U.S. officials raise alarm about new Venezuelan missiles

Venezuela's recent purchase of the most lethal shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles in the Russian arsenal is sharpening U.S. concerns that parts of President Hugo Chávez's massive weapons buildup could wind up in the hands of terrorists or guerrillas in neighboring Colombia. | 05/31/09 22:39:32 By - Juan O. Tamayo

Pakistan plan to attack Taliban haven promises wider war

After forcing the Islamist extremists from the Swat valley, Pakistan plans a fullscale assault on Waziristan, long a sanctuary for Taliban and al Qaida leaders. Western governments believe the offensive, likely to come this summer, will be critical to weakening Islamic extremists in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. But the Taliban is likely to respond by broadening its terrorist attacks throughout Pakistan. | 05/31/09 16:09:00 By - Saeed Shah

Arabs hope Obama will offer a Palestinian peace plan

When President Barack Obama steps to the podium Thursday in Cairo to propose a new American partnership with the Muslim world, Arabs across the region will be waiting to hear what he has to say about Israel — as much as what he has to say about Islam. | 05/31/09 06:00:00 By - Dion Nissenbaum

Addressing Muslim world, Obama will face many audiences

President Barack Obama has a sweeping goal for his speech Thursday in Cairo, Egypt: to begin remaking the dynamic between the United States and Muslims abroad. | 05/31/09 06:00:00 By - Margaret Talev and Warren P. Strobel

Man who tracked Che for CIA awarded $1 billion in lawsuit

Gustav Villoldo accused Fidel Castro and his revolutionary sidekick Che Guevara of causing his father's suicide. On Friday, a judge in Miami agreed, awarding him $1 billion, the largest civil judgment against the Cuban government. After his father's death, Villoldo participated in the Bay of Pigs, joined the U.S. Army and was recruited by the CIA. | 05/29/09 19:12:45 By - Luisa Yanez

Accounts differ over Haitian migrant boat incident

U.S. authorities gave starkly different accounts of what happened on the high seas this week when an overloaded vessel of Haitian migrants trying to reach the U.S. mainland was intercepted by Coast Guard officials. | 05/29/09 06:54:29 By - Robert Samuels and Jacqueline Charles

Obama takes tough and risky stance on Israeli settlements

President Barack Obama Thursday ratcheted up what might be America's toughest bargaining position with Israel in a generation, demanding anew that Israel stop expanding its settlements in the disputed West Bank as a key step toward making peace with its Arab neighbors. | 05/28/09 20:43:05 By - Steven Thomma

Pakistan extremists attack again, threaten wider war

At least four people were killed and 60 were injured when Islamic extremists attacked crowded market places in Peshawar. The militants also threatened all-out war against Pakistan's U.S.-backed government. | 05/28/09 10:50:00 By - Saeed Shah

Cuba Freedom Flights the subject of new documentary

'My Suitcase Full of Hope: The Story of the Cuban Freedom Flights' aims to illuminate the heartache and loss among exiles — the Castro-christened "anti-revolutionaries" — who fled the island to Miami between 1965 to 1973 aboard what came to be known as "the Freedom Flights." | 05/28/09 06:59:25 By - Trenton Daniel

Deadly Pakistan bombing may be payback for military offensive

Suspected Islamic terrorists killed about 30 people and injured more than 250 Wednesday in a gun and vehicle-bomb attack in the eastern city of Lahore that may be the first major reprisal for Pakistan's military offensive against extremists, analysts and officials said. | 05/27/09 19:33:00 By - Saeed Shah

Iraq redux? Obama seeks funds for Pakistan super-embassy

The Obama administration has asked Congress for $736 million to a build a new U.S. embassy and housing complex in Islamabad. The scale of the project rivals the giant U.S. embassy in Iraq, which cost $740 million. The new building is needed to support a "surge" of U.S. civilians, officials said. | 05/27/09 18:55:00 By - Saeed Shah and Warren P. Strobel

New front in Mexico drug war with arrests in president's home state

The detention of nearly 30 officials in Felipe Calderon's home state of Michoacan for alleged ties to drug traffickers was the largest sweep yet of politicians. It affected officials at many levels and from many political parties. | 05/27/09 17:48:47 By - Sara Miller Llana

Using video clips, Israeli DJ creates a million-hit wonder

What started out as an online search for a funky video set Ophir Kutiel off on a musical exploration that's changed the way people look at YouTube, challenged copyright laws and transformed the little-known Tel Aviv musician into a budding Internet celebrity. | 05/27/09 15:18:00 By - Dion Nissenbaum

U.S. calls for OAS to talk with Cuba about membership

The State Department submitted the proposal to the Organization of American States on Tuesday. If accepted, the OAS would "initiate a dialogue" with Cuba about reinstating the island's membership, which was suspended in 1962. A report would be expected in a year. | 05/27/09 14:53:04 By - Frances Robles

Pakistan militants bomb police complex in Lahore; 30 dead

A powerful bomb ripped through a police complex in the city of Lahore on Wednesday, claiming at least 30 lives and injuring some 250, the first major attack since Pakistani forces launched an offensive against the Taliban. | 05/27/09 09:24:18 By - Saeed Shah

Colombia's FARC rebels trying to reorganize

Colombia's FARC is working to reinvent itself after suffering almost seven years of sustained military pressure under President Alvaro Uribe — a period that has seen its top leaders killed, mid-level cadres captured and the rescue of its top hostages. | 05/27/09 06:59:12 By - Sibylla Brodzinksy

Did 'returning' terrorists become extremists in Guantanamo?

One of the men listed in a Pentagon report naming former Guantanamo detainees who'd returned to the battlefield told McClatchy last year that he was a local police chief in Afghanistan when he was arrested and became a radical Islamist only during his detention. | 05/26/09 19:37:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef

Venezuela's economy reels as oil income is cut in half

Prices for home appliances have skyrocketed, drugs are in short supply, and General Motors will stop car production next month as the Venezuelan government seeks to conserve dollars. The global drop in oil prices and the spending habits of President Hugo Chavez are behind the problems. | 05/26/09 16:44:00 By - Tyler Bridges

North Korean nuclear blast is test for Obama and diplomacy

President Barack Obama called the isolated communist dictatorship's latest test 'a matter of grave concern,' but differences at home and abroad about how to deal with North Korea will test the new president's political and diplomatic skills. | 05/25/09 19:00:21 By - Steven Thomma and Jonathan S. Landay

Iraqi trade minister resigns in corruption scandal

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki accepted his embattled trade minister's resignation on Monday, the day before a scheduled no confidence vote in parliament. Falah al Sudany could still face corruption charges. | 05/25/09 00:48:00 By - Jack Dolan and Laith Hammoudi

U.S. soldiers' options limited to protect Afghans from Taliban

Fortress Margha, with its grenade launchers and mortars sticking out from behind sandbags and bulletproof windows on three watchtowers, is a safe redoubt for the American troops stationed there. Within its walls, soldiers play ice hockey and video games that imitate guerrilla warfare. For the Afghans who live in a medieval world of mud homes with interlocking walls in the valley below, however, reality is a reign of terror. | 05/25/09 06:00:00 By - Philip Smucker

Hamas turns to mud to fight Israel's economic blockade

With Israel refusing to allow building materials across the border, the Hamas-led government in Gaza is pushing a new plan to replace thousands of homes destroyed by Israel's winter military offensive: mud-brick buildings. | 05/25/09 16:28:00 By - Dion Nissenbaum

Ecuador tries to fast-track asylum for refugees

The refugee crises spawned by ongoing conflict in neighboring Colombia has left millions displaced, making the nation second only to Sudan in nations with the most internal refugees. As millions fleeing the strife come to Ecuador, the government is working to fast-track the asylum process for refugees. | 05/25/09 07:31:12 By - Caroline Bennett

Former Iraqi insurgent contemplates returning to war

Abu Fatma agreed to put his guns aside as part of a deal with the U.S. military last year but the former Sunni Muslim insurgent, once known as a killer with no mercy, is still a fighter. If the Americans don't start keeping the promises they made to his group and him he'll fight again, he said. | 05/24/09 06:00:00 By - Leila Fadel

Pakistan says decisive battle against the Taliban has begun

In what's likely to be the most dangerous and crucial phase of the campaign to retake the vast Swat area back from armed Islamic extremists, the Pakistani army Saturday entered Mingora, the largest town in the region. | 05/23/09 13:46:53 By - Saeed Shah

Iraq's disgraced trade minister expected to step down

Iraq's trade director, who made history last week as the first government minister ever forced to answer corruption charges before a nationwide TV audience, is expected to resign. | 05/23/09 13:59:00 By - Jack Dolan and Laith Hammoudi

Video shows reason for ouster of two top Cuban officials

An official video that presents the reasons for the ouster of Vice President Carlos Lage and Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque has been shown for the past several weeks to selected groups of Cuba's ruling elite, according to information received by El Nuevo Herald from Havana. | 05/23/09 08:22:38 By - Wilfredo Cancio Isla

Obama administration wants to resume migration talks with Cuba

A month after President Barack Obama lifted travel and gift restrictions for those with relatives in Cuba, his administration Friday asked the Castro government to resume migration talks that President George W. Bush suspended in 2004. | 05/22/09 19:38:05 By - Lesley Clark

On war zone tour, Pakistani army claims that 'collateral damage' is minimal

Accounts from some of the 1.5 million refugees who've fled Swat have painted a picture of destroyed villages and burning countryside under massive Pakistani army bombardment. Two weeks into the offensive, however, the military felt confident enough Friday to take foreign reporters on a guided tour of Swat to refute those claims. | 05/22/09 18:22:00 By - Saeed Shah

Pirates: Yo, ho, ho and a million-dollar McMansion

Rather than investing in their wrecked Somali homeland, pirates are laundering huge sums through property, hotels, shopping arcades and trucking companies in Kenya, according to family members, real estate brokers, money traders and pirates themselves. | 05/22/09 15:01:00 By - Shashank Bengali

Prospects are dismal for returning Iraqi refugees

An estimated 4 million Iraqis have fled their homes, half of them abroad. Several months ago, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki began telling them to return, assuring them that Iraq is safe. Not everyone agrees, however, and some families who've come back said they regretted it. | 05/22/09 00:45:00 By - Corinne Reilly

Venezuelan officials raid business of TV news station owner

Government agents Thursday night raided a car dealership business in Caracas owned by the main owner of Globovision, an all-news television station that President Hugo Chavez has been threatening to close in recent days. | 05/21/09 22:05:56 By - Tyler Bridges

Pakistani army fails to rescue civilian allies in Swat

Short of food and desperate for the military to support them, some 200,000 people remain trapped in northern Swat as the Pakistani army battles to wrest the area farther south back from Taliban extremists, residents said Thursday. | 05/21/09 18:25:00 By - Saeed Shah

Caracas is as dangerous for the dead as it is for the living

Grave-plundering at Caracas cemeteries has reached epidemic proportions. Priests, academics and the victims' families blame black-magic practitioners known as "paleros," who use skulls and other human bones to initiate members into an African-based cult. | 05/21/09 15:36:00 By - Tyler Bridges

In macho culture, gays find acceptance in Mexico City district

Gay activists say that even though laws are improving in relatively more liberal places such as Mexico City — where legislators passed a law two years ago recognizing same-sex marriages — many are still reluctant to acknowledge their sexual orientation publicly. | 05/21/09 00:05:00 By - Mairys Joaquin

American retirees make a life in Mexico, cheaply

An estimated million American expatriates live in Mexico, the largest community of American expatriates anywhere in the world. They come to Mexico for its sunshine and warm weather, its proximity to home and a cost of living that's far lower than in the United States. | 05/21/09 00:05:00 By - David Reinbold

Jews in Mexico find it a place to thrive and serve

Mexico City's 50,000-strong Jewish community is the third largest in Latin America. They're thriving, diverse and multinational, but also close-knit and unusually self-sufficient when it comes to education and social programs. | 05/21/09 00:05:00 By - Emily Sher

Photos are fresh evidence of growing Pakistani nuclear program

Additional evidence has emerged that Pakistan is "greatly expanding" its nuclear weapons program even as Islamic insurgents have been advancing toward the country's heartland from its border with Afghanistan. Commercial satellite photos show construction of new facilities at sites that produce components for nuclear warheads. | 05/20/09 20:14:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay

Guatemalan president accused of orchestrating murder

The scandal surrounding accusations that Guatemala's president orchestrated the murder of a prominent lawyer is intensifying - deepening divisions in a country still recovering from a 36-year civil war. It is also, according to some analysts, handing the country its greatest threat to democracy since that war ended in 1996. | 05/20/09 17:59:00 By - Ezra Fieser and Sara Miller Llana

First Venezuela, now Colombia's leader wants to be president for life

Colombia's conservative President Alvaro Uribe never had much in common with leftist President Hugo Chavez of neighboring Venezuela ... until now. Late Tuesday, Mr. Uribe came one step closer to staying in power for another four years after lawmakers passed a measure calling for a referendum on whether to allow him to run for a third term. | 05/20/09 17:36:00 By - Sibylla Brodzinsky

Aid groups challenge Sri Lanka to grant war zone access

As the Sri Lankan government basks in newfound victory against Tamil Tiger rebels, United Nations and other aid agencies are clamoring for unfettered access to the war zone, something they say is crucial to aid the wounded and to lay the groundwork for rebuilding trust in the divided nation. | 05/20/09 17:28:00 By - Anuj Chopra

Iraqi militiamen frustrated that promised jobs haven't materialized

Al Qaida in Iraq fighters are returning to this dusty desert town and attacking the Sunni Muslim militias that once subdued them, and they may have infiltrated the makeshift police force. | 05/20/09 15:56:00 By - Jack Dolan and Sahar Issa

Car bomb in Baghdad kills at least 34 people

A parked car exploded Wednesday night in the Shula neighborhood of northern Baghdad, killing at least 34 people and wounding at least 72, police said. | 05/20/09 15:33:00 By - Sahar Issa and Jack Dolan

Blend of music, dance, martial arts takes hold in Mexico

The sounds of Africa, Brazil and Arabia echoed through the tiny studio, bringing 25 students together in a circle to sing what sounded like an African-American spiritual. Two fighters jumped into the middle of the circle, their movements so fluid and connected to the music that, at first glance, it looked like a choreographed dance. Yet the movements mimicked the martial arts in the blend of dancing, fighting, music and acrobatics that is capoeira. | 05/20/09 11:21:00 By - Alexandra Petri

New reason for Mexican immigration to U.S.: Drug violence

Mexican immigration to the United States has been almost entirely an economic issue for the past few decades. Politicians have fine-tuned their positions around what to do about illegal immigrants who supposedly take jobs from Americans. Now, however, as violence on the border continues to increase, a new kind of immigrant to the United States is appearing: people seeking asylum to escape the drug-fueled brutality in Mexico. | 05/20/09 11:20:00 By - Julie Wolf

Mexican takes action after her son is kidnapped, killed

Hugo Wallace left his home on July 11, 2005, ostensibly for a date to see the movie "Fantastic Four" with a pretty woman who'd been introduced to him as "Claudia," his sister's name. He never returned. Instead, he became another name on the distressingly long list of well-to-do Mexicans who've been kidnapped for ransom and murdered. | 05/20/09 11:20:00 By - Lauren McCormack

Pakistani clerics back government offensive, denounce Taliban tactics

Pakistani religious leaders and scholars Tuesday issued a strong denunciation of the tactics of Taliban militants, providing what could be major boost to the country's U.S.-backed battle against Islamic extremism. | 05/19/09 19:12:00 By - Saeed Shah and Margaret Talev

Sri Lanka's 30-year war ends, but what comes next?

Sri Lanka reached a milestone this week in its 26-year war with the rebel Tamil Tigers: The group admitted defeat Sunday in its battle for a separate homeland for the island's ethnic Tamil minority. The Army dealt the Tigers another potential blow Monday when it claimed to have killed their chief, Velupillai Prabhakaran, among other leaders. | 05/19/09 18:29:00 By - Carol Huang

In latest Mexico prison break Narcos used police disguises, chopper

A convoy of cars carrying more than two dozen suspected drug cartel members disguised as Mexican police officers arrives at the Zacatecas state prison before dawn. Their helicopter hovers overhead. Minutes later, the men help more than 50 inmates - many of them suspected drug traffickers - flee the prison. A countrywide manhunt ensues. | 05/19/09 18:17:00 By - Sara Miller Llana

Tamil emigres unconvinced Sri Lanka will guarantee minority rights

Mariasoosai Sakkariyas was glued to his television Tuesday as Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa reached out to Tamils during a speech marking the end of a 26-year war against Tamil separatists. Mr. Sakkariyas wasn't impressed. | 05/19/09 18:09:00 By - Anuj Chopra

Corruption probe appalls — and encourages — Iraqis

For the first time since modern Iraq was founded in the 1920s, a sitting government minister has been questioned publicly about corruption allegations, in this case about skimming millions of dollars from a national food-distribution program while ordinary Iraqis went hungry. | 05/19/09 17:15:00 By - Jack Dolan

Mexicans succumb to seductions of carbs, sugar, fat

Mexico has the dubious distinction of the world's second fattest country, behind only the United States. With obesity comes a hefty price tag of other diseases, particularly diabetes. Often referred to as the rich country's disease, diabetes is now the leading cause of death in Mexico. | 05/19/09 13:22:00 By - Alexandra Petri

From the trash of others, Mexican lives take root

Dolores Garcia Perez is one of a few thousand people who survive on the 12,000 tons of trash that metropolitan Mexico City throws out every day. They don't look for food, but hope to spot things of value and recyclables — cardboard, plastic bottles, cans and glass — to collect and sell. | 05/19/09 13:21:00 By - Jessica Turnbull

For 50th birthday, Barbie gets new international wardrobe

Barbie's birthday was marked by a series of exhibits all over the world sponsored by her manufacturer, Mattel, that featured the evolution of the doll, born Barbara Millicent Roberts. In Mexico, the exhibit highlighted a cultural progression. Ten Latino designers presented outfits designed specifically for a doll that had once symbolized a light-skinned, fair-haired ideal of beauty. | 05/19/09 13:22:00 By - Arianna Davis

As Mexico's Catholics look elsewhere, evangelicals gain

For hundreds of years, religion in Mexico has meant the stained glass windows and kneeling worship of the city's large Roman Catholic cathedrals. Change has come to Mexico, however: Evangelical Protestantism has taken firm hold in the soil of the world's second-largest Catholic country. | 05/19/09 13:21:00 By - Arianna Davis

Chile investigating rash of penguin, flamingo and sardine deaths

Chilean scientists are investigating three mysterious ecological disasters that have caused the deaths of hundreds of penguins, millions of sardines and about 2,000 baby flamingos in the past few months. | 05/19/09 07:03:34 By - Gideon Long

Bill Clinton named special envoy to Haiti by U.N.

Former President Bill Clinton, who has pledged his philanthropic weight to help a storm ravaged Haiti, has been named a special envoy to the Caribbean nation on behalf of the United Nations. | 05/19/09 06:55:31 By - Jacqueline Charles

Pakistani army controls Buner, but residents fear Taliban's return

The carcasses of cars and trucks and bombed buildings on Monday greeted the visitor to Buner, the northwestern district that the military government largely has wrested back from Taliban insurgents. So far, however, only a handful of residents have dared to return. | 05/18/09 18:50:00 By - Saeed Shah

No progress visible from Obama-Netanyahu talks

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emerged Monday from hours of meetings with President Barack Obama agreeing to restart the Palestinian peace process "immediately," but with conditions that indicated that no breakthroughs are imminent. | 05/18/09 18:39:00 By - Margaret Talev and Dion Nissenbaum

Dengue fever epidemic hits South America

While the world continues to be on alert for a potential swine flu pandemic, South Americans have been suffering for months from one of the worst viral epidemics on record. Hundreds of thousands of people have been sickened by dengue fever this year; more than 70 have died. | 05/18/09 07:07:51 By - John Enders

Swat refugees testing the limits of Pashtun hospitality

Suppose 93 relatives arrived to stay with you, penniless, fleeing from a war zone, staying for an indefinite period. They would be Dr. Mohammad Ayaz, who worked in a regional hospital in Swat, and with his huge extended family occupied a seven-house compound until the Pakistani army mounted an operation earlier this month against the Taliban who'd taken over the area. | 05/17/09 16:52:00 By - Saeed Shah

Iraq's once-envied health care system lost to war, corruption

Dr. Zinah Jawad leaned over her patient and peered into his glazed eyes. It doesn't look good, she said, shaking her head. | 05/17/09 06:00:00 By - Corinne Reilly

Obama, Israel, could be headed for clash over settlements

President Barack Obama plans to ask Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to freeze Jewish settlements in the disputed West Bank during their first White House meeting Monday, U.S. officials said, potentially setting up a confrontation between the American president and a close U.S. ally. | 05/16/09 20:03:00 By - Warren P. Strobel and Dion Nissenbaum

Soldier answers battle call in `I Love NY' boxers

Army Spec. Zachary Boyd was asleep when the Taliban attacked his base in the rugged mountains of eastern Afghanistan, so he grabbed is gun and ran to the fight...in his boxers. Boyd's mother tells the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that she used to give him wedgies when he flashed his undies. | 05/16/09 18:01:09 By - Bill Miller

Are Taliban abandoning guerrilla tactics in Pakistan conflict?

Taliban insurgents in Pakistan's Swat valley may be preparing to fight the army on the streets of the scenic district's main city, as soldiers and guerrillas, surprisingly, may be preparing to fight a conventional battle. | 05/15/09 18:22:00 By - Saeed Shah and Nancy A. Youssef

Iraqis shrug off concerns over photos of U.S. abuse

While President Barack Obama argues that releasing photos of U.S. soldiers abusing detainees could incite violence against American troops abroad, a prominent Iraqi leader called for their publication and others cast doubt on the U.S. administration's warnings. | 05/15/09 16:37:00 By - Jack Dolan and Sahar Issa

Islamist offensive leaves West's Somalia strategy in tatters

A major offensive by Islamic rebels has brought Somalia's internationally backed government close to collapse and renewed the possibility that a militant Islamist regime that allegedly has ties to al Qaida could seize control of the East African nation. | 05/15/09 16:00:00 By - Shashank Bengali

Obama, Israel could be headed for clash over settlements

President Barack Obama plans to ask Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to freeze Jewish settlements in the disputed West Bank during their first White House meeting Monday, U.S. officials said, potentially setting up a confrontation between the American president and a close U.S. ally. | 05/15/09 15:33:00 By - Warren P. Strobel and Dion Nissenbaum

Intrigue abounds in this Mideast tale of a terror plot

When Egyptian police pounded on the door before dawn and took her husband Nimr away, Sahar Zibawi had no idea that her partner was about to become a pivotal player in a convoluted political plot involving gun running to Gaza, a notorious African smuggling route once used by the French poet Arthur Rimbaud, an Iranian-backed Hezbollah cell and an attempt by Egypt's aging president to reclaim his waning regional influence. | 05/15/09 15:02:00 By - Dion Nissenbaum

FBI joins investigation of Guatemala lawyer's death

U.S. officials have confirmed to The Miami Herald that the FBI has joined the investigation of a murdered Guatemalan lawyer who — in a postmortem video — accused President Alvaro Colom of ordering his death. | 05/15/09 06:54:43 By - Ezra Fieser

Civilians say they're casualties of Pakistan's fight against the Taliban

The Pakistani army denies knowing that its war against Islamic militants has caused civilian casualties, but patients and family members at a local hospital told McClatchy Thursday that multiple relatives were killed when the military shelled or bombed their homes. | 05/14/09 18:30:00 By - Saeed Shah

FBI interrogator calls harsh techniques 'ineffective'

A former FBI special agent who interrogated senior al Qaida captives told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that harsh interrogation techniques are "ineffective, slow and unreliable," and disputed claims by former vice president Dick Cheney and others that they helped uncover major terrorist plots. | 05/13/09 17:53:00 By - Warren P. Strobel

At symbol of Israeli-Palestinian divide, pope calls for healing

Standing within view of Israel's imposing concrete wall, Pope Benedict XVI told Palestinian refugees Wednesday that the barrier is a stark reminder of the political stalemate that's stymied every effort to bring peace to this part of the Middle East. | 05/13/09 17:18:00 By - Dion Nissenbaum

Pashtun hospitality for Swat refugees part of their culture

Nightfall was closing fast and Hussein Gohar's clan of 19 adults, 25 children, four camels and four buffaloes felt every inch of the 37 miles they had just walked. | 05/13/09 16:30:00 By - Ben Arnoldy

U.S. forces engage Taliban in PR war in Afghanistan

More than a week has passed since a U.S. bombardment killed civilians in western Afghanistan, but the battle between coalition forces and the Taliban has only intensified on another front: public relations. | 05/13/09 16:30:00 By - Jason Motlagh

Welcome to Somaliland, the nicer part of crumbling country

If this doesn't feel like Somalia, residents say that's because it's not. This is Somaliland, a northern former British protectorate that broke away in 1991. While Somalia is a country without a functioning government, Somaliland is a noncountry with a reasonably functioning government. | 05/13/09 15:09:00 By - Shashank Bengali

Texas soldier makes front-page splash - in his boxers

Boxers or briefs? A lot of guys consider that a personal question, but the secret has been revealed for a 19-year-old Fort Worth soldier, thanks to The New York Times, the Internet and, well, the Taliban. | 05/13/09 14:57:35 By - Bill Miller

Slain lawyer's videotaped accusations stun Guatemala

A controversial video in which a now-murdered lawyer accuses President Alvaro Colom of masterminding his killing has shaken Guatemala's fragile democracy. Colom has denied the murder accusations that appeared in Rodrigo Rosenberg's tape. | 05/13/09 07:03:40 By - Ezra Fieser

Pakistan sends helicopter-borne commandos into Swat

Pakistani commandos dropped by helicopter into the Taliban's mountain base in Swat on Tuesday, in what appeared to be a stepped-up offensive against the extremists who seized the area in defiance of a peace agreement, the army announced. | 05/12/09 18:42:00 By - Saeed Shah and Jonathan S. Landay

U.S. soldiers search for midwife in Afghan war zone

Down a dirt alley a half-mile from Forward Operating Base Boris, a no-frills bastion that houses several hundred U.S. and Afghan troops behind 10-foot-high, sand-filled walls with a pair of 145 mm mortars at the center, American soldiers slinked like cats on the prowl. | 05/12/09 16:54:00 By - Philip Smucker

Battle-hardened U.S. team on dangerous Afghan eastern front

The 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne) now patrolling three eastern border provinces of Afghanistan is a battle-hardened unit with a commander who's making his fourth tour in the country. | 05/12/09 16:53:00 By - Richard Mauer

Iraq shootings suspect, on 3rd tour, had had rifle taken away

The U.S. military said Tuesday that the Army sergeant charged with fatally shooting five American comrades at a U.S. base was on his third deployment to Iraq. Sgt. John M. Russell, of the 54th Engineer Battalion, had been ordered to counseling and had had his rifle taken away before the shootings. | 05/12/09 10:57:00 By - Corinne Reilly

Chavez threatens to close TV channel critical of him

President Hugo Chavez is threatening again to shut down Globovision, the sole television channel in Venezuela that regularly criticizes him — saying it had stirred panic for reporting an earthquake before the government announcement. | 05/11/09 19:39:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Obama hires new commander for new Afghanistan strategy

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the Pentagon sought 'fresh thinking' to implement its new strategy for the worsening conflict in Afghanistan, replacing Army Gen. David McKiernan with Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, a veteran counterinsurgency expert. | 05/11/09 19:06:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay

Pope arrives in Israel and already rankles Israelis

Pope Benedict XVI waded straight into Middle East politics Monday as he began an historic five-day pilgrimage meant to strengthen the Vatican's strained relationship with Israel and boost his profile as a beacon of peace in the Holy Land. | 05/11/09 18:43:00 By - Dion Nissenbaum

VIDEO: Why U.S. and Afghan officials let drug trade bloom

McClatchy Moscow Bureau Chief Tom Lasseter explains how the opium trade grew as U.S. and Afghan officials sought support in key poppy-growing regions of Afghanistan. | 05/11/09 18:27:38 By -

Money launderers wash billions through international trade

Imported plain cotton pillow cases from France that cost more than $900 apiece and new bulldozers exported to Venezuela that cost $387 each. Such prices seem highly suspect -- and could be examples of someone using international trade to launder money. | 05/11/09 15:50:07 By - Joseph A. Mann

Guantanamo judge sets hearing on detainee's torture claims

Attorneys for the detainee, Ahmed Darbi, had sought a delay, hoping to head off any further proceedings under the military commission system established under President Bush. But the chief military judge said the hearing on whether the evidence against Darbi was coerced by abusive interrogation practices was critical to deciding if the case against him should proceed. | 05/10/09 23:26:16 By - Carol Rosenberg

Pakistan army lets refugees flee Swat battle, and camps fill

At least 250,000 people have registered as refugees since Pakistan's army began an offensive four days ago to retake the district of Swat from the Taliban. The lifting of a curfew in Swat for a few hours Sunday set off a surge of refugees to the city of Mardan, some coming on foot, others in cars, tractor trolleys and donkey carts. Officials say it's possible as 700,000 people will flee the violence. | 05/10/09 17:06:00 By - Saeed Shah

Gitmo base awaits uncertain future

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba -- Captives watch in confusion as workers weld fences around new soccer fields, part of the Pentagon's plan to improve prison camp conditions. Around the base, U.S. troops arrive on regular rotations and wonder what comes next.

Everyone here knows that President Barack Obama ordered the prison camps emptied by Jan. 22. But aside from the president's executive order posted at the prison camps, signs of the coming shutdown are hard to find. | 05/10/09 15:39:56 By - CAROL ROSENBERG

Karzai's brother threatened McClatchy writer reporting Afghan drug story

Ahmed Wali Karzai is feared by many in southern Afghanistan, and being threatened by him, in his home, isn't something to be taken lightly. So after a quick consultation with locals, I headed for the airport. | 05/10/09 00:00:00 By - Tom Lasseter

Afghan drug trade thrives with help, and neglect, of officials

When it's harvest time in the poppy fields of Kandahar, dust-covered Taliban fighters pull up on their motorbikes to collect a 10 percent tax on the crop. Afghan police arrive in Ford Ranger pickups — bought with U.S. aid money — and demand their cut of the cash in exchange for promises to skip the farms during annual eradication. | 05/10/09 00:00:00 By - Tom Lasseter

West looked the other way as Afghan drug trade exploded

Locals call them "poppy palaces," the three- or four-story marble homes with fake Roman columns perched behind razor wire and guard shacks in Afghanistan's capital. | 05/10/09 00:00:00 By - Tom Lasseter

Only small-time Afghan drug dealers serve time

The Pul-I-Charki prison rises out of the dirt fields and mud walls on the edge of east Kabul like a medieval fortress, its castle towers surrounded by checkpoints and machine gun nests. | 05/10/09 00:00:00 By - Tom Lasseter

Obama selects Egypt, a risky choice, for speech to Muslims

President Barack Obama will go to Egypt on June 4 to deliver a long-planned speech aimed at Muslims worldwide. Egypt is a strategic but politically risky choice for such a venue. | 05/08/09 17:02:00 By - Margaret Talev and Jonathan S. Landay

'Full-scale' assault on extremists has begun, Pakistan says

The army said it killed 143 militants within the first 24 hours of the operation and lost seven Pakistani soldiers. The fighting also unleashed a flood of civilians from the Swat area, and the United Nations warned that some 500,000 had evacuated or were on the move. | 05/08/09 18:21:00 By - Saeed Shah

Obama will travel to Egypt to address Muslim world

President Barack Obama will go to Egypt on June 4 to deliver a long-planned major speech aimed at Muslims worldwide. The speech is expected to be delivered in Cairo, historically the Arabic center of intellectual thought in the Muslim world, but a location has not been finalized, the White House said. | 05/08/09 17:09:20 By - Margaret Talev

NFL stars use owner's suite to talk Congo refugees, not football

It was like a Seahawks reunion, with former Seattle coach Mike Holmgren and former Seattle quarterback now Washington Redskins coach Jim Zorn together at a reception in the owner's suite at FedEx Field. | 05/08/09 15:52:00 By - Les Blumenthal

Chavez, in new power grab, seeks to weaken governors

Fresh from winning a referendum that could allow him to remain as president until 2018 and perhaps for life, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is sidelining his enemies, stifling criticism and concentrating more power in his own hands. | 05/08/09 15:26:00 By - Tyler Bridges

U.S. says airstrike killed 50 Afghans, mostly insurgents

The widespread U.S. use of airstrikes in Afghanistan, and the resulting civilian casualties and property damage, have been among the issues that have strained relations between the U.S. and Afghanistan, and the strike on two remote villages in Farah province appears to have exacted the highest death toll of any U.S. air attack. | 05/08/09 13:13:05 By - Nancy A. Youssef

Tepid reception expected for Pope Benedict in Israel

When Pope Benedict XVI arrives in the Middle East this weekend for his first visit as head of the Roman Catholic church, he will be met by crowds, signs and banners — and not all of them will be welcoming. | 05/07/09 15:56:00 By - Cliff Churgin and Dion Nissenbaum

Pakistan declares war on homegrown Taliban extremists

Pakistan declared war on its homegrown Islamic extremists Thursday in a dramatic move that could trigger a wider conflagration. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, in a late-night televised address to the nation, said Pakistan would launch a full-scale offensive against Pakistani Taliban guerrillas who've seized control of the vast Swat valley, which is about 100 miles north of the capital. | 05/07/09 14:22:00 By - Saeed Shah

Obama pledges 'commitment' to Afghan, Pakistan leaders

President Barack Obama Wednesday pledged a "lasting commitment" by the U.S. to the democratic governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan after an unusual three-way meeting that ended with promises but no concrete agreements. | 05/06/09 20:26:00 By - Margaret Talev and Warren P. Strobel

Mexico City returns to normal as swine flu restrictions fade

Mexico City rubbed its eyes Wednesday morning, emerging from a five-day economic shutdown that authorities ordered to contain the swine flu — bringing a curious calm to one of the world's most frenetic capitals. Men and women in suits walked down city streets to work as offices reopened. Street vendors unfolded tables and chairs on sidewalks. The next wave comes Thursday, when schools reopen. | 05/06/09 18:46:00 By - Sara Miller Llana

Truck bomb loaded with vegetables kills 11 in Baghdad

The latest in a string of deadly bombings that have many Iraqis worried about a return of widespread violence happened at a popular produce market in southern Baghdad. Witnesses said the attacker drove up to the market in a truck packed with cauliflower, asked nearby workers to unload it and then walked away. | 05/06/09 15:26:00 By - Sahar Issa

Detainee who won Guantanamo habeas case to go to France

Lakhdar Boumediene, 43, was arrested along with five other Algerians in 2001 in Bosnia, suspected in a bomb attack plot against the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo. But he's best known for being the named plaintiff in the case that led the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that detainees held at Guantanamo have the right to challenge their imprisonment in U.S. courts. | 05/06/09 15:41:23 By -

First hearing since Obama took office set for Guantanamo

Shortly after he was inaugurated, Obama asked for and received a 120-day delay in military commission hearings against suspected terrorists held at Guantanamo. With that delay soon to expire, the military commission's chief judge has scheduled a hearing for May 27. | 05/06/09 15:03:14 By - Carol Rosenberg

Thousands in Somalia flee clashes with Islamist militants

The pirates get the headlines, but what drove Habibo Kune and her teenage son out of Somalia and into this sprawling, sand-blown refugee camp was a different group of men with guns. Islamist militants continue to battle pro-government forces for territory throughout southern Somalia, driving more than 25,000 people into camps in eastern Kenya. | 05/06/09 14:09:00 By - Shashank Bengali

Pakistan may overshadow Afghanistan in Washington talks

With nuclear-armed Pakistan increasingly threatened by Islamist militants, President Barack Obama will urge the country's leader on Wednesday to confront the threat head-on, while offering promises of long-term U.S. support, senior U.S. officials said Tuesday. | 05/05/09 20:31:00 By - Warren P. Strobel and Margaret Talev

Thousands flee as Taliban take control of Pakistan's Swat

Armed Taliban insurgents seized control of the main town in Pakistan's Swat valley, sending thousands of residents fleeing in advance of a possible showdown between the Islamic militants and the army that could help decide the future of nuclear-armed Pakistan. | 05/05/09 20:04:00 By - Saeed Shah

Senators: Put armed men on ships to stop pirates

Commercial shipping companies need to take greater responsibility for protecting their vessels against Somali pirates — including hiring private armed security guards — and look less to the U.S. Navy or other international military for help. | 05/05/09 17:47:00 By - William Douglas

U.S. fears violence ahead of Kurdistan regional elections

Iraq's semi-autonomous northern region of Kurdistan will hold parliamentary elections on July 25, officials said Tuesday. | 05/05/09 14:55:00 By - Corinne Reilly and Laith Hammoudi

Pakistani army flattening villages as it battles Taliban

The Pakistani army's assault against Islamic militants in Buner, in northwest Pakistan, is flattening villages, killing civilians and sending thousands of farmers and villagers fleeing from their homes, residents escaping the fighting said Monday. | 05/04/09 19:56:00 By - Saeed Shah

Conservative pro-business candidate wins in Panama

Panamanians elected a conservative, pro-business candidate as their new president Sunday - signaling their hope for a new alternative as the Central American nation's once-booming economy cools. | 05/04/09 15:18:00 By - Sara Miller Llana

Booking Cuba travel used to be deadly

Cuba travel agencies appear to have put their troubled past behind and business is booming thanks to the new relaxation of travel restrictions to Cuba. But it all began with a murder 30 years ago. | 05/04/09 07:06:50 By - Luisa Yanez, Douglas Hanks, Laura Figueroa

Charleston, S.C. wonders if it'll house Guantanamo detainees

Some residents of Charleston, S.C., worry if moving suspected terrorists into the brig at the naval weapons station, something they think might be under consideration, will make their community a target of al Qaeda cells or others who hate America. Other residents point out the stationing of nuclear weapons aboard Charleston's submarines long ago made them a target. | 05/04/09 06:00:00 By - Carol Rosenberg

In Baghdad, Iraqis fear return of sectarian bloodshed

Restaurants, cafes and parks are still busy in Baghdad, despite a rise in violence over the last two months. But even as they crowd Baghdad's public spaces, Iraqis acknowledge that they are worried about what the upswing in violence may mean. Most say they don't expect a return of widespread sectarian killing, but many also said they believe things could quickly change. | 05/03/09 23:25:47 By - Corinne Reilly

Pakistan moving closer to confronting the Taliban in Swat

Pakistan on Sunday edged closer to a major conflict with Taliban militants as a controversial peace deal with Islamic extremists in the Swat valley near the Afghan border began to unravel, according to military officials and politicians. Taliban militants were suspected in the beheading of two Pakistani soldiers and there were reports that the militants were openly patrolling streets, in violation of a ceasefire. | 05/03/09 17:51:00 By - Saeed Shah

Why Panama tilts right in presidential vote

In Panama, residents are voting for change in Sunday's presidential election. But unlike in El Salvador recently, where the left-wing Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front won the presidency after 30 years of conservative party rule, or in Ecuador where Rafael Correa won re-election last Sunday vowing to push forward with a "socialist revolution," change here comes in the form of a supermarket tycoon who touts himself as the free-market candidate. | 05/03/09 13:34:00 By - Sara Miller Llana

U.S. allies losing asylum bids over definition of 'terrorist'

Forced to flee his homeland because he supported America's ideals, Tsegu Bahta thought he'd be embraced by the country he emulated and respected. Instead, the U.S. has branded him a terrorist. Bahta is among at least 6,000 immigrants who've tried to find refuge in the U.S. only to be told that they don't qualify because the Patriot Act and other post-9/11 laws label members of armed groups terrorists, even if they supported pro-democracy efforts and opposed despots and dictators. | 05/02/09 23:00:00 By - Marisa Taylor

Despite Taliban turmoil, Pakistan expands nuke plants

Pakistan has a number of important military-industrial complexes, including the Gadwal Uranium Enrichment Plant, where the final enrichment of uranium weapons fuel is thought to take place, less than 60 miles south of Buner, where the Pakistani military is battling the Taliban. Meanwhile, the government is completing two nuclear reactors to produce plutonium for weapons just a few miles from areas controlled by the Taliban. | 05/01/09 19:54:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay

Love story: United by West Point, divided by the Hindu Kush

A 21-minute helicopter flight apart in the dusty mountains of eastern Afghanistan wasn't what Troy Yoho and Kelsey Tardieau had in mind when the couple arranged to be deployed together in Task Force Yukon (the 4th Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division) from their base in Alaska. | 05/01/09 16:49:00 By - Philip Smucker

UBS says IRS ignoring international law, diplomacy

A high-stakes battle over Swiss banking secrecy is heating up in federal court in Miami. Swiss banking giant UBS, battling to quash an IRS summons, says diplomacy and tax treaties, not courtrooms, are the way to seek confidential customer information. | 05/01/09 11:12:30 By - Martha Brannigan

Funeral services get competitive in Guatemala

Rampant crime and murder in Guatemala City have created a niche industry for those who make a living burying the dead. | 05/01/09 06:51:56 By - Jill Replogle

Is Cuba closer to removal from list of terrorism sponsors?

Cuba made the State Department's annual list of state sponsors of terrorism Thursday — but with tempered language that may reflect an Obama administration interested in improving relations with Havana. The other countries on the list: Iran, Syria and Sudan. | 04/30/09 22:50:44 By - Lesley Clark

Islamic law ushers in reign of terror in Pakistan's Swat valley

Two weeks after the Pakistani government capitulated to Islamist demands and imposed Islamic law throughout the Swat valley, armed militants are patrolling the streets of the district capital and masked gunmen have taken control of outlying districts, where they're terrorizing residents and using intimidation to close girls' schools. | 04/30/09 19:22:00 By - Saeed Shah

Surge in violence won't delay U.S. withdrawal from Iraq

The Obama administration is determined to continue withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq on schedule, despite a surge of violence in two Iraqi cities that shows no signs of abating and could increase in the weeks ahead, administration and military officials said this week. | 04/30/09 18:38:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef

Mexico City's citizens are uncharacteristically shaken by flu outbreak

Mexico's capital is not easily rattled: Its 20 million or so residents regularly shrug off crime, corruption, drought, gridlock, overcrowding, and bad air. But the outbreak of swine flu, which has killed an estimated 176 people nationwide, is different. | 04/30/09 17:48:26 By - Jonathan Roeder

Palestinians try cheese-making and produce a fine pecorino

It's not exactly the romantic Italian countryside, but this tiny Palestinian sheep farm has become the unlikely headquarters for an unusual culinary experiment. A small group of Italian agronomists is trying to transform this scruffy hilltop into the Palestinian Tuscany by setting up the West Bank's first Italian cheese factory. | 04/30/09 15:17:00 By - Dion Nissenbaum

New Venezuelan law takes money, personnel from Caracas mayor

Under a new law, the opposition mayor of Caracas must transfer the city's budgets, personnel and infrastructure to an appointee of President Hugo Chavez. | 04/30/09 06:49:15 By - Casto Ocando

Obama says he's 'gravely concerned' about Pakistan

Pakistan's military Wednesday used air strikes, artillery and helicopter-borne commandos to recapture the main city in the North West Frontier Province district of Buner from Islamist insurgents, but the militants took scores of local security personnel hostage. | 04/29/09 19:43:00 By - Saeed Shah and Nancy A. Youssef

World health officials urge governments to prepare for pandemic

The global threat from the swine flu outbreak reached its highest level yet on Wednesday as the World Health Organization urged government, business and health officials to start planning in earnest for a pandemic, which now appears unavoidable. | 04/29/09 18:58:00 By - Tony Pugh

Congress weighs easing of Cuba trade limits

President Barack Obama's overtures to Cuba have enlivened the debate in Congress on boosting American travel and trade to the island, but Raul Castro on Wednesday decried the administration's opening salvo as "achieving only the minimum." | 04/29/09 18:52:00 By - Lesley Clark

April deadliest month in a year as security in Iraq plummets

A series of bombings in Baghdad on Wednesday was the latest sign that Iraq's security gains are beginning to reverse. Large-scale bombings targeting civilians have been on the rise since March and there's widespread concern among Iraqis that the violence may quickly spread as the U.S. begins to draw down. | 04/29/09 18:27:58 By - Corinne Reilly and Hussein Kadhim

Is Obama wrong on Iraq? Baghdad violence worst in year

Obama said Wednesday night that violence was still lower that last year's levels, despite a series of explosions in recent weeks. But more than 200 people have been killed this month in Baghdad, the most recorded in the Iraqi capital since March 2008. Iraqis fear the toll will continue to rise as American troops draw down. On Wednesday, explosions in the capital killed at least 43. | 04/29/09 16:58:00 By - Corinne Reilly and Hussein Kadhim

At former British prison, Somali pirates tell their side

Their exploits have turned the inky-blue waters of the Indian Ocean into a perilous gantlet for ships and an unlikely security challenge for world leaders. But behind the bare brick walls of a desolate former British colonial prison here, five jailed Somali pirates didn't seem very fearsome at all. | 04/29/09 16:19:00 By - Shashank Bengali

Flu Rx? Russia blocks U.S. pork, Costa Rica bars kissing

The government of Cuba suspended flights to and from Mexico for 48 hours, Russia banned imported pork from at least 11 U.S. states and medical help lines in Europe were inundated, as the world reacted apprehensively Tuesday to the swine flu outbreak. | 04/28/09 18:48:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Pakistani army expands offensive against Taliban challengers

Pakistan's security forces expanded their military offensive into a second district Tuesday in the country's extremist-plagued North West Frontier Province, leaving Pakistan's controversial peace accord with the Taliban hanging by a thread. | 04/28/09 17:44:00 By - Saeed Shah

Chavez withdraws envoy from Peru after it gives his rival asylum

President Hugo Chavez, showing uncustomary restraint, recalled his ambassador to Peru late Monday night in protest after Peru offered political asylum to Chavez's political rival, Manuel Rosales. The Chavez government had asked Peru to arrest Rosales and return him to Venezuela to face charges that he's failed to account for why his declared worth in 2000 was $68,000 less than what his bank accounts showed in 2004, when he was the governor of Zulia state. | 04/28/09 17:19:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Iraqi government says it captured al Qaida leader

The Iraqi government said Tuesday that it's certain that its forces captured Abu Omar al Baghdadi, the head of al Qaida in Iraq and one of the highest profile terror suspects in the country. | 04/28/09 14:54:00 By - Corinne Reilly

Swine flu outbreaks have travelers rethinking vacations

As more swine flu cases were reported Monday from Mexico to Spain and New York to New Zealand, cruise lines pondered itineraries, airlines shifted refund policies and South Florida travelers debated canceling vacations. The death toll in Mexico rose to 159, and the U.S. State Department advised Americans to defer all nonessential travel there. | 04/28/09 07:01:12 By - Jane Wooldridge

U.S., Cuban diplomats meet as Congress holds trade hearing

Administration officials insisted the meeting between Thomas Shannon, assistant secretary of state for hemispheric affairs, and Jorge Bolanos, the chief of Cuba's Interests Section in Washington, was not part of a push for increased talks with Havana, but just another of a series of talks over common interests. | 04/27/09 19:37:43 By - Lesley Clark

Flu-struck Mexico braces for tourist cancellations

Europeans Monday were told to avoid travel to Mexico unless essential. The biggest tour operators in Germany and Japan canceled all trips to Mexico. Asian countries with memories of the 2003 SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) scare banned Mexican pork imports. And several U.S. and Mexican airlines have waived fees for passengers wanting to change their travel dates. | 04/27/09 17:56:00 By - Sara Miller Llana

Some Afghan rebels agree to government amnesty, job offer

Deep in a mountain valley north of Kabul, Gulab Shah and his fellow insurgents were under siege. It was mid-March, and a French-led military offensive had been pounding their village night after night. A few of his comrades managed to escape into the surrounding mountains, but most were killed. | 04/27/09 17:34:00 By - Anand Gopal

Another Gandhi in running, and young Indians take note

They climbed trees, whacked through tea bushes, and hopped over fences to get a closer look at political royalty. A recent campaign rally by Rahul Gandhi to this tea-plantation town in northeast India drew a crowd of several thousand, and showed that the country's heavily jaded electorate still finds some hope in youth and trust in the Gandhi brand. | 04/27/09 17:12:00 By - Ben Arnoldy

Swine flu outbreak 'not a cause for alarm,' Obama says

Amid warnings from Europe against travel to the U.S., President Barack Obama worked Monday to assure the nation, and perhaps the world, that an outbreak of swine flu is a cause for concern but not alarm. | 04/27/09 14:12:00 By - Steven Thomma

Rowdy Rio's mayor tries Giuliani's get-tough tactics

Suzy saw the white Municipal Guard van from more than a block away. Within seconds, she scooped her cheap sunglasses and gaudy plastic bracelets into an orange cloth, folded it and tossed it into her backpack. | 04/27/09 14:07:00 By - Raphael Soifer

Iraqi government claims U.S. raid violated agreement

An early morning U.S. raid that left two Iraqis dead was launched without Iraq's permission, a serious violation of the rules that are supposed to govern American military conduct here, the Iraqi government said Sunday. Under an agreement signed last year between Washington and Baghdad, U.S. forces aren't permitted to conduct combat operations without first coordinating with Iraqi security forces. | 04/27/09 06:25:51 By - Corinne Reilly and Hussein Kadhim

100 days: Obama dumps Bush's world view, but now what?

The "Axis of Evil" is gone. The "global war on terrorism" is no more. "You are either with us or against us" is a thing of the past, replaced by reaching out to global foes and friends alike. Obama has reached out to more U.S. adversaries in a shorter time than perhaps any modern occupant of the Oval Office. But none of the problems that Obama inherited on Jan. 20 has gotten any better. | 04/27/09 06:00:00 By - Warren P. Strobel

Ecuador's leftist president wins re-election

Socialist President Rafael Correa, a close ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, tightened his grip on power in politically volatile Ecuador by winning re-election Sunday, exit polls showed. | 04/26/09 18:45:00 By - Tyler Bridges and Stephan Kueffner

Forum on Che Guevara is part of U.S. rebranding

BUENOS AIRES -- The U.S. charm offensive in Latin America took a small but provocative step forward on Friday when the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires sponsored two readings of a new book that explains the enduring iconic power of Ernesto ''Che'' Guevara. | 04/25/09 14:08:31 By - VINOD SREEHARSHA

Hillary Clinton pays surprise visit to Baghdad

In an unannounced visit to Iraq Saturday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton downplayed concerns that the country's hard-won security gains may be deteriorating and said a recent spike in deadly attacks here won't derail plans to withdraw U.S. troops. | 04/25/09 13:10:00 By - Corinne Reilly

CIA official: No proof harsh techniques stopped terror attacks

Undercutting assertions by former vice president Dick Cheney and other former Bush administration officials, the CIA inspector general in 2004 found that there was no conclusive proof that waterboarding or other harsh interrogation techniques helped the Bush administration thwart any "specific imminent attacks". | 04/24/09 20:22:00 By - Mark Seibel and Warren P. Strobel

Events in Pakistan, Afghanistan overtake Obama's strategy

Events in Pakistan and Afghanistan are already overtaking the Obama administration's month-old strategy for the two countries, and it needs to be modified even before it's been implemented, U.S. officials and experts said this week. | 04/24/09 18:45:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef and Jonathan S. Landay

Islamists pull back in Pakistan, or is it just for the cameras?

Armed Taliban extremists began what they said was a pull-out Friday from Buner, just 60 miles from Islamabad, after they raised an international alarm by moving within striking distance of cutting off the capital from the country's northwest. | 04/24/09 18:28:00 By - Saeed Shah

Can Afghan government regain lost valley? No way, police say

As their American trainers shouted out the drill, 15 bearded young Afghan police officers marched back and forth with their U.S.-issue fake guns at an American outpost in the foothills of the Hindu Kush mountains, preparing for the dread day when they return to their valley, which the Taliban control. | 04/24/09 15:13:00 By - Philip Smucker

Taliban insurgents ambush U.S. patrol in Afghan village

A platoon from the 1st Infantry Division's 1st Battalion, 6th Field Artillery Regiment and another from the Illinois Army National Guard drove up the lone road into the village of Doab in 16 Humvees, accompanied by four truckloads of Afghan police officers and soldiers on an "overnight patrol." For the first 20 hours, all had gone smoothly. | 04/24/09 15:13:00 By - Philip Smucker

Obama marks Armenian tragedy but doesn't say 'genocide'

President Barack Obama on Friday broke a campaign pledge but mollified Turkey by formally remembering the mass murder of Armenians without using the diplomatically loaded term "genocide." | 04/24/09 15:02:00 By - Michael Doyle

Suicide bombers kill at least 60 Iraqis at Shiite shrine

In another day of heavy violence in Iraq, at least 60 people died Friday when two suicide bombers detonated within seconds of each other outside a revered Shiite Muslim shrine in Baghdad. | 04/24/09 09:31:00 By - Laith Hammoudi and Corinne Reilly

Author retraces ocean route of Haitian migrants

News of Haitian migrants dying in boating tragedies resonated so much with a Dutch novelist Geert van der Kolk that he wanted to experience the actual trip firsthand. So, he traveled to Haiti, built a 21-foot sloop, recruited a trio of brave boaters, and sailed the very passage that hundreds of Haitians thread every year in a desperate attempt to reach Florida shores. | 04/24/09 07:07:23 By - Trenton Daniel

Attacks in Iraq kill dozens; fears mount of wider violence

Two massive suicide attacks killed at least 76 people and possibly dozens more Thursday in Iraq, the latest signs that the country's hard-won security gains are beginning to reverse. | 04/23/09 09:57:00 By - Corinne Reilly and Laith Hammoudi

Islamic insurgents advance closer to Pakistani capital

The White House called the growing crisis in the nuclear-armed South Asian nation "deeply disturbing," and several key U.S. lawmakers told Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the Obama administration's new $7.5 billion plan to help stabilize Pakistan could be doomed by the failure of its government and military to battle the insurgents. | 04/23/09 20:28:00 By - Saeed Shah and Jonathan S. Landay

In Ecuador, Chavez ally likely to win re-election as president

President Rafael Correa is poised to win re-election on Sunday, quite a feat in a politically turbulent country that's run through eight presidents in the past 13 years. | 04/23/09 17:53:00 By - Tyler Bridges and Stephan Kueffner

Humor or hate? Groups see Israeli cartoon differently

Ahmed and Salim appear to be typical teenage brothers. The animated stars of an incendiary new Internet cartoon series aren't typical, however. Its creators and fans see a humorous series that resembles "South Park" — at least visually — and mocks Islamic terrorism. Its critics see a hate-filled cartoon that uses crude stereotypes to dehumanize Muslims, intensify Arab-Israeli divisions and inflame the conflict between Muslims and Jews. | 04/23/09 17:01:00 By - Dion Nissenbaum

Salsa singer Willy Chirino asks Castro to broadcast concert

Singer Willy Chirino challenged the Cuban government to permit exile music to flow on the island and to broadcast his Miami concert. | 04/23/09 07:05:17 By - Trenton Daniel

UK High Court demands U.S. torture documents

The chief justice of the British High Court on Wednesday gave the British government one week to obtain the U.S. release of classified information about the alleged torture of a British resident who'd been detained at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. | 04/22/09 19:54:00 By - Julie Sell

Document: Cheney, Rice signed off on interrogation techniques

A newly declassified narrative of the Bush administration's advice to the CIA on harsh interrogations shows that the small group of Justice Department lawyers who wrote memos authorizing harsh interrogation techniques were operating not on their own but with direction from top administration officials, including then-Vice President Dick Cheney and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. | 04/22/09 19:42:00 By - Margaret Talev

Clinton says Pakistan turmoil is 'mortal threat' to the world

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Wednesday called the advance of Islamic militants an "existential threat" to Pakistan and a "mortal threat" to the world and called on Pakistanis to resist their government's policy of ceding territory to extremists. | 04/22/09 19:09:00 By - Warren P. Strobel and Jonathan S. Landay

Chavez wins arrest warrant for political opponent

President Hugo Chavez's offensive against opposition leaders jumped the country's borders Wednesday. A Venezuelan court issued an international arrest order for Manuel Rosales, a key Chavez foe who surfaced Tuesday in Peru seeking political asylum. | 04/22/09 19:17:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Israeli military blames civilian deaths on 'errors'

After an internal investigation, the Israeli military said Wednesday that its soldiers had unintentionally killed dozens of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, but said there were no widespread abuses and declared that its soldiers never violated international law. | 04/22/09 18:08:00 By - Dion Nissenbaum

Paraguayan leader accused of fathering 3rd illegitimate child

Fernando Lugo, the Roman Catholic bishop turned president of Paraguay, risked becoming a soap opera caricature after a third woman emerged Wednesday claiming that he's the father of her child. | 04/22/09 17:46:00 By - Tyler Bridges and Antonia Delvalle

U.N. experts urge power sharing in Kirkuk

The United Nations said Wednesday that it had given Iraq four options for resolving the Kurdish-Arab dispute over the oil-rich city of Kirkuk as well as recommendations for ending disagreements over 14 other contested areas in northern Iraq. | 04/22/09 00:46:00 By - Corinne Reilly

Report: Abusive tactics used to seek Iraq-al Qaida link

The use of abusive interrogation — widely considered torture — as part of the Bush administration's quest for a rationale to invade Iraq came to light as the Senate issued a major report tracing the origin of the abuses and President Barack Obama opened the door to prosecuting former U.S. officials for approving them. | 04/21/09 22:00:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay

Summit of the Americas might lead to changed relationships

Everyone is waiting to see what the next diplomatic moves will be among the U.S., Cuba and Venezuela. Experts say President Barack Obama will use the buzz from last weekend's hemispheric summit in hopes of rebuilding strained relationships with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Cuba's Raul Castro using baby steps that will improve relations without setting off a firestorm in Miami. | 04/21/09 07:03:46 By - Lesley Clark and Frances Robles

Chavez's opponent dodges jail, intends to seek asylum

A leading opponent of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez skipped a court appearance Monday to avoid being tried on corruption charges and instead is seeking asylum abroad to escape what he charges is a trumped-up case and political persecution. | 04/20/09 18:58:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Will Chavez and Obama continue to make friendly?

Presidents Barack Obama and Hugo Chavez unexpectedly rescued U.S.-Venezuelan relations from the deep freezer over the weekend at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad. | 04/20/09 17:03:00 By - Tyler Bridges

In Iraq, 'Everybody knows somebody killed by the war'

Amir Jabbar doesn't know how many of his friends have been murdered since the Iraq war started six years ago. He stopped counting sometime back in 2007. The numbers just got too high, he said. | 04/20/09 13:17:00 By - Corinne Reilly

Actions speak louder than words, Obama tells Raul Castro

President Barack Obama sent Cuban leader Raul Castro a message Sunday: It's your turn. If Castro wants to start a dialogue with the United States, he should start by releasing political prisoners and lowering the steep fees the Cuban government charges on money sent from abroad, Obama said. | 04/19/09 19:50:00 By - Frances Robles and Nancy San Martin

Summit suggests 'new spirit of cooperation' in the Americas

Frank exchanges and the appearance of a new maturity breathed new life into this weekend's Summit of the Americas, a meeting that at least one member thought had outlived its usefulness before this weekend. | 04/19/09 21:53:52 By - Howard LaFranchi

Iraqi parliament elects new speaker, raising hope for unity

The election Sunday of a new leader of Iraq's parliament could aggravate the country's ethnic and sectarian tensions, or it could prove to be a major step toward easing the longstanding friction between Sunni and Shiite Arabs. | 04/19/09 17:39:16 By - Corinne Reilly and Sahar Issa

For Iraqis in America, terror is replaced by financial woe

Faced with ongoing war and death threats, millions of Iraqis have fled their homeland in recent years. During the past 18 months, some Iraqi families have settled in Kentucky, They come not only seeking refuge, but also with the expectation of an America full of jobs and promise. | 04/19/09 09:05:42 By - Steve Lannen

An unruly deportee puts the U.S. in a legal bind

What do you do with a Kenyan on an expired visa who just won’t go home? In the curious case of David Kihuha, the government wants to resume a rarely used and controversial practice and sedate him, then put him on a one-way flight to Nairobi. | 04/19/09 09:01:29 By - Mike McGraw

South Africa's paradox for gays: progressive laws, persistent hate

Late one night last June, Pumeza Runeyi was at home in bed with her girlfriend when she heard a pack of men outside her door. They rapped on her window and called her name in menacing voices that suggested only one thing. | 04/19/09 06:00:00 By - Shashank Bengali

From uprising to upmarket: A renaissance in Soweto

The gleaming shopping mall has everything you could ask for: brand-name outlets such as Timberland and Puma, a garishly colored food court and a courtyard with one of those nifty dancing water features. The only clue that this is Soweto, the huge black township where a 1976 student uprising galvanized the struggle against South Africa's white-controlled apartheid system, is at the mall's entrance. | 04/19/09 06:00:00 By - Shashank Bengali

In South Africa, a family and a nation slowly confront HIV

He was never a big kid, but Vuyani Ngxalaba was starting to look frighteningly skinny. He turned up at soccer practice in a cold sweat, with sores spread across his hollowing cheeks. His family had little to eat, yet he seemed to vomit constantly. | 04/19/09 06:00:00 By - Shashank Bengali

Fifteen years after apartheid, South Africa is at a crossroad

It's easy to look around this proud, polyglot city and think that the favorite slogan of the new South Africa — a "Rainbow Nation" of races striving together for prosperity — is becoming a reality. | 04/19/09 06:00:00 By - Shashank Bengali

Does Gates budget include enough for tomorrow's wars?

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who often complains that the Pentagon isn't on a war footing even as it fights two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he plans to start a new era with the new budget he'll present to Congress this week. | 04/19/09 06:00:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef and David Lightman

Hugo Chavez says Venezuela-U.S. relations will improve

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad -- Closer relations between Venezuela and the United States are no doubt coming soon, President Hugo Chávez said Saturday, adding that the two countries may soon return each other's ambassadors to their posts. | 04/18/09 14:30:06 By - FRANCES ROBLES

Obama and Hugo Chavez shake hands at Summit

President Barack Obama and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez shared a friendly handshake at the start of the Fifth Summit of the Americas Friday. | 04/17/09 19:53:58 By - Frances Robles

Raul Castro says he's open to talks with U.S.

On the eve of the Fifth Summit of the Americas, Cuban President Raul Castro declared Thursday that his government is willing to discuss "everything" with Washington, including human rights, political prisoners and freedom of the press. | 04/17/09 06:57:03 By - Frances Robles, Miami Herald Staff and Wire Reports

Suicide bomber kills at least 16 Iraqi soldiers

In what is turning out to be a very bloody month at least 16 Iraqi soldiers were killed and some 50 were wounded when a suicide bomber detonated inside an Iraqi military base in western Iraq on Thursday. | 04/16/09 09:36:50 By - Leila Fadel and Jamal Naji

In Mexico, Obama lays out more modest aims

President Barack Obama struck a realistic tone in his first-ever visit to Mexico, pledging cooperation on key issues such as drug violence and immigration, but warning that nothing he or his Mexican counterpart could do would solve the problems completely. | 04/16/09 23:11:35 By - Howard LaFranchi

Radical Pakistani cleric, out on bail, calls for revolution

A radical cleric, just freed from detention on bail, returned in triumph Thursday night to the Red Mosque in the Pakistani capital and raised the slogan of Islamic revolution before thousands of excited supporters. | 04/16/09 19:41:00 By - Saeed Shah

U.S. experts: Pakistan on course to become Islamist state

A growing number of U.S. intelligence, defense and diplomatic officials have concluded that there's little hope of preventing nuclear-armed Pakistan from disintegrating into fiefdoms controlled by Islamist warlords and terrorists, posing a greater threat to the U.S. than Afghanistan's terrorist haven did before 9/11. | 04/16/09 19:15:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay

Plan for Palestinian state is 'dead end,' Israel tells U.S.

In a direct challenge to President Barack Obama's commitment to rejuvenate moribund Mideast peace talks, Israel on Thursday dismissed American-led efforts to establish a Palestinian state and laid out new conditions for renewed negotiations. | 04/16/09 17:50:00 By - Dion Nissenbaum

Give us more money and we'll fight the pirates, Somalia says

As the American skipper once held hostage by pirates reached dry land here Thursday aboard a U.S. warship and his 19-man crew received a heroes' welcome in the U.S., the source of the piracy plague in the Indian Ocean — Somalia — said it could help fight the problem with a little more financial aid. | 04/16/09 17:16:00 By - Shashank Bengali

Going to Cuba? Pack lots of cash

Travelers heading to Cuba will need cash -- and a good bit of it. Visitors suffer sticker shock at the island's lofty prices almost as fast as they notice Havana's colonial architecture. | 04/16/09 17:01:35 By - Martha Brannigan

Security agencies dispute death toll in Iraq bombing

A suicide bomber attacked troops at an Iraqi Army training camp in western Iraq Thursday, but Iraqi authorities were in disagreement about the casualty count. | 04/16/09 00:44:00 By - Leila Fadel and Jamal Naji

Drug war at forefront of Obama's visit to Mexico

President Obama arrives Thursday for a two-day visit to the Mexican capital intent upon demonstrating that he wants a new relationship with America's southern neighbor based on common interests and shared responsibility - in particular when it comes to addressing the drug-trade violence hammering Mexico. | 04/16/09 11:05:00 By - Howard LaFranchi

Drug lord Daniel 'Don Mario' Rendon captured in Colombia

Colombian police on Wednesday captured the country's most powerful drug lord known as "Don Mario," who authorities say left more than 3,000 deaths in the wake of his push to control the cocaine trade on the country's Caribbean coast. | 04/16/09 06:46:44 By - Sibylla Brodzinksy