarian government announced that Hezbollah militants were behind the bombing of a tour bus last July that killed five Israeli tourists in that country. | 02/05/13 18:17:48 By - By Sheera Frenkel and Roy Gutman

Somali government assailed after woman who accused security forces of rape is sentenced to prison

Only weeks after a triumphant presidential visit to Washington, the first U.S.-recognized Somali government since 1991 became the target of international criticism Tuesday after the conviction of an alleged rape victim and a journalist who interviewed her in a case human rights groups are calling a miscarriage of justice. | 02/05/13 20:16:29 By - By Hannah Allam

Doubts linger that natural gas caused fatal Mexico blast that killed 37

Mexican officials’ assertion that a buildup of natural gas – and not a bomb – caused last week’s devastating explosion at the Mexico City headquarters of the state oil company raised as many questions as answers on Tuesday, with at least one energy analyst voicing open skepticism of the explanation. | 02/05/13 16:54:07 By - By Tim Johnson

Few expect results from Syrian opposition’s offer to negotiate indirectly with Assad

Despite offers by the leader of an umbrella group for Syria’s opposition to negotiate with the Syrian government, such talks are unlikely in the short term for a number of reasons, including two of the opposition’s key demands. | 02/05/13 15:02:34 By - By David Enders

Gen. Carter Ham: Members of al Qaida group among Benghazi attackers

The attackers who killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi, Libya, represented a variety of Islamist groups and were motivated by a myriad of factors, the top Libyan official investigating the case has told McClatchy. They almost certainly included members of al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, which the French now are confronting in northern Mali, said Army Gen. Carter Ham, the head of the U.S. military’s Africa Command. | 02/04/13 18:16:52 By - By Nancy A. Youssef

Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani girl shot for wanting to go to school, vows to battle on

The Pakistani schoolgirl whom al Qaida-linked militants shot last year for campaigning for girls education, said Monday that she was prepared to risk her life again for the cause. | 02/04/13 16:39:42 By - By Saeed Shah

Afghan charity sees rejuvenated Scouting program (it’s coed) as way to instill values

PARSA, the group that got the clothes collected by Maryland Boy Scout John Ferry to the cave dwellers of Bamiyan, has worked to revive Scouting in Afghanistan since 2009. | 02/04/13 16:01:04 By - By Jay Price

Afghan girl’s ambition is to teach English

In the cave-dweller’s community called Patokhlama, on a cliff face a few hundred yards east of the niche that once held the smaller of the two Bamiyan Buddhas, is a tiny school built partly into a cave, with a small dynamo of a teacher. | 02/04/13 15:59:58 By - By Jay Price

U.S. soldier and an Eagle Scout team up to help hundreds in Afghanistan caves

All Army Maj. Kenton Barber wanted was to put shoes and maybe a coat on a couple of the barefoot street kids he’d seen standing outside NATO’s downtown Kabul base last winter in the snow. Instead, he and a Boy Scout in Maryland put together an international airlift that brought much-needed winter clothes to hundreds of cave dwellers in western Afghanistan. | 02/04/13 15:58:19 By - By Jay Price

Mali’s neighbors take steps to keep al Qaida militants from escaping

The loose coalition of Islamist fighters that held northern Mali for most of last year now have fled before a French-led assault on their strongholds. Most have simply disappeared, without offering any resistance. That’s disconcerting news for Mali’s desert neighbors, which are seeking ways to make sure the Islamists don’t a find a new haven within their borders. | 02/01/13 19:09:41 By - By Alan Boswell

Syrian government offensive forces thousands to find shelter in caves, cars

Under bombardment from combat aircraft, tanks and rocket launchers, at least 100,000 people have fled the towns and villages north of Hama in central Syria in the past 10 days, rebels say. But shelter has run out in this part of northern Syria, and many have been forced to live in the open or even in nearby caves. | 02/01/13 18:32:17 By - By Roy Gutman

January death toll in Syria rises as talks remain stalled

Syrian human rights activists recorded a slight increase in deaths in January compared with December, but still fewer than what so far has been the peak of the violence in the country last summer. | 02/01/13 18:17:12 By - By David Enders

U.S. Embassy bombing in Turkey renews talk of funds for diplomatic security

The U.S. embassy that was targeted Friday by a suicide bomber in the Turkish capital of Ankara dates back to the 1950s and was recommended for replacement, though it had undergone security upgrades that prevented mass casualties in the blast, the State Department said. | 02/01/13 17:53:26 By - By Hannah Allam

Mystery surrounds blast at Mexico oil giant Pemex that killed 33

The mystery intensified Friday over a huge explosion a day earlier at the headquarters of Mexico’s state-owned oil giant, a company vital to the nation’s economic health and at the heart of a fierce debate over energy resources. | 02/01/13 17:21:26 By - By Tim Johnson

Prosecutors allege police role in deadly Egypt soccer riot

Last weekend more than 60 people died in riots triggered when a judge sentenced 21 people to death for their roles in a Feb. 1, 2012, stampede after a soccer game that left 74 dead. On Friday, thousands turned out for protests around the country to mark the anniversary of the tragedy. Few details of that day’s events are known. If people knew what prosecutors think took place, they might be even angrier. | 02/01/13 16:40:35 By - By Nancy A. Youssef and Amina Ismail

Woman living in Egypt fears the worst

Once again, Mary Thornberry, a former Fort Worth woman, is a witness to it all - the instability of the Egyptian government, increasing violence and protests in the streets. And she and others in the middle of the mayhem aren't finding much to smile at these days. "A seething cauldron of rage ... overlays people's beings. It bursts out in violent acts and in routine everyday transactions," she said. "There is no hope of redress for ills and no visible future plan for the future by the government. Recipe for an imminent explosion." | 02/01/13 13:06:49 By - Anna M. Tinsley

Canada begins phasing out penny Feb. 4

Next week Canada will take another step in phasing out its penny. After Monday, Feb. 4, the Royal Canadian Mint will stop distributing Canadian pennies. | 02/01/13 12:12:50 By - Dave Gallagher

U.S. embassy in Ankara, Turkey hit by suicide bomber

An apparent suicide bomber struck the U.S. embassy in the Turkish capital of Ankara today. | 02/01/13 09:20:27 By - Hannah Allam

Blast shakes Mexico state oil firm’s headquarters, kills 14, injures at least 100

An explosion ripped through the high-rise headquarters of Mexico’s state oil company Friday, killing at least 14 people, according to a government minister, and injuring more than 100. | 01/31/13 20:18:21 By - By Tim Johnson

Analysts: Hillary Clinton’s record as top U.S. diplomat falls far short of greatness

When Hillary Clinton joined the Obama administration’s famed “team of rivals,” political observers were abuzz with the possibilities of a secretary of state who was already a powerful global celebrity, a former first lady, and a hardened presidential candidate. Despite the star power and political savvy, however, analysts four years later say they can’t identify an enduring diplomatic approach that would add her to the list of the all-time greatest secretaries of state. | 01/31/13 19:28:42 By - By Hannah Allam

Israelis: Missiles were at Syrian military base when aircraft struck

The Israeli officials’ accounts, if they’re accurate, help explain the Syrian government’s assertion that Israeli jets had targeted a scientific research center in Jamraya and not a military convoy when they flew low over the Israel-Syria border Wednesday in the pre-dawn hours. | 01/31/13 18:24:49 By - By Sheera Frenkel

Zhu Ruifeng, journalist who revealed corruption in Chongqing, worries China won’t press reform

After Chinese state media announced last week that a sex video released by online journalist and activist Zhu Ruifeng had led to the ouster of 10 officials for corruption, Zhu should have been a shining star of the Chinese Communist Party’s anti-corruption campaign. Instead, the slender man wearing a black suit sounded glum. | 01/31/13 15:37:31 By - By Tom Lasseter

With easy part of Mali mission almost over, Chad is poised to take lead

The French capture of the airport at Kidal, the last of the major Malian towns overrun last year by al Qaida-affiliated militants, very likely marks the beginning of the end of France’s aggressive advance against the insurgents. What comes next may prove much more difficult: hunting down an Islamist foe that for the most part is still at large in vast, trackless desert expanses. | 01/30/13 19:11:56 By - By Alan Boswell

Israeli aircraft strike Syrian target near border with Lebanon

Israel intervened militarily in Syria’s complex civil war early Wednesday, launching an air assault that destroyed either a convoy of anti-aircraft missiles that were bound for Lebanon or a scientific research center near Damascus that previously had been the target of rebel groups. | 01/30/13 18:19:40 By - By Sheera Frenkel

Huge Chinese expo center planned for Cancun riles Mexican businesses, environmentalists

It’s a big dream: A massive complex near the resort of Cancun that would be the largest trading center for Chinese products in the Western Hemisphere. | 01/30/13 15:57:58 By - By Tim Johnson

Egypt military chief urges end to violent protests, warns nation threatened

CAIRO Declaring that ongoing street protests could lead to the “collapse of the state,” Egypt’s top military general warned Tuesday that if opponents of President Mohammed Morsi continue to paralyze the country through demonstrations, the military might have to intervene to defend the government. | 01/29/13 19:08:41 By - By Nancy A. Youssef

Islamists fleeing France’s Mali advance said to set fire to Timbuktu’s historic library

France’s Defense Ministry said Monday that French troops had arrived on the outskirts of Mali’s historic Timbuktu, but their rapid advance appeared to have been too late for some of the city’s storied treasures. | 01/28/13 19:59:31 By - By Alan Boswell

Another day of violence leaves Egypt wondering how this will end

Egypt descended into chaos Monday as fresh clashes between protesters and security forces rocked cities around the country, with few people honoring a 9 p.m. curfew that had been ordered in three provinces as demonstrators took to the streets to curse Egypt’s first democratically elected president. | 01/28/13 19:38:44 By - By Nancy A. Youssef

Yemen moves against al Qaida-linked fighters after hostage talks falter

Yemen’s army launched an offensive against al Qaida-linked militants in central Bayda province on Monday after negotiations failed to win the militants’ peaceful surrender and the release of three Western hostages. | 01/28/13 17:13:05 By - By Adam Baron

U.S. effort to undercut Islamist rebels in Syria appears to have failed

A U.S.-supported push to form military councils across Syria to unite the hundreds of groups fighting to topple President Bashar Assad and coordinate the provision of aid to secular rebel groups appears largely to have failed. | 01/28/13 16:43:16 By - By David Enders

Israel: Iran slowing nuclear program, won’t have bomb before 2015

Israeli intelligence officials now estimate that Iran won’t be able to build a nuclear weapon before 2015 or 2016, pushing back by several years previous assessments of Iran’s nuclear ambitions. | 01/28/13 16:31:10 By - By Sheera Frenkel

Iran-donated power plants won’t dent Afghans’ energy needs

The Iranian plants can produce electricity at a cost of nearly $1 per kilowatt hour. The American-built Tarakhil plant is much more efficient, at perhaps 23 cents per kilowatt hour. Still, it’s far too expensive to run except for a little while on the coldest days, when Kabul’s demand peaks, or if something goes wrong with the transmission lines from Uzbekistan, which sells Afghanistan power for 7 cents per kilowatt hour. | 01/28/13 14:43:24 By - By Jay Price and Rezwan Natiq

Father, mother worry as Egypt’s political divisions color a court’s soccer riot verdict

The death sentence handed down to Adel Mohammed’s son on Saturday for his part in a riot last February that killed 74 soccer fans supposedly helped set off the latest round of deadly protests in Port Said, Egypt. But Mohammed believes the violence, which led to at least 38 deaths and 800 injuries over two days, was not about his son. | 01/27/13 16:19:23 By - By Nancy A. Youssef and Amina Ismail

French forces take parts of Gao in Mali as al Qaida-linked Islamists fall back

French troops on Saturday were in control of parts of Gao, northern Mali’s most populous city, in a sign that the offensive against al Qaida-allied Islamist militants was moving far more quickly than had been expected. | 01/26/13 19:19:17 By - By Alan Boswell

Port Said soccer riot verdict sparks deadly clashes in Egypt

A court sentence in the death of 74 fans at a Port Said soccer stadium set off the deadliest round of protests in Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi’s five-month tenure Saturday and a surge violence around the country that showed no signs of subsiding. | 01/26/13 12:11:41 By - Nancy A. Youssef

Mexico steps back from made-for-TV arrests, ‘perp walks’

Mexican authorities on Friday pledged major changes in the way criminal suspects are treated, citing an urgent need to improve a judiciary that’s suffering from rock-bottom conviction rates and wounded by public anger at the lack of a rule of law. | 01/25/13 17:31:57 By - By Tim Johnson

Amid clashes of Egypt’s Brotherhood, opposition – the quiet struggle of those in the middle

To mark the two-year anniversary of an uprising that led to their ascension, members of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood came to the town of Faiyum on Friday with a simple message: The government may not be providing services for you, but the powerful social organization supporting it still can. | 01/25/13 17:56:37 By - By Nancy A. Youssef

Israel’s new political star acclaimed as ‘a man of the people’

Israelis have long valued television celebrity Yair Lapid as the country’s everyman, and this week they made him one of the most powerful political figures in Israel’s next government. | 01/25/13 15:51:27 By - By Sheera Frenkel

U.S. casino operator Gordon Burr persists in Mexico’s chaotic gaming industry

In Mexico’s messy casino industry, survival isn’t easy. The nation’s gaming laws are masterpieces of ambiguity, rivals use dubious legal tactics to undercut foes and chicanery is a practiced art. | 01/25/13 12:16:06 By - By Tim Johnson

In Mali, Diabaly residents helped repel Islamist militants

The French beat back the sudden Islamist advance south into Diabaly with heavy air power, but it turns out they had some help: a spontaneous network of town residents who responded to the capture of their farming community by risking their lives to channel intelligence out of the town. | 01/24/13 18:35:06 By - By Alan Boswell

Top al Qaida leader in Yemen, Saeed al Shihri, reportedly dies

The Yemeni government reported the death Thursday of a top leader of al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, who died as a result of wounds suffered in a November “counter-terrorism operation” in the northern province of Saada. | 01/24/13 18:01:15 By - By Adam Baron

Britain, Germany, Netherlands urge citizens out of Benghazi

Three European countries urged their citizens to leave the restive eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on Thursday after Libyan officials found a threatening message against Europeans outside a foreign-run company, a Libyan congressman said Thursday. | 01/24/13 17:55:09 By - By Nancy Youssef

Poland stumbles as shale gas industry fails to take off

A map of Poland, unevenly colored in shades of yellow, brown, green and purple, like a half-finished jigsaw puzzle, hangs prominently on the walls of the country’s ministries, state agencies and corporations. Official visitors are cordially invited to take a closer look. | 01/24/13 13:22:26 By - By Dimiter Kenarov

North Korea says it will conduct another nuclear test and rocket launches

North Korea pledged Thursday to carry out long-range rocket launches and another nuclear test, a series of moves that would defy United Nations sanctions and further ratchet up tensions in the region. | 01/24/13 16:51:06 By - By Tom Lasseter

Will a new, moderate Benjamin Netanyahu emerge from Israeli election?

Netanyahu will need to secure a majority of 61 seats in the 120-seat Parliament to stay on as prime minister. With Israel’s left- and right-wing parties in a dead split of 60-60 seats, analysts say securing a majority might be harder than he expected. | 01/23/13 17:36:21 By - By Sheera Frenkel

Novice Sudanese journalists of Nuba Reports website tell story of homeland’s troubles

As Sudan’s Nuba Mountains descended back into war in 2011, Yassin Hassen prepared to flee his homeland a second time. But he wound up canceling his plans – and now traverses the war zone with a motorbike and a camera, part of a fledgling news team hoping to prove that in today’s world, even civil wars deep in Africa no longer can be ignored. | 01/23/13 13:58:45 By - By Alan Boswell

Syrian Palestinians fear three-way fight for control of refugee camps

Syria’s Palestinians have been trapped by the conflict in that country, much the way Palestinian refugee populations found themselves trapped between factions in the civil wars in Iraq and Lebanon. | 01/23/13 13:26:38 By - By David Enders

Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu likely to stay in charge, but centrists’ strength surprises

Israelis voted Tuesday in an election that’s widely expected to hand Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a third term, but with a coalition far less stable than one he’s enjoyed in recent years. | 01/22/13 18:55:51 By - By Sheera Frenkel

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto tallies early victories, brings optimism

In power for less than two months, Enrique Pena Nieto has moved vigorously on a reformist agenda, deflected attention from security woes and brought a measure of joy and pomp to Mexico’s presidency. | 01/22/13 14:26:33 By - By Tim Johnson

Obama is still searching for right tone in executing ‘Asia pivot’

China may be the centerpiece of the Obama administration’s second-term foreign policy agenda, with U.S. strategists trying to avoid entanglement in Syria or Mali in order to stay focused on a vision of reasserting the American presence in Asia. But getting sucked back into Middle East and North African conflicts isn’t the only risk to the administration’s so-called “Asia pivot.” | 01/22/13 12:28:53 By - By Hannah Allam

Algeria’s prime minister describes militant attack, defends intervention

Algeria’s prime minister spoke publicly Monday for the first time about militants’ kidnapping of hundreds of foreign and Algerian workers last week, describing an international group of militants, including at least one Canadian who “coordinated” a well-organized attack that killed 37 people.That an international group of militants could travel hundreds miles from Mali, where al Qaida has evolved from a kidnapping group to a terrorist organization, raised new fears about the threat that the rise of Islamic extremism poses to the north African and U.S. interests here. | 01/21/13 17:35:51 By - By Nancy A. Youssef

Islamists recruiting children to bolster their numbers in Mali

Just as he was paid to do, Madou Ndaou stood guard over his bank in Diabaly and watched for days as Islamist rebels moved across the village battling French aircraft before finally disappearing Thursday evening. | 01/21/13 17:08:33 By - By Alan Boswell and Brahima Ouologuem

Netanyahu expected to win re-election in Israel, but shifting politics cloud future

With less then 24 hours before Israelis cast their ballots, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is widely expected to win another four-year term as the head of the government. | 01/21/13 15:17:16 By - By Sheera Frenkel

China works toward ending abusive labor-camp system

China signaled again on Monday that it may put an end to its “re-education through labor,” a system that police here use to cast people, without trial or recourse, into a system of labor camps infamous for abuse. | 01/21/13 13:40:16 By - By Tom Lasseter

California man faces subversion trial in Vietnam

Nguyen Quoc Quan would be among the 28,000 Sacramentans marching to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. this morning if he weren't in a Vietnamese prison for practicing King's mantra for change – nonviolent protest. | 01/21/13 07:00:50 By - Stephen Magagnini

Syrian government has pattern of attacking bakeries, bread lines

After a week without bread, people in the small central Syrian town of Halfaya got word two days before Christmas that a shipment of flour had arrived at the main bakery, prompting several hundred to queue up for the staple of life in the war-ravaged land. | 01/21/13 00:00:00 By - By Roy Gutman and Paul Raymond

Final toll of Algeria gas plant drama: 23 hostages dead, 107 safe, 32 terrorists ‘neutralized’

Algeria’s military launched a bloody, brazen “final assault” Saturday on kidnappers holding scores of foreigners and Algerians at a natural gas complex in the country’s east, bringing to an end four days of mayhem that left 23 hostages and 32 kidnappers dead and renewed fears that Islamist extremism is spreading in North Africa. | 01/19/13 18:28:53 By - By Nancy A. Youssef

‘Vive La France:’ Quick Islamist retreat raises questions about Mali’s army

France did exactly what it promised in its first week of operations in Mali, pounding the rebels from the air in strikes that won the praise of Malians and forced the Islamists to retreat. | 01/19/13 17:28:08 By - By Alan Boswell

Details emerge of carnage at Algerian natural gas complex; at least one American dead

At least one American died and an unknown number of other foreigners remain unaccounted for Friday as details began to emerge of this week’s assault by Islamist militants on a natural gas production complex in eastern Algeria. | 01/18/13 20:34:08 By - By Nancy A. Youssef

Islamists retreat without fight from towns in central Mali as French continue to deploy

Islamist rebels withdrew from their forward positions on both of Mali’s war fronts Friday, an apparent sign that they’ll be shifting tactics after heavy French aerial bombardment pounded their positions even in civilian residential areas. | 01/18/13 20:01:50 By - By Alan Boswell

Is Mali the next Afghanistan?

It sounds as if it could be the plot for a new Indiana Jones adventure. But those who study international terrorism say it would be a mistake for Americans to think of this conflict as anything but deadly serious. The war in Mali is the new front in the war on international terrorism. | 01/18/13 17:43:36 By - By Matthew Schofield

Islamists claim two more villages as French forces mass in central Mali

Islamist militants appeared Thursday to have expanded their control in central Mali, occupying two villages after government troops abandoned them. | 01/17/13 22:44:14 By - By Alan Boswell

Fate of American hostages unknown as Algerians blast Islamists from ground and air

Algerian forces launched a brazen air attack on suspected Islamist militants holding scores of foreign employees of a natural gas complex Thursday, killing kidnappers and hostages alike in what appeared to be a forceful message from Algeria that it would not tolerate jihadist movements operating within its borders. | 01/17/13 20:09:11 By - By Nancy A. Youssef

In Mexico, last-minute casino permits raise questions about Calderon’s legacy

Even as outgoing President Felipe Calderon began the process of turning over his office to his successor with a midnight ceremony in Mexico City’s massive National Palace, his administration was working into the wee hours to hand a jackpot to two of Mexico’s most controversial casino operators. | 01/17/13 17:15:19 By - By Tim Johnson

U.S. quietly trying to suppress dangers of Syria’s chemical arsenal

The Obama administration has quietly arranged for thousands of chemical protective suits and related items to be sent to Jordan and Turkey and is pressing the military forces there to take principal responsibility for safeguarding Syrian chemical-weapons sites if the country’s lethal nerve agents suddenly become vulnerable to theft and misuse, Western and Middle Eastern officials say. | 01/17/13 16:33:48 By - By R. Jeffrey Smith

French forces unseen as Mali town prepares for possible Islamist advance

The new frontline in the war on terror runs alongside a 20-meter-wide canal where a dozen or so Malian government soldiers and a handful of French armored personnel carriers now stand guard against an Islamist force that clearly is not backing down. | 01/16/13 19:18:44 By - By Alan Boswell

Militants retaliate for Mali intervention with kidnapping in Algeria

Apparently in revenge for France’s intervention in neighboring Mali, an Islamist group attacked a foreign-run gas field in southern Algeria on Wednesday morning and reportedly kidnapped an undetermined number of Americans and dozens of other foreign workers. | 01/16/13 18:35:11 By - By Nancy A. Youssef

Human Rights Watch, U.S. reject report that Syria used chemical weapons

Employees of the advocacy group Human Rights Watch expressed skepticism Wednesday over a report that a State Department cable had concluded that the Syrian government used chemical weapons last month against rebel-held neighborhoods in the city of Homs. | 01/16/13 18:00:47 By - By David Enders

Pakistani government says it will hold elections by May 6

Despite calls for months from the political opposition to clarify the timing of the election, there had been no official word. But the arrival in the capital Monday of charismatic preacher Tahir ul Qadri leading 50,000 supporters meant the government needed the opposition to stand with it against what Islamabad sees as an attempt to end Pakistan’s latest experiment with democracy. | 01/16/13 17:44:17 By - By Saeed Shah

Egyptian democracy workers still on trial for helping U.S. groups

In a court that usually is hosting drug dealers and murderers, Rawda Ali is the unwitting defender of democracy promotion, charged with helping Western nonprofit organizations operate illegally in Egypt. While her Western colleagues fled months ago, she and 14 Egyptians may face years in jail for their efforts to promote democratic movements among nascent political parties. | 01/16/13 17:09:47 By - By Nancy A. Youssef and Amina Ismail

Smoke hasn’t cleared yet on facts surrounding China bombing

Questions have continued to linger this week over one of the largest reported bombings to hit China in recent years, a blast Friday that killed 11 people and wounded more than 30 and was apparently followed by an attempted coverup by local powerbrokers. | 01/16/13 17:06:09 By - By Tom Lasseter

How France became the lead nation for turning back al Qaida in Mali

When France opened the newest front in the war on terror last week with the swoosh of its aircraft over the desert in central Mali, the U.S. found itself in an unfamiliar position: on the sidelines. | 01/16/13 16:23:55 By - By Alan Boswell

What happens to Venezuelan oil when Chavez is gone?

The end of Hugo Chavez could mean big changes for the struggling state-owned Venezuelan oil industry, which drives its nation’s economy, provides the money for Chavez’s export of socialism, and has helped prop up Cuba through subsidies of hugely discounted oil. | 01/16/13 15:03:14 By - By Sean Cockerham

French say Islamists in Mali remain 'agile, motivated,' still control key towns

France’s top defense official said Tuesday that his country is continuing to build up its forces inside the West African nation of Mali and that the Malian military so far had been unable to rout Islamist rebels from the strategic city of Konna, which al Qaida-linked insurgents seized last week, or from the village of Diabaly, which fell to the rebels on Monday. | 01/15/13 20:05:30 By - By Frederic Castel

Rep. Duncan Hunter may seek probe into delay on Medal of Honor for William Swenson

A California congressman said Tuesday that he was considering asking the Pentagon inspector general to investigate why President Barack Obama hasn’t approved the nation’s highest military award for gallantry for a former Army captain whose nomination has been stalled at the White House since last summer. | 01/15/13 19:08:34 By - By Jonathan S. Landay

Pakistan on edge as protesters flood streets, court orders prime minister’s arrest

Pakistan plunged into a political crisis Tuesday after the country’s top court ordered the arrest of the prime minister just as a protest of unprecedented size hit Islamabad, demanding the dismissal of the government. | 01/15/13 18:44:18 By - By Saeed Shah

Seeking safety from rape, Syrian girls reportedly are marrying earlier than before war

Standing outside the refugee tent that has become her home, Qut al Qukub al Subayhi looked like a happy bride, posing with her new husband. She laughed when asked where the young couple had spent their honeymoon. “Here,” she said, pointing to the tent. | 01/15/13 15:14:21 By - By David Enders

Islamists seize a village in Mali as French forces continue to press attack

Islamist insurgents seized control of a village about 215 miles north of Bamako, the capital, on Monday, but the seeming setback in a 4-day-old French offensive to halt the advance of al Qaida-linked rebels was seen as unlikely to slow plans for an expanded campaign to expel the rebels from Mali’s north. | 01/14/13 18:42:02 By - By Alan Boswell

Lebanon’s Hezbollah steps in to help Syrians fleeing violence at home

Despite its unflinching support for the Syrian government during the last two years, the militant Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah has been quietly aiding Syrians living in Lebanon – including those who don’t support its political positions. | 01/14/13 15:43:17 By - By David Enders

For Syrians escaping war, a muddy Lebanese potato field will have to do for refuge

The winter rain was pouring down one day this week and it was bitterly cold in the muddy field, but that didn’t stop work for the man who called himself Abu Jassim. | 01/11/13 17:46:33 By - By David Enders

France opens new front in terror war, sending troops to Mali to battle al Qaida-linked extremists

Hundreds of French troops poured into central Mali on Friday in a bid to halt the advance of Islamist militants who last spring captured the country’s north and appeared this week poised to seize the remainder of the West African nation. | 01/11/13 19:56:02 By - By Alan Boswell and Hannah Allam

Al Qaida-linked Nusra rebels about to overrun Syrian air base

A Syrian rebel group that the United States has labeled an affiliate of al Qaida in Iraq appeared Thursday to be on the verge of overrunning a government air base that’s used to launch helicopter strikes against rebel-held areas in Syria’s north. | 01/10/13 18:43:40 By - By David Enders

Iran’s foreign minister works to woo Egypt in Cairo visit

Iran’s foreign minister on Thursday met with top Egyptian officials during a visit to the Egyptian capital that raises questions about how Egypt, the United States’ biggest Arab ally, might recalibrate its formerly standoffish relationship with Iran, America’s biggest regional foe. | 01/10/13 16:21:58 By - By Nancy A. Youssef

Naftali Bennett won’t beat Benjamin Netanyahu in Israeli election, but he’s cut the margin

Analysts say Bennett has emerged as a surprising political force. His party, which a few years ago was struggling to scrape into parliament with two or three seats, now looks poised to win 14 to 17, making it one of the top three factions. Seven to 10 of those seats may come at Netanyahu’s expense. | 01/10/13 16:01:42 By - By Sheera Frenkel

Prisoner swap by Syrian government, rebels frees 48 Iranians

Rebels fighting to topple the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad on Wednesday freed 48 Iranian hostages whom they’d been holding for five months in return for the government’s release of more than 2,000 mostly Syrian prisoners. It was the largest prisoner exchange to date of the country’s civil war. | 01/09/13 16:03:57 By - By David Enders

Haitians still struggling three years after earthquake

The narrow corridor home deep inside the mountain was supposed to be a new beginning, a place where Alexandra Simin could have a fresh shot at life after nearly two years of sleeping on a dirt floor in a fetid tent city. | 01/09/13 07:00:17 By - Jacqueline Charles

U.S. could refuse to leave any troops in Afghanistan

The White House said for the first time Tuesday that it’s possible that no U.S. troops will be left in Afghanistan after 2014. The statement appeared to be a bid to pressure Afghan President Hamid Karzai to accept American terms for keeping U.S. forces in his country to train Afghan security forces and prevent a return of al Qaida. | 01/08/13 18:39:29 By - By Lesley Clark and Jonathan S. Landay

Tunisia frees lone suspect in Benghazi attacks, another sign investigation is in trouble

Tunisian authorities on Tuesday released the only man held so far in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks in Benghazi that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, according to the suspect’s lawyer, reaffirming fears that the Libyan-led investigation into the deaths is foundering. | 01/08/13 18:08:13 By - By Nancy A. Youssef

30 years after war, Britain battles Argentina over cruise ships at Falklands

In remote waters of the South Atlantic, Kevin Kilmartin counts on big cruise ships to deliver tourists to the Falkland Islands, hoping to lure them to his 35,000-acre sheep and cattle ranch and take them on a safari adventure to his very own wilderness beach, which is inhabited by thousands of Gentoo penguins. | 01/08/13 11:12:36 By - By Rob Hotakainen

Analysts: New policies not likely from Obama’s 2nd-term national security team

The three men President Barack Obama has nominated to foreign and national security policy posts in his second term share a demonstrated independent streak – each has challenged his own institution or party in wartime – but analysts say that doesn’t necessarily portend any big changes to U.S. diplomacy or defense strategy. | 01/07/13 22:20:24 By - By Hannah Allam and Jonathan S. Landay

Civil war still rages in Nuba Mountains, thwarting Sudan, South Sudan peace

Four months ago, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was widely praised for helping to orchestrate an agreement between Sudan and South Sudan that everyone said would help halt the economic implosion of both countries, then locked in a standoff over what share Sudan should have in oil produced in South Sudan. | 01/07/13 16:32:10 By - By Alan Boswell

Sen. John Kerry reportedly met with Cuban officials over Alan Gross

Sen. John Kerry, nominated as the next secretary of state, held a secret meeting with Cuba’s foreign minister in 2010 in a failed bid to win the release of jailed USAID subcontractor Alan Gross, according to a published report. | 01/07/13 07:06:11 By - Juan O. Tamayo

In Turkish border town, charity fields Syrians’ pleas for help

Syrian towns and villages seeking to survive the extreme deprivations of daily life 22 months into their country’s political crisis are inundating a Turkish charity with requests to send flour, fuel, clothes and blankets across the border into their devastated land. | 01/07/13 00:00:00 By - By Roy Gutman and Paul Raymond

Hugo Chavez mentor says he doubts ailing president will rule Venezuela again

A former mentor to Hugo Chavez who maintains close contacts with officials in Venezuela said Friday that he doesn’t believe the ailing Venezuelan president will ever leave Cuba to govern his homeland again – and may not even leave a Havana hospital. | 01/04/13 18:40:31 By - By Tim Johnson

Key source for Syrian death toll questions accuracy of recent UN-sponsored report

A new United Nations-sponsored report that estimates more than 60,000 people have died in Syria’s political violence has touched off a new dispute that underscores how little is truly known about the toll from a civil war just weeks from beginning its third year. | 01/04/13 17:48:58 By - By David Enders

Hammar, Marine freed from Mexico jail, says inmates threatened to behead him

Only days after U.S. Marine veteran Jon Hammar was thrown into a Mexican prison for carrying an antique shotgun into the country, gangsters in the jail warned him of his likely fate – beheading. | 01/03/13 20:11:30 By - By Tim Johnson

Nusra Front reportedly leading Syrian rebels’ fight for key Damascus area

An Islamist rebel group that the United States has listed as a terrorist organization has taken the lead in fighting in Damascus, according to residents who’ve recently fled the violence there. | 01/03/13 15:59:36 By - By David Enders

U.S. drone strikes in Yemen increase

In the wake of the killing of Osama bin Laden, Yemen – home to al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula – has come close to eclipsing Pakistan as a key focus of American counter-terrorism efforts. | 12/27/12 13:10:24 By - By Adam Baron

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi signs constitution, reaches out to critics – but no sale

Morsi offered to engage in a national dialogue with an increasingly organized opposition movement, but opponents immediately rejected his call for talks, signaling that the nation will remain polarized. | 12/26/12 17:24:01 By - By Nancy A. Youssef

A divided Egypt cast first votes on its constitution

Egyptians endorsed a controversial, Islamist-backed constitution after the first day of voting, but without the support of the capital, according to initial results, raising new doubts that it could bring stability to an increasingly polarized Egypt. | 12/26/12 16:32:54 By - By Nancy A. Youssef and Amina Ismail

Postcard from Myanmar, the world Obama left behind after visit

In many ways, Myanmar is the land time forgot. Tourists arriving in the country for the first time in two generations find it still looks much as it must have in the 1960s, when the military seized control of the government and began its 49-year rule. | 12/24/12 12:03:58 By - By Anita Kumar

Marine veteran Jon Hammar to be released from Mexico jail

Jon Hammar, the Marine veteran from South Florida detained for months in a Mexican border prison for bringing his great-grandfather’s shotgun into the country, is expected to be released Friday in what his mother calls a “Christmas miracle.’’ | 12/21/12 13:43:03 By - By Patricia Mazzei

Caught between al Qaida and Iran, U.S. struggles over Syria conflict

The bloodshed in Syria has continued for so long that extremist forces have taken charge, with U.S. officials saying they now face two familiar enemies in the struggle to find a resolution: al Qaida in Iraq cells and Iranian-backed sectarian militias. | 12/20/12 18:36:37 By - By Hannah Allam

State Department officials take heat on Capitol Hill over Benghazi attack

Democrats asked gingerly, Republicans accusingly, but the main question from congressional hearings Thursday on the deadly Sept. 11 attacks in Benghazi boiled down to: Why did the State Department fail to respond to the well-documented deterioration of security in eastern Libya? | 12/20/12 17:38:50 By - By Hannah Allam

Scholars wrestle with Shariah law in proposed Egypt constitution

Peppered throughout Egypt’s constitution, which is expected to pass in a referendum vote Saturday, is a renewed emphasis on Islamic law, or Shariah, as a guiding principle of the state. But some judges here said they don’t know how to enforce law defined by Shariah, and that injecting it into the courts could complicate an already turbulent period and further polarize the state. | 12/20/12 16:06:12 By - By Amina Ismail

Panel finds that U.S. envoy shares blame for Benghazi security lapses

Perhaps the most uncomfortable aspect of an independent panel’s review of the deadly Sept. 11 attacks on U.S. posts in Benghazi is that part of the blame for security lapses lay with the incident’s most prominent casualty: Ambassador Chris Stevens. | 12/19/12 18:33:50 By - By Hannah Allam

Africa says it’s ready to conduct own missions – with West’s money

When M23 rebels marched on the eastern Congolese city of Goma last month, the United Nations’ largest peacekeeping mission at first struck back like a force that costs $1.4 billion a year, pounding the advancing columns from the air. But as the Congolese army quickly dissolved, so did the U.N. resistance, and days later the rebels rolled into Goma with barely a fight. | 12/19/12 13:32:20 By - By Alan Boswell

Benghazi consulate security was ‘grossly inadequate,’ report finds

Three senior State Department officials in charge of diplomatic security resigned Wednesday after an independent panel found “systematic failures” in leadership that contributed to security lapses in the deadly Sept. 11 attacks on U.S. posts in eastern Libya. | 12/19/12 17:45:54 By - By Hannah Allam

Steinmetz's 'Desert Air' offers a bird’s view of deserts

‘Tis the time of year for coffee table books and, for the adventuresome, there is nothing better than “Desert Air.” World-class photographer George Steinmetz who worked for National Geographic and GEO Magazine has published a number of his finest photographs in a book that is only just big enough to hold their subjects | 12/19/12 08:27:11 By - Tish Wells

Wife of jailed U.S. contractor Alan Gross has renewed hope for his release

The wife of Alan Gross, the U.S. government subcontractor jailed in Havana for the past three years, says she hopes that the reelection of President Barack Obama will open the door to a White House effort to free her husband. | 12/19/12 07:03:49 By - Juan O. Tamayo

Defying West, Israel moves ahead with new settlements

Israeli officials announced this week that they would press on with a surge in new settlement construction, defying criticism from Western governments that the construction would doom fledgling hopes that Israeli and Palestinian leaders might reach a peace deal. | 12/18/12 15:04:06 By - By Sheera Frenkel

New paramilitary force to battle narco gangsters in Mexico

President Enrique Pena Nieto laid out a security strategy Monday that creates a new national force, or gendarmerie, to combat organized crime and restore law to the most distant corners of Mexico. | 12/17/12 18:37:22 By - By Tim Johnson

This is how Mexico confines U.S. Marine veteran in its prison

U.S. Marine veteran Jon Hammar spends most of his day on a bunk bed in a dingy Mexican prison, and at times his ankle is restrained by a handcuff locked to a bed. | 12/17/12 15:11:55 By - By Tim Johnson

Watching Newtown from afar, China wrestles with its own tragedy

Not long after Adam Lanza shot and killed 20 schoolchildren and six adults Friday at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., the news swept through Chinese media and websites. The state Xinhua newswire ran an editorial headlined, “Innocent blood demands no delay for U.S. gun control.” | 12/17/12 13:25:46 By - By Tom Lasseter

Syrians sounding alarm over growing food shortages

With bread scarce in major cities and towns, infant formula in extremely short supply and fuel costs skyrocketing, civilians in war-ravaged Syria face an acute food crisis that might end in starvation for many, according to activists from around the country of 22 million. | 12/14/12 19:02:11 By - By Paul Raymond and Roy Gutman

Syrian rebels say Americans, Britons helped train them in Jordan

Weeks before the Obama administration and other Western nations recognized a new Syrian opposition coalition as “the legitimate representative” of the Syrian people, Syrian rebels were receiving training in the use of light and heavy weapons with the backing of the Jordanian, British and U.S. governments, participants in the training have told McClatchy. | 12/14/12 18:10:45 By - By David Enders

Egypt scrambles to prepares for Saturday vote on new constitution

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi’s decision to rush a referendum on a new constitution already has polarized the country. Now the balloting itself appears likely to heighten those divisions. | 12/13/12 18:28:03 By - By Nancy A. Youssef and Amina Ismail

Fear spurs new drive for talks with Afghan Taliban

For the last decade, the United States and Afghanistan have viewed Pakistan as part of the problem as they worked to subdue the Afghan insurgency. Yet suddenly the three countries are working together for an Afghan peace, with Pakistan handling one of the trickiest aspects of the effort: bringing the Taliban to the talks. | 12/13/12 17:30:57 By - By Saeed Shah

Pakistan, Afghanistan moving ahead on peace plan that cuts U.S. peace role

Afghanistan and Pakistan are moving ahead quickly with a new Afghan government plan that envisions peace with the Taliban by 2015, holding a summit in Turkey and working with the United States and Britain on streamlining the U.N. terrorist blacklisting system so that Afghan insurgents can be given safe passage for direct negotiations with Kabul. | 12/12/12 20:00:35 By - By Saeed Shah and Jonathan S. Landay

Head of new U.S.-backed Syrian coalition endorses al Qaida-linked rebel faction

Right after the United States formalized its backing of a new Syrian opposition group Wednesday, the mutual unease underpinning the partnership surfaced as the group’s leader openly criticized the United States for declaring the rebel movement’s Nusra Front a terrorist group linked to al Qaida in Iraq. | 12/12/12 19:32:52 By - By David Enders and Hannah Allam

Successful North Korean missile launch triggers security concerns

Just shy of eight months after a very public and humiliating failure, the successful long-range missile launch Wednesday by Kim Jong Un’s North Korean ballistic-missile program gave the world a reason to re-evaluate the threat from his rogue nation. | 12/12/12 18:52:48 By - By Matthew Schofield

John McAfee heads to Florida after Guatemala deports him

Guatemala on Wednesday put antivirus pioneer John McAfee aboard an airliner bound for Miami, deporting the former software tycoon to his native United States rather than to Belize, which he fled amid an inquiry into the murder of a fellow American. | 12/12/12 18:42:15 By - By Tim Johnson

North Korea sends object into space with surprise launch of multi-stage rocket

North Korea caught the world by surprise on Wednesday morning with the launch of a long-range rocket that it said had successfully put a satellite in orbit, a move that the West views as part of a military program aimed at one day being able to deliver a nuclear warhead on an intercontinental ballistic missile. | 12/12/12 00:11:21 By - By Tom Lasseter

Lawmakers assail Mexico, Obama administration over jailed U.S. Marine veteran

Florida’s senior U.S. senator Tuesday exhorted Mexico to release an imprisoned Marine Corps veteran of campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan who is being held in a Matamoros prison, declaring that “enough is enough.” | 12/11/12 19:50:14 By - By Tim Johnson

Obama backs new Syria coalition but maybe too late to stop al Qaida advance

In late 2011, U.S. officials say, battle-hardened commanders of al Qaida’s Iraq branch slipped into Syria to rally jihadists around the fight to unseat President Bashar Assad, espousing a militant Islamism that worried pro-democracy activists. | 12/11/12 19:42:10 By - By Hannah Allam

Few expect vote on constitution to calm Egypt’s turmoil

Whether Egypt’s constitutional referendum happens this weekend as scheduled or not, two weeks of political turmoil and divisiveness, and an opposition that’s vowed to continue its protests, have all but extinguished hope that passing a permanent document will bring Egyptians what they say they want most: stability. | 12/11/12 18:37:42 By - By Nancy A. Youssef and Amina Ismail

Nusra Front rebel group fighting in Syria is al Qaida in Iraq, U.S. says

The State Department said Monday that the Syrian rebel movement's Nusra Front is just another name for al Qaida in Iraq, an acknowledgment that the uprising to topple President Bashar Assad is led in part by foreign Islamist extremists who fought U.S. troops for years in the bloody Iraq war. | 12/10/12 19:28:22 By - By Hannah Allam and Jonathan S. Landay

After 6 months, rebels gaining ground at Damascus; Islamists lead fighting

A new rebel offensive around the Syrian capital has demonstrated the insurgents’ strengths after six months of combat in the Damascus region. But from afar it’s hard to gauge how close the rebels are to penetrating the central city or to capturing and holding new ground. | 12/10/12 15:21:12 By - By David Enders

China sacks many officials in Chongqing, but man’s corruption claim unresolved

In the past year, much would seem to have changed in Chongqing, the mega-city that’s been the epicenter of China’s recent round of political intrigue. The city’s Communist Party boss was fired, his wife convicted of murder, his police chief sentenced to jail and a local bureaucrat removed after a sex tape surfaced. Still, for Hu Cheng, whose struggle over local corruption led him to attempt suicide 13 months ago, nothing has changed. | 12/10/12 14:26:48 By - By Tom Lasseter

Division within Egypt’s opposition over upcoming vote could hand Morsi a win

While opponents to a constitutional referendum called by Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi have successfully mobilized protests that have drawn thousands to demonstrations at the presidential palace in the past week, they have yet to agree on how to approach next weekend’s vote, divided over whether to keep pushing for a delay, boycott or urge Egyptians to vote the proposed constitution down. | 12/08/12 19:17:27 By - By Nancy A. Youssef and Amina Ismail

Afghanistan peace plan would increase Pakistan’s role

The Afghan government is pursuing an ambitious new peace initiative in which Pakistan would replace the United States in arranging direct talks between the warring sides and the Taliban would be granted government posts that effectively could cede to them political control of their southern and eastern strongholds. | 12/08/12 17:38:58 By - By Jonathan S. Landay

Experts skeptical Syria is preparing to use its chemical arsenal

With concern over the Syrian regime’s chemical weapons stockpile reaching a fever pitch this week, international experts are cautioning against alarmism, saying there’s no confirmation that the Syrians are mixing weapons components or loading them into delivery systems, as some U.S. news organizations have reported. | 12/08/12 15:37:10 By - By Matt Schofield and Hannah Allam

In Egypt’s battle over Morsi’s powers, no criminal charges and no winners

Adel Amer, 44, said he was one of those who beat protesters at a fierce and ultimately deadly standoff Wednesday in front of Egypt’s presidential palace between supporters and opponents of President Mohammed Morsi. | 12/07/12 17:28:25 By - By Nancy A. Youssef

Morsi’s Mubarak moment? President inflames opponents with speech

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi on Thursday blamed two weeks of political turmoil that have engulfed his nation on “paid elements,” and he refused to make any concessions to his opponents in a late-night televised speech that for some was reminiscent of one of toppled leader Hosni Mubarak’s last public presentations. | 12/06/12 20:09:07 By - By Nancy A. Youssef and Amina Ismail

Visit to Kismayo, Somalia, shows al Shabab militants still roam countryside

On the four-mile stretch of paved road between the Kenyan army’s main base and the southern Somali city of Kismayo, a man leading a donkey cart whispered a short warning in the local Somali language as a fleet of Kenyan troops and allied Somali militiamen rolled past. | 12/06/12 16:12:14 By - By Mohammed Yusuf and Alan Boswell

Khaled Meshaal’s visit to Gaza another sign of Hamas’ rise

When Khaled Meshaal crosses into the Gaza Strip at noon on Friday it will be the Hamas leader’s first trip to the coastal territory. It also will be a symbol of how far the Palestinian Islamist movement, which both Israel and the United States have branded a terrorist organization, has come since its inception in 1987. | 12/06/12 15:41:40 By - By Sheera Frenkel

Latest hell for ex-U.S. Marine: Chained to bed in Mexican jail

The two veterans devised a plan: They’d buy a used motor home, load on the surfboards and drive from the Miami area to Costa Rica to find “someplace to be left alone, someplace far off the grid.” They made it to only the Mexican border. | 12/06/12 14:22:57 By - By Tim Johnson

Clashes over vote on new Egypt constitution leave 5 dead

Supporters and opponents of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi clashed in fierce battles outside the presidential palace Wednesday, pelting each other with rocks, throwing Molotov cocktails and tear gas canisters and chasing one another around the compound in a melee that left five dead and more than 697 people injured. | 12/05/12 18:37:18 By - By Nancy A. Youssef

Long-exiled South Yemen leader Beidh defends his calls for secession

Ali Salem al Beidh was one of the chief architects of the agreement that united the northern Yemen Arab Republic with the southern People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen to create the country that exists today. | 12/05/12 16:44:50 By - By Adam Baron

Even moderate Palestinians agree Hamas is winning leadership battle

The U.N. recognition of Palestine as a nonmember observer state should have been one of the Palestinian Authority government’s greatest achievements. But hours after the historic vote last week, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad publically concluded, “Hamas delivered. . . . Hamas has won.” | 12/05/12 16:20:14 By - By Sheera Frenkel

U.S. might name Syrian rebel Nusra Front a foreign terrorist group

In an apparent bid to isolate Islamist extremists and bolster a new Western-backed Syrian opposition alliance, the United States is moving to declare one of the most effective Syrian rebel groups a foreign terrorist organization because of its alleged ties to al Qaida. | 12/04/12 20:08:35 By - By Jonathan S. Landay and Hannah Allam

Israel vows to pursue settlement plans despite international anger

Unshaken by rising international criticism, Israeli officials confirmed Tuesday that they plan to proceed with two new settlement construction projects, including development in a highly contentious area outside Jerusalem known as E1. | 12/04/12 15:44:59 By - By Sheera Frenkel

Anti-Morsi protesters besiege palaces as Egyptian constitution crisis worsens

Protesters stormed onto the grounds of the Egyptian presidential palace Tuesday in a dramatic escalation of the crisis over President Mohammed Morsi’s decision to give himself absolute judicial power and set a quick referendum on a controversial new constitution. | 12/04/12 19:08:32 By - By Nancy A. Youssef and Amina Ismail

Obama warns Syria about using chemical weapons, threatens ‘consequences’

President Barack Obama warned the embattled leader of war-torn Syria on Monday not to use chemical weapons against rebels fighting to topple his regime, as the United States voiced rising concern that he may be preparing to do so and consulted with regional allies on a range of responses. | 12/03/12 19:50:18 By - By Jonathan S. Landay and Hannah Allam

For one Syrian activist, second thoughts on the armed rebellion

Hasaka is still controlled by the Syrian government, but even from the window of a taxi it’s obvious the people here have not been spared from the country’s civil war. | 12/03/12 15:14:11 By - By David Enders

Colombia's narco-sub 'museum' gives a peek into drug trafficking tactics

Stacked along one edge of the Bahía Málaga naval base is what authorities call “the museum” — a long row of impounded vehicles that chart the evolution of the drug trafficking industry. There are the lumbering fishing boats that used to run marijuana in the 1970s and 1980s, Miami Vice-era “go-fast” boats, and an entire fleet of manned and unmanned semisubmersibles. | 12/03/12 07:06:02 By - Jim Wyss

Al Qaida-linked group Syria rebels once denied now key to anti-Assad victories

When the group Jabhat al Nusra first claimed responsibility for car and suicide bombings in Damascus that killed dozens last January, many of Syria’s revolutionaries claimed that the organization was a creation of the Syrian government, designed to discredit those who opposed the regime of President Bashar Assad and to hide the regime’s own brutal tactics. | 12/02/12 16:32:30 By - By David Enders

Egypt court, citing threats, cancels session on key issue in standoff with Morsi

Egypt’s highest court indefinitely postponed a highly anticipated ruling Sunday, leaving the nation’s upcoming referendum on the new constitution in a state of uncertainty and putting off for now a direct confrontation with President Mohammed Morsi over his claim of judicial immunity. | 12/02/12 16:46:57 By - By Nancy A. Youssef

Egypt’s new constitution short of the specifics of government, long on loopholes

The draft constitution that Egyptians will vote on Dec. 15 is supposed to usher in the kind democratic reform that protesters demanded nearly two years ago in protests that led to the fall of then President Hosni Mubarak. Yet the rushed document is peppered with caveats and does little to clarify what role government should have in a democratically ruled Egypt. | 12/01/12 16:35:20 By - By Nancy A. Youssef

Raucous day in Mexico as Pena Nieto takes over a bruised, bloodied nation

Enrique Pena Nieto assumed the presidency of Mexico Saturday amid high hopes that his muscular, once-autocratic political party, which governed this country for most of the 20th Century, will heal a bruised, bloodied nation and rev the economy. | 12/01/12 15:57:14 By - By Tim Johnson

Morsi declares Dec. 15 vote on Egypt constitution as Muslim Brotherhood rallies show of its strength

Activating its powerful clout and organization, the Muslim Brotherhood turned out vsat crowds across Egypt Saturday in support of President Mohammed Morsi, a show of strength that suggested the challenges facing those who accuse the president of granting himself dictatorial powers one day ahead of a critical court decision. | 12/01/12 16:49:56 By - By Nancy A. Youssef and Amina Ismail

Chris Stevens felt risks at U.S. consulate were worth it, says judge who visited Libya

. Three months before U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens died when suspected Islamist militants stormed the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Paul Anderson, in Libya under the auspices of the American Bar Association to advise on rebuilding the country’s justice system, paid a courtesy call to the U.S. embassy in Tripoli. | 11/30/12 18:34:00 By - By Hannah Allam

Israelis decry Germany’s abstention on U.N. Palestine vote

Israeli officials had long known that they would be on the losing end of the U.N. General Assembly’s vote on whether to grant Palestine official status as a non-member observer state. Palestinian officials months ago had announced that they’d gathered enough votes to win the declaration. | 11/30/12 17:48:49 By - By Sheera Frenkel

In Syrian towns rebels control, demonstrators sometimes target them

Wael Nasrallah has organized more than 100 demonstrations in the past 20 months. On Friday, he led another one in Qalat al Mudiq, a city of about 30,000 in central Syria. | 11/30/12 16:11:29 By - By David Enders

U.N. accepts Palestine as observer state by lopsided margin; U.S., 8 others opposed

Over staunch U.S. objections, the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday overwhelmingly voted to name Palestine a non-member observer state, a symbolic victory for the stateless Palestinians and a political boost for their embattled president, Mahmoud Abbas. | 11/29/12 19:36:45 By - By Hannah Allam and Sheera Frenkel

All eyes on Egypt’s military as Morsi, judges battle for power

There is only one intact Egyptian institution capable of stopping a constitutional crisis that threatens to drive the nation into legal limbo and force its citizens to vote on a rushed constitution, and so far, the Egyptian military is showing no signs of getting involved. | 11/29/12 19:35:49 By - By Nancy A. Youssef

Cuban dissidents say attacks show government’s anxiety

Cuban human rights activist Elizardo Sánchez Santa Cruz says the secret police harassed him for the first time in 20 years, and dissident Guillermo Fariñas says they hit him, in what the two men called yet another sign of the government’s growing nervousness over the opposition. | 11/29/12 19:09:40 By - Juan O. Tamayo

Military action against al Qaida-linked extremists in Mali unlikely for months

Six months after al Qaida-affiliated militants took control of Timbuktu in northern Mali, evidence is mounting that plans for an international effort to prevent the desert region from becoming a new terrorist haven are facing steep challenges and that no military operation against the extremists is likely for a year or more. | 11/29/12 18:38:54 By - By Alan Boswell

Anti-Shiite violence rises in Pakistan as Islam’s sectarian divide moves beyond the Middle East

More members of Pakistan’s Shiite Muslim religious minority were killed by Sunni Muslim extremists this year than in any previous year, a development that could further destabilize this key U.S. ally and draw it into the widening Shiite-Sunni conflict that up to now has been manifest primarily in Middle Eastern countries. | 11/29/12 17:14:14 By - By Saeed Shah

Syrian rebels’ arsenal now includes heavy weapons

Rebels who have laid siege to a Syrian army base near Mayadeen in southeastern Syria have made mortar attacks a regular part of their routine. | 11/29/12 15:46:05 By - By David Enders

As Mexico’s Pena Nieto assumes presidency, stars align for him

When Enrique Pena Nieto assumes Mexico’s presidency this weekend, he’ll return the once-entrenched Institutional Revolutionary Party to power with a strong breeze at its back. | 11/29/12 14:48:15 By - By Tim Johnson

U.S. dilemma at UN – undermining Palestinian statehood may strengthen Hamas

On the eve of a Palestinian bid for U.N. recognition as a nonmember state – a move that’s expected to succeed despite strident U.S. opposition – the Obama administration’s policy conundrum over the Palestinians appears stark. | 11/28/12 19:37:11 By - By Hannah Allam

Family, neighbors of Yemeni killed by U.S. drone wonder why he wasn’t taken alive

The Nov. 7 drone strike that killed alleged al Qaida-linked operative Adnan al Qadhi outside Beit al Ahmar was just one of more than 50 American airstrikes believed to have taken place in Yemen so far this year. | 11/28/12 15:45:43 By - By Adam Baron

Kurds say they’ll stop Islamist rebels from moving along Syria’s border with Turkey

A tense truce between Syrian rebels and a Kurdish militia held Tuesday in the city of Ras al Ayn, fast against the border with Turkey. But neither side hid its disdain for the other, and both continued to hold prisoners in a standoff that suggests rebel hopes to push their control further east faces an all but certain challenge. | 11/27/12 19:07:35 By - By David Enders

Egyptians fill Tahrir Square in largest protest of President Mohammed Morsi

Tens of thousands of protesters poured into Tahrir Square on Tuesday night to contest what they believe is Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi’s illegal declaration that his decisions are exempt from judicial oversight, marking the largest protests ever against the newly elected president. | 11/27/12 19:02:08 By - By Nancy A. Youssef

For many Palestinians, Arafat exhumation recalls better days

When Yasser Arafat was buried in 2004, tens of thousands thronged his funeral amid a charged atmosphere in which many swore revenge for the death of the father of Palestinian nationalism On Tuesday, only a few were on hand as Arafat’s political heirs exhumed his body in a final effort to determine what killed the iconic Palestinian leader. | 11/27/12 18:07:45 By - By Sheera Frenkel

Aid groups warn of food crisis in Syria as winter nears, refugee numbers surge

The top U.S. aid official said Tuesday that Syria faces an immediate humanitarian emergency and that international plans to feed and support millions of destitute civilians have fallen short. | 11/27/12 17:59:53 By - By Roy Gutman

Arms shipment from Libya to Gaza seized as talks continue over details of Israel-Hamas cease-fire

With an end to weapons smuggling to the Gaza Strip one of the key points of contention in the cease-fire agreement that last week ended hostilities between Hamas militants and Israel, Egyptian security forces arrested three people Tuesday after intercepting a large shipment of weapons smuggled into the Sinai Peninsula from Libya. | 11/27/12 17:23:41 By - By Mel Frykberg

Human rights claim likely to dog Mexico’s Felipe Calderon as he leaves presidency

President Felipe Calderon, who leaves office Saturday, is all but certain to find his post-presidency bedeviled by the need to defend his decision six years ago to deploy troops to fight drug cartels, a move that unleashed a frenzy of horrific violence that’s only now beginning to ease. | 11/27/12 15:53:57 By - By Tim Johnson

Egypt’s President Morsi emerges victorious from confrontation with country’s judges

After days of protests, Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi announced Monday that a sweeping decree issued last week that exempted his decisions from challenges in court will remain in effect on issues pertaining to “sovereign matters,” a result that some were calling a compromise but that appeared to be a sweeping victory for the Islamist president. | 11/26/12 19:23:01 By - By Nancy A. Youssef

Israel’s Ehud Barak retires, signaling tougher line on Iran

In a development that could lead to a hardening of Israel’s position on Iran’s nuclear program, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced Monday that he was resigning from political life, a surprise move that removed a moderate voice from the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. | 11/26/12 16:58:24 By - By Sheera Frenkel

It’s a political firefight on Haitian radio

Every Saturday, on the Haitian radio version of CNN’s Crossfire, politicians, pundits, critics and want to-be kingmakers vie for a chance to lob accusations, cross verbal swords and debate Haiti’s future. Bickering politicians drop in unannounced, pro-government operatives fire off text messages defending the administration and everyone tries to avoid the shrapnel from the latest political bombshells. | 11/26/12 13:11:11 By - Jacqueline Charles

D.C. exhibit details history, complexities of the Arabian Peninsula

There’s more to Saudi Arabia than sand, oil and camels. The proof is at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington, D.C., with the “Roads of Arabia” exhibit, on display until Feb. 23, 2013. | 11/26/12 10:53:22 By - Tish Wells

U.N. envoy to Middle East acknowledges 'quiet engagements' with Hamas

The United Nations envoy to the Middle East acknowledged in an interview with McClatchy Sunday that he has maintained quiet contacts with the Islamist group Hamas for “years,” despite the international community’s official policy to isolate the group. | 11/25/12 17:55:57 By - By Sheera Frenkel

As Colombia and FARC rebels edge toward peace, a former U.S. hostage recalls his captors

For more than five years, Marc Gonsalvez and two other Americans were marched through Colombia’s jungles as hostages of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, guerrillas. Now, as FARC and government negotiators meet in Cuba to hammer out a peace deal, Gonsalvez, 40, said he’s hoping for the best, but fears the intentions of his former captors. | 11/24/12 00:20:12 By - Jim Wyss

Turkey, Iraq exchange sharp rhetoric with Syria as backdrop

Turkish and Iraqi leaders exchanged sharp, rhetorical assaults Friday, each warning of growing instability in the other’s country, in the latest sign that tensions stoked by Syria’s civil war are spilling over into the region. | 11/23/12 16:57:12 By - By Roy Gutman

Mexican lawmaker sees fertile terrain for marijuana debate

Bills to legalize marijuana have come before Mexico’s Congress in the past, and sunk almost without debate. But lawmaker Fernando Belaunzaran Mendez thinks this time is different. | 11/23/12 14:08:01 By - By Tim Johnson

Future under new Chinese leadership remains murky

From the outside looking in, so far there’s only speculation about the Communist Party’s intentions since a party congress that ended last week. | 11/23/12 17:19:05 By - By Tom Lasseter

Truman grandson plants seeds of reconciliation

Clifton Truman Daniel, 55, became the first member of the Truman family to travel to Hiroshima and Nagasaki when he visited in August. | 11/23/12 12:51:25 By - Brian Byrnes

Latin American ports ready for Panama Canal expansion

Standing atop a hulking crane at this country’s largest Pacific port, Alejandro Echeverri pointed out scurrying workers below reinforcing pylons, preparing the ground for an extended pier and tending to a dredging boat that has been deepening the harbor. | 11/23/12 06:53:49 By - Jim Wyss, Jacquenline Charles and Mimi Whitefield

Rebels flying black Islamist flag seize artillery base in Syria’s Deir al Zour province

After a siege that lasted nearly a month, Syrian government soldiers abandoned an artillery base in the town of Mayadin Thursday morning, handing anti-government rebels in southeastern Deir al Zour province a key victory that will allow them to move next to the airport near the provincial capital, one of the last positions the Syrian military controls in the province. | 11/22/12 16:50:58 By - By David Enders

A violent day in Gaza, then silence, then celebration

The cease-fire that went into effect Wednesday between Israel and Hamas did little to erase in immediate terms the physical destruction that had been visited upon this tiny coastal strip of land over the past eight days. | 11/21/12 17:56:07 By - By Mel Frykberg

Many Israelis denounce cease-fire accord, say job is unfinished

Few Palestinians or Israelis were willing to put much trust in the cease-fire deal their leaders reached on Wednesday, saying they remembered all too well the failed cease-fires of years past. | 11/21/12 15:45:37 By - By Sheera Frenkel

With Syria’s eastern oilfields in rebel hands, a brisk business in pirated crude grows

Syrian rebels have captured two of the three major oilfields in the country’s southeastern Deir al Zour province and are extracting oil that they say is helping to support their rebellion. | 11/21/12 15:10:04 By - By David Enders

Israel, Hamas declare cease-fire, promise new talks on Gaza issues within 24 hours

With last-minute prodding from the United States, Israel and the militant group Hamas agreed Wednesday to a cease-fire, ending eight days of rocket fire and naval and sea bombardment and bringing to a successful end more than a week of halting Egyptian-led talks as the conflict in Gaza teetered on the brink of all-out war. | 11/21/12 17:41:53 By - By Nancy A. Youssef and Sheera Frankel

U.S. warns Bahrain’s society ‘could break apart’

The strategic Persian Gulf island of Bahrain, scene of continuing protests since early last year by the majority Shiite Muslims against the Sunni minority monarchy, is on the verge of severe disruption, the State Department warned Tuesday. | 11/20/12 19:34:43 By - By Roy Gutman

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