Venezuelan had millions to spend in Bolivia, witness claims

Witnesses in the Miami federal trial involving a mysterious suitcase filled with $800,000 sent from Venezuela to Argentina have shed light on the financial operations of the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. One witness said Venezuela's ambassador to Bolivia told him he had a fund of $100 million to spend in that country. | 10/04/08 14:47:58 By - Casey Woods and Gerardo Reyes

Prosecutors seek to reverse war court sentence

Pentagon prosecutors are asking a military judge to reverse himself and reassemble the jury that convicted Osama bin Laden's driver at Guantanamo, seeking to overturn a sentence that could make the first war court convict eligible for release by New Year's Eve. | 10/03/08 19:13:13 By - Carol Rosenberg

Georgia's Saakashvili: freedom fighter or rights abuser?

Influential Georgian opposition leaders are mounting a blistering political campaign against U.S.-backed President Mikheil Saakashvili, accusing his government of trampling human rights and stifling democracy. The timing could embarrass the Bush administration, which is pressing NATO members to put Georgia on a poath toward membership. | 10/03/08 17:35:00 By - Tom Lasseter

Iraq's presidency agrees to provincial-elections law

Iraq's presidency council has agreed to approve a long-delayed law that sets provincial elections for early next year. Iraq's parliament passed the elections law late last month, and approval from Iraq's three-man presidency council is the last formal hurdle the measure must clear. | 10/03/08 13:52:00 By - Corinne Reilly

Blasts kill 20 Shiite worshippers in Iraq on Muslim holiday

Two suicide bombers targeting Shiite worshipers killed at least 20 people and injured dozens more at Baghdad mosques Thursday morning, officials said. Both attacks took place around 8 a.m. in south east Baghdad, about four miles apart. They came as Shiites marked the first day of Eid, a three-day celebration that follows Ramadan, Islam's holy month. | 10/02/08 08:12:30 By - Corinne Reilly, Sahar Issa and Jenan Hussein

Top U.S. commander warns that Afghan war could get worse

The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan warned Wednesday that the situation there could worsen there before it improves and urgently called for more troops, civilian advisors and equipment. | 10/01/08 18:15:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef

With U.S. ships nearby, Somali pirates unveil a spokesman

You'd think that even a pirate would be nervous, what with a haul of 33 Russian-built tanks making world headlines, a captured crewmember reported dead and several U.S. military ships steaming close by and eyeing the volatile plunder. But not so. | 09/30/08 17:46:00 By - Shashank Bengali

Liberia torture allegations unfolding in Florida courtroom

The son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor ran a security force in his father's government with a brutal agenda marked by the beating, burning and beheading of people opposed to his rule, a federal prosecutor said Monday during a landmark torture trial in Miami — the first U.S. prosecution of torture in a foreign country. | 09/30/08 17:44:04 By - Jay Weaver

Surge test: Will Iraq's government back Sunni militias?

The success of the U.S. troop surge in Iraq was possible in large part because of the creation of Sunni Muslim militias that rose up against Islamic extremists and allied themslves with U.S. forces. Now the control of those forces is passing to the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki. American officials are watching closely, worried that the transition won't go well. | 09/30/08 17:27:00 By - Leila Fadel

Cost of massive unemployment in Iraq could be paid in blood

For Raad Abdulsada, every day starts the same way. He wakes up at sunrise, heads to a busy, dusty corner in Baghdad's Karrada neighborhood and waits for work. Most days, the waiting is in vain. Abdulsada's struggle is anything but rare here in Baghdad. | 09/30/08 15:52:00 By - Corinne Reilly

Once again, Iraq's Ramadan ends in violence

Every year since the U.S.-led invasion, violence has spiked across Iraq during Ramadan, the ninth month of lunar calendar, when the Koran is said to have been revealed to the prophet Muhammad. Muslims celebrate Ramadan, which ends this week, by fasting from dawn to dusk, asking forgiveness for their sins and doing good deeds. They break the fast with iftar, an evening meal. | 09/29/08 19:39:41 By - Corinne Reilly

The Pentagon's new Africa command raises suspicions about U.S. motives

The U.S. Africa Command, the Pentagon's first effort to unite its counterterrorism, training and humanitarian operations on the continent, launches Wednesday amid questions at home about its mission and deep suspicions in Africa about its intentions. U.S. officials have billed the new command, known as Africom, as a sign of Africa's strategic importance, but many in Africa see it as an unwelcome expansion of the U.S.-led war on terrorism and a bid to secure greater access to the continent's vast oil resources. | 09/29/08 13:53:00 By - Shashank Bengali

A bloody Sunday in Baghdad, in spite of the surge

The five explosions that ripped through central and southwestern Baghdad Sunday, killing at least 33 and injuring at least 111, were a bloody reminder that despite the drop in violence in Iraq the bloodshed is hardly over. | 09/29/08 12:31:26 By - Mohammed al Dulaimy and Leila Fadel

McCain misstated some facts in foreign-policy debate

John McCain and Barack Obama clashed repeatedly over foreign policy in their first presidential debate Friday night, crossing swords on Iran and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. | 09/27/08 00:22:00 By - Warren P. Strobel and Jonathan S. Landay

Pakistani tribesmen organize to fight Taliban insurgents

A popular resistance movement is emerging in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province to challenge Islamic extremists, who now exercise control over whole districts and maintain a stranglehold over the local population. | 09/26/08 17:47:00 By - Saeed Shah

U.S., Pakistani forces exchange fire along the Afghan border

Pakistani forces Thursday fired at U.S. helicopters and traded shots with U.S. troops and Afghan police on the Afghan-Pakistan border in the latest blow to cooperation between Washington and Islamabad, U.S. officials said. Neither side reported casualties in the incident, which occurred when the helicopters crossed into the Pakistani tribal agency of North Waziristan, the Pakistan army said. | 09/25/08 19:32:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay

Where Obama and McCain stand on key foreign policy issues

Fundamental differences on foreign policy and national security separate John McCain and Barack Obama. Here’s where they stand on four major challenges the next president will face. | 09/25/08 18:10:07 By - Jonathan S. Landay and Warren P. Strobel

Why shouldn't Ukraine join NATO? It may not want to

The Bush White House has been pressing its European allies to accept Ukraine into NATO — over Russia's bitter opposition — but Ukriane's continuing political crisis raises serious questions about whether it's ready to join. | 09/25/08 17:35:00 By - Tom Lasseter

Venezuela's Chavez sees America as a 'sinking ship'

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela Thursday described the U.S. economy as "a sinking ship" in the final throes of capitalism but pledged that he would not cut off oil exports to the U.S. unless his nation were attacked. | 09/25/08 15:26:00 By - Tim Johnson

Latin Americans at U.N. slam U.S. priorities in credit crisis

Without ever pronouncing the two words ''United States," Cuba's First Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura condemned Washington on Wednesday, telling the leaders gathered at the United Nations that the country's quest for fast money at the expense of the poor was to blame for the world crises currently threatening the "existence of mankind.'' | 09/25/08 11:29:43 By - Frances S. Robles

U.S. efforts to curb nuclear weapons falter in Iran, N. Korea

The deepest freeze in U.S.-Russia relations since the Cold War has brought diplomatic efforts to halt Iran's nuclear ambitions to a halt just as Western governments and U.N. inspectors are warning that Tehran could be gaining the ability to build a nuclear weapon. Russia this week pulled out of a six-nation meeting scheduled for Thursday to discuss further sanctions against Iran. | 09/24/08 20:26:00 By - Warren P. Strobel

Al Qaida gunmen kill dozens of Iraqi policemen in Diyala province

Gunmen thought to be affiliated with Al Qaida in Iraq ambushed and killed 27 Iraqi policemen and eight anti-Qaida fighters near Baqouba on Wednesday, police and hospital officials said. | 09/24/08 18:17:00 By - Corinne Reilly and Hussein Kadhim

Unpopular British prime minister saves job with U.S. political tactic

He is the son of a Scottish minister, a serious man who is as dour as his predecessor Tony Blair was gregarious. But only 15 months after taking charge, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is fighting for his political life — with a chorus of critics calling for him to resign. | 09/24/08 18:06:00 By - Julie Sell

Tainted milk scandal revives China's 'wet nurses'

A scandal over tainted infant formula and milk sweeping across China has revived business opportunities for a once-condemned practice: the hiring of wet nurses. | 09/24/08 14:48:00 By - Tim Johnson

Iraqi parliament approves crucial election law

After months of infighting, Iraq's parliament unanimously passed a crucial law Wednesday governing provincial elections. | 09/24/08 10:32:00 By - Corinne Reilly

Hurricane recovery slow in Cuba

Swamped by chest-high flooding caused by recent hurricanes, the humble residents of this desolate fishing village on Cuba's southern coast found one small cause for celebration recently: homemade ice cream. | 09/24/08 07:55:11 By -

Successes in Haiti swept away by Ike

Hurricane Jeanne in 2004, Hearts and Hands for Haiti, a tiny Raleigh-based charity, paid for the materials to help residents of the tiny farming community of Sous Raille rebuild their homes. | 09/24/08 07:14:08 By - Jay Price

'Maoist' Chavez nurtures Venezuelan ties with China on visit

Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez arrived in China on a three-day state visit Tuesday, declaring himself a "Maoist" moments after touching down and touting what he said was China's support for a strategy to end U.S. domination of world affairs. | 09/23/08 14:46:57 By - Tim Johnson

Pakistan hit by smaller attacks, killing at least 10

More extremist attacks shook Pakistan on Monday on the heels of a devastating bomb attack on the capital's best-known hotel. Gunmen took the Afghan consul-general hostage after killing his driver, and suicide bombers killed nine policemen at a checkpoint in the valley of Swat, northwest of the capital. | 09/22/08 19:15:00 By - Saeed Shah and Jonathan S. Landay

Shell becomes first international oil firm to open Baghdad office since '70s

Royal Dutch Shell PLC opened an office Monday in Iraq, the first major oil and gas firm to set up a new operation here since the industry was nationalized in the 1970s. Iraq has some of the largest proven crude-oil reserves in the world, and other firms are expected to follow suit. | 09/22/08 19:11:10 By - Leila Fadel

Asia cheers bailout but frets about rising U.S. debt

Investors in Asia on Monday cheered the U.S. bailout plan for Wall Street, voicing hopes that it would stabilize the American economy even as they fretted that spending on the massive bailout would trigger a rise in global inflation. | 09/22/08 13:15:00 By - Tim Johnson

A stopped truck, 3 confused minutes and a horrible blast

A surveillance video released Sunday shows that security measures at Islamabad's Marriott hotel worked, stopping a suicide truck bomb at the hotel's front gate. But security guards seemed confused about what to do next before the truck exploded, devastating the hotel and killing dozens. | 09/21/08 17:16:00 By - Saeed Shah

Was Pakistan prime minister's house bomber's target?

The house isn't far from Islamabad's Marriott Hotel, where a massive explosion killed at least 40 people and wounded hundreds of others. Pakistan's president, who had just delivered a speech condemning al Qaida-allied groups, was among the guests at the prime minister's house. But the truck's driver may not have been able to get though security. | 09/20/08 18:38:00 By - Saeed Shah

U.S. strike kills civilians, Iraqis say

At least eight civilians including women were killed in a U.S. air strike near Tikrit, Friday, Iraqi police and witnesses said. The people were all from one family. The attack which a U.S. military statement said targeted a "terrorist" that is accused of running a bomb making ring happened in the town of Dawr, northwest of Baghdad. | 09/19/08 20:03:12 By - Leila Fadel and Laith Hammoudi

In Black Sea port, Ukraine is sovereign, but Russia rules

As the Kremlin seeks to reassert its sphere of influence around its borders and beyond, this home port for Russia's Black Sea fleet — marooned in the south of Ukraine after the breakup of the Soviet Union — has moved to the center of tensions between Russia and U.S. allies in the region. | 09/19/08 17:38:00 By - Tom Lasseter

Rice says U.S. will resist Russian moves against its neighbors

Using her toughest rhetoric so far to criticize Russia, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday that its invasion of Georgia had put Moscow "on a one-way path to self-imposed isolation" and warned that the West would resist further Russian attempts to impinge on its neighbors' sovereignty. | 09/18/08 18:54:00 By - Warren P. Strobel

Financial shock ripples around globe

Signs of crisis rippled around the globe Thursday as fears that the ailing U.S. financial system would drag down the rest of the world ricocheted from trading floors in Singapore to the streets of Hong Kong and energy markets in Europe. | 09/18/08 16:39:00 By - Tim Johnson, Shashank Bengali and Tom Lasseter

Israel may have 2nd female prime minister in its history

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni narrowly won election as leader of Kadima, the political party founded by comatose Ariel Sharon that leads Israel's government came a step closer to becoming prime minister. She still must win a recount — former Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz refused to concede — then use her diplomatic acumen to persuade skeptical political adversaries to join her in forming a new coalition government. Still, her apparent victory over Mofaz was an endorsemet of her diplomacy-before-warfare approach to Israel's biggest concerns. | 09/17/08 18:33:00 By - Dion Nissenbaum

Another U.S. missile strike in Pakistan provokes anger

The strike against suspected militants in Pakistan's tribal area came just hours after Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff vowed to "respect Pakistan's sovereignty." Pakistani officials have been increasingly critical of American strikes inside Pakistan, near the border with Afghanistan. Wednesday's was the six this month. | 09/17/08 17:12:00 By - Saeed Shah

Chinese parents in agony over tainted baby formula

As China suffers through yet another crisis over food safety, Wang Jun and Wang Yuan endure a private agony at the bedside of their hospitalized infant son. It's bad enough that the 6 1/2 month-old has kidney stones, victim of tainted infant formula. What's worse, they say, is that they fear the kidney ailment may condemn their only child to health problems for years to come. | 09/17/08 15:02:00 By - Tim Johnson

Storm victims left hungry in Caribbean

Rice paddies in this northwest village lie submerged in pools of water, some of them the size of lakes. In the south, entire groves of plantain trees have toppled. And in the central plateau, wilted beanfields and cornfields limp in ruin -- remnants of Haiti's battering by four consecutive storms. | 09/17/08 07:02:22 By - Frances Robles and Jacqueline Charles

Odierno: Former door-kicker now reflects Iraq progress

Soon after he took over as the new U.S. military commander in Iraq Tuesday, Gen. Raymond T. Oderino greeted the U.S. troops standing before him in Arabic: "As-Salam Alaikum," or peace be upon you. For a soldier once known for his aggressive tactics and his impatience with local residents, his budding Arabic marked an extraordinary evolution. | 09/16/08 19:11:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef

U.N. report says Iran has blocked nuclear investigators

The report, a copy of which was obtained by McClatchy, also found that Iran has made significant progress since May in running its industrial-scale uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, installing hundreds of new machines and boosting the average daily output of low-enriched uranium by more than 50 percent. | 09/15/08 19:28:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay

Suicide bomber attacks coming-home party in Iraq

A woman wearing a suicide vest blew herself up Monday at a coming-home party for an Iraqi police sergeant detained by U.S. forces for almost a year, killing 22 people and wounding 33, a high-ranking official said. | 09/15/08 18:39:00 By - Nicholas Spangler and Mohammed al Dulaimy

Pakistan reportedly opens fire on U.S. forces in tribal area

Pakistani troops opened fire Monday on U.S. forces who were trying to enter the country's lawless tribal area, local officials said, marking a dangerous further deterioration in relations between the allies in the war on terrorism. | 09/15/08 17:35:00 By - Saeed Shah

Power-sharing deal is reached in Zimbabwe, but doubts remain

President Robert Mugabe's 28-year grip on Zimbabwe loosened slightly Monday with a deal that makes his archrival, Morgan Tsvangirai, the prime minister, but there are major doubts that the complicated power-sharing arrangement will end the southern African nation's economic crisis. | 09/15/08 16:43:00 By - Shashank Bengali

Tainted Chinese baby formula raises new safety concerns

A scandal over tainted infant formula spread Monday as authorities acknowledged that as many as 10,000 babies may have drunk milk powder laced with the same chemical found in contaminated pet-food exports last year that caused some U.S. animals to die. | 09/15/08 08:01:26 By - Tim Johnson

Mexico's Calderon takes popular — and dangerous stand against cartels

Mexicans have lost faith in many of their institutions, recent polls show, but not in President Felipe Calderon, who boosted his shaky presidency by launching a military offensive against drug traffickers. | 09/15/08 06:00:00 By - Jane Bussey

Political reform gave push to drug lords' rise in Mexico

To understand why drug-related enterprises have become so violent and powerful as to threaten the country's social fabric and government, look no further than the ouster of the former ruling party, many analysts, academics and residents say. | 09/15/08 06:00:00 By - Jane Bussey

Iraqi lawmaker could face charges for traveling to Israel

Parliament on Sunday suspended legal immunity for secular Sunni lawmaker Mithal Alusi, opening him up to possible felony charges for traveling to Israel last week to participate in an international counter-terrorism conference. Alusi is the only Iraqi politician in recent years to publicly visit Israel, a country declared an enemy of state by Iraqi law. | 09/14/08 18:30:00 By - Nicholas Spangler and Mohammed al Dulaimy

Television crew is slain in northern Iraq

BAGHDAD - The Iraqi TV crew brought the gifts that had come to be the trademark of their reality show: some basic household appliances and a delicious supper to break the Ramadan fast for a family of little means. | 09/14/08 18:02:00 By - Nicholas Spangler and Hussein Kadhim

Organized crime takes control in parts of Mexico

As helicopters circled overhead, trucks carrying Mexican army troops lurched through the colonial streets of this provincial capital to a central plaza, where a grenade had been discovered near the cathedral. Law-enforcement agents cordoned off the plaza and removed the grenade. But the latest attempt at intimidation in Michoacan, the state where Mexican President Felipe Calderon first dispatched the military to confront the Mexican drug cartels, appears to have succeeded. Fear of the drug gangs pervades this city about 200 miles west of Mexico City. | 09/14/08 06:00:00 By - Jane Bussey

Pakistan army pledges to 'protect territorial integrity' from U.S. incursions

Pakistan's army chief, responding to a series of U.S. military strikes into Pakistan's tribal areas, pledged Friday to safeguard the country's territorial integrity and claimed the full backing of Pakistan's elected civilian government. | 09/12/08 18:16:00 By - Saeed Shah

China reneges on pledge to say why schools fell in quake

LUOSHUI, China — In quake-wracked Sichuan province, temporary settlements of row houses throb with activity. Excited noise flows from schoolrooms. Rebuilding efforts are at full throttle as the government puts all its heft into fulfilling pledges to recover quickly from the May 12 disaster. | 09/12/08 16:38:00 By - Tim Johnson

Iraqi government reassures the Awakening, but fighters are wary

The Iraqi government will not turn its back on the men who paid in blood for the country's fragile peace, said the officials on stage in the ballroom at Baghdad's al-Rasheed Hotel, referring to U.S.-paid Sunni militias. But the Awakening leaders listened warily. "I don't trust a word they said," said one, afterward. | 09/11/08 17:27:00 By - Nicholas Spangler and Mohammed al Dulaimy

China's quake survivors cling tightly to orphans

Four months after a massive earthquake upended this region of Sichuan province, child welfare officers scurry to sort out the fate of 532 orphan children. So far, only one quake orphan has been adopted into a new home. The rest of the orphans are not tangled in bureaucratic red tape. Rather, they remain in the tight embrace of grandparents and aunts and uncles who refuse to let them go. | 09/11/08 16:36:00 By - Tim Johnson

Russian leaders talk big, but army and economy are weak

Russia's military is riddled with weakness. Its equipment is outdated. Its technology is decades behind the West. And its capacity for battlefield communications and intelligence gathering is terrible. In short, Russia has a mid- to late-20th century military in a 21st century world. | 09/11/08 17:10:00 By - Tom Lasseter

Displaced Iraqis live under stands in soccer stadium

Qader Abdullah Rasoul visited Kirkuk Stadium the day it opened and thought it beautiful. The lush turf was newly laid, and the stands were smooth concrete, steeply tiered to seat tens of thousands of soccer fans. Now Rasoul lives in the stadium along with 2,500 others, mostly Kurds. It's a dirty, sewage-ridden slum and Rasoul is the unofficial mayor. | 09/10/08 19:53:31 By - Nicholas Spangler and Mohammed al Dulaimy

9/11 seven years later: U.S. 'safe,' South Asia in turmoil

Seven years after 9/11, al Qaida and its allies are gaining ground across the region where the plot was hatched, staging their most lethal attacks yet against NATO forces and posing a growing threat to the U.S.-backed governments in Afghanistan and nuclear-armed Pakistan. | 09/10/08 19:14:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay and Saeed Shah

Top military officer warns that U.S. isn't winning in Afghanistan

Warning that the United States could lose the war in Afghanistan, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff announced Wednesday that he'd ordered a "more comprehensive" strategy there to address the growing cross-border insurgency. | 09/10/08 18:16:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef

Caribbean leaders call for help as Haiti toll stands at 341

The scene from the air over Haiti was grim Tuesday: a storm-ravaged landscape stretching out for miles, flooded rice fields, washed-out cities and survivors battling rivers of mud. The country's No. 1 need: drinkable water. | 09/10/08 08:07:13 By - Jennifer Lebovich, Trenton Daniel, and Jacqueline Charles

Hurricane Ike reigniting debate over Cuba embargo

Cuban immigrant Cristina Pujadas has spent the past few days crying, watching hurricanes devastate her homeland and worrying about the family she left behind. | 09/10/08 07:01:53 By - CASEY WOODS AND LESLEY CLARK

Iraqi parliament still gridlocked over provincial-election law

BAGHDAD — Iraqi lawmakers returned from their summer recess Tuesday, still gridlocked over the critical law on provincial elections and with no new vote in sight. | 09/09/08 20:20:00 By - Nicholas Spangler and Sahar Issa

N. Korea's Kim misses big celebration, may be seriously ill

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il failed to appear Tuesday at a military parade marking the nuclear-armed communist state's 60th anniversary, and a U.S. intelligence official said Kim appeared to be seriously ill and might have had a stroke. | 09/09/08 18:59:00 By - Warren P. Strobel

Pakistan's new leader signals opening to Afghanistan

Pakistan's new president, Asif Ali Zardari, put the "war on terror" at the top of his agenda and signaled a major thawing in relations with Afghanistan Tuesday at a swearing-in ceremony where Afghan leader Hamid Karzai shared center-stage. | 09/09/08 17:38:00 By - Saeed Shah

1 million estimated homeless in Haiti in wake of Ike

With Haiti's major bridges crumbled, roadways flooded and an estimated one million people homeless, humanitarian and government groups struggled Monday to push relief supplies into the country where four storms in rapid succession have killed hundreds of people. Rescue groups have no access to many interior villages or to Gonaives, north of the capital, which was cut off when a bridge collapsed. | 09/09/08 07:37:20 By - Jacqueline Charles, Treneton Daniel and Evan S. Benn

After Hurricane Ike, Haiti needs `flood of helicopters'

With Haiti's major bridges crumbled, roadways flooded and an estimated one million people homeless, humanitarian and government groups struggled Monday to push relief supplies into the country and throughout the storm-ravaged Caribbean. | 09/09/08 07:32:06 By - Jacqueline Charles, Trenton Daniel and Evan S. Benn

Iraq signs a natural-gas deal; Iraqi guards shoot pedestrian

Under the agreement approved Sunday, Shell will build the infrastructure to capture and purify the 700 million cubic feet of gas now being burned off every day at the southern oil wells to relieve pressure on the reservoirs below. A Shell official said that's enough fuel to produce electricity for all Iraq. | 09/08/08 18:48:00 By - Nicholas Spangler and Hussein Kadhim

U.S. drivers look to what's in Argentina's tank: natural gas

More vehicles run on natural gas in Argentina than anywhere else in the world, and that success is attracting a burst of interest from the U.S., where a big push is under way to convert buses, taxis and cars to natural gas. | 09/08/08 15:42:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Haiti reeling, cities cut off, as 4 storms deliver devastation

What Tropical Storm Fay, Hurricane Gustav and Tropical Storm Hanna didn't fully demolish, Ike finished off — destroying scores of additional homes and desperately needed plantations, leaving entire communities submerged by flash floods. Both the United States and Venezuela promised aid. ''This is Katrina in the entire country but without the means that Louisiana had,'' the country's president said. | 09/08/08 06:57:51 By - Jacqueline Charles

Rights group condemns U.S., NATO air strikes in Afghanistan

U.S. and NATO air bombings in Afghanistan have killed more than 500 civilians since 2006, fueling a public backlash against the coalition's war effort, a prominent human rights group said Monday. | 09/08/08 06:00:00 By - James Rosen

Bodies on every corner as Ike takes toll on Haitian town

Mothers wailed, fathers screamed, and the entire town of Cabaret, Haiti, was shaken as they counted the dead from Hurricane Ike — many of them children and old women swept up by the river. So far, 22 are believed to have died, but the number would likely rise. | 09/07/08 23:42:33 By - Jacqueline Charles

Iraqi minister in Kuwait to seek relief from war reparations

Iraq's finance minister traveled to Kuwait on Sunday to seek relief from paying the $8.3 billion in reparations that the U.N. awarded Kuwait as compensation for Saddam Hussein's 1991 invasion of that country. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has called on Arab nations to forgive debts incurred by Saddam's regime, but they have been slow to do so. | 09/07/08 11:54:06 By - Nicholas Spangler

Kremlin-watchers warn of direct U.S.-Russia clash

In the aftermath of last month's war between Russia and U.S.-backed Georgia, Kremlin-watchers in Moscow are worried that Russia and America are closer to direct confrontation than at any point since the end of the Cold War. | 09/05/08 18:44:00 By - Tom Lasseter

Iraq's knotty Kirkuk problem: Crucial, urgent, but no quick answer

KIRKUK, Iraq — The men line up by the hundreds every day at the blast wall on al Quds Street: Kurds who were forced out of the province of Kirkuk under Saddam Hussein's regime, Arabs who were brought in to replace them and others. They're all waiting for their checks. | 09/05/08 18:12:00 By - Nicholas Spangler

Hanna, now year's deadliest, has killed scores in Haiti

Hanna has become the deadliest storm of the 2008 hurricane season. It killed 137 people in Haiti, including 102 from the Artibonite region, where Gonaives is located, said Abel Nazaire of Haiti's civil protection bureau. | 09/05/08 08:17:03 By - Jacqueline Charles

Unnoticed by world, Myanmar opens up to cyclone relief

Away from public view, Myanmar has opened up to global relief efforts to an unprecedented degree after initially thwarting foreign attempts to help victims of a devastating cyclone last spring, a U.S. relief agency said in a report issued Friday. The May 2-3 rampage of Cyclone Nargis left 140,000 people dead or missing. | 09/05/08 00:01:00 By - Tim Johnson

Pakistan's likely new leader may align with U.S., produce disputes at home

The Bush administration may be relieved, but some Pakistanis fear the worst when Pakistan's parliament meets Saturday for the almost certain election of Asif Ali Zardari as president, succeeding the ousted former military leader Pervez Musharraf. | 09/04/08 18:23:00 By - Saeed Shah

Web vigilante justice in China draws cry for reform

Wang Fei's infidelity deeply upset his wife. She wrote of her distress in a diary, and then jumped from their 24th floor balcony. Her family posted details of Wang Fei's affair on the Internet, angrily blaming him for his wife's suicide. Soon, tens of thousands of Chinese web users knew about Wang Fei. Many felt incensed, so they revved up a "human-flesh search engine," which is what Chinese Internet users call their Web hunts. | 09/04/08 17:12:00 By - Tim Johnson

U.S. troops cast lines for elusive Saddam bass

By 8 in the morning it was hot, and Chief Warrant Officer Scott Henry, the custodian of the Baghdad Angler's Club and School of Fly Fishing, sat in the shadow of a palace pillar. More palaces were all around the lake, and directly across from him was al Faw Palace, bigger and uglier than the rest. | 09/04/08 08:20:30 By - Nicholas Spangler

Mexican drug traffickers wage PR war over image

Although Mexico's drug cartels have long operated in the shadows, some traffickers or their associates now publicly advertise jobs, sponsor folksongs to sing their own praises and post videos or music online as tributes to leaders or to threaten enemies. The reason for the sudden outspokenness by the usually secretive figures is unclear. | 09/02/08 17:06:00 By - Marisa Taylor

Al Qaida has free movement in Pakistan, top official concedes

Pakistan's top security official Monday admitted that al Qaida's leadership moved freely in and out of the country and vowed that "no mercy" would be shown to extremists based in its tribal territory that borders Afghanistan. | 09/01/08 17:47:17 By - Saeed Shah

Maliki's growing defiance of U.S. worries allies and critics

A week ago, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki at a meeting with tribal sheikhs insisted that a firm date be set for a U.S. withdrawal in a security agreement that has been under intense negotiations for months. That rankled U.S. officials, who'd publicly assured reporters that the deal was virtually done. | 09/01/08 09:46:01 By - Leila Fadel

Pakistan suspends offensive against Islamic militants

The government said the operation agaisnt groups allied with the Taliban and al Qaida was "suspended" to mark Ramadan, the month of fasting for Muslims. But the fighting was not popular and had led to a humanitarian crisis as some 300,000 locals fled. The pause will give the militants time to regroup, critics said. | 08/31/08 20:23:31 By - Saeed Shah

Cuba: Gustav is worst storm to hit the island in 50 years

Authorities called the storm damage the worst since 1956. Wind gusts of 212-mph registered in the city of Paso Real de San Diego were the highest in Cuba's history, according to the provincial newspaper, the Guerrillero. Winds were so strong that the weather station instruments broke. | 08/31/08 16:11:46 By -

Georgian port is focal point of standoff with Russia

Weeks before Russia invaded Georgia earlier this month, excavators in this key Black Sea port began to lay the ground for a $200 million tax-free zone to triple the port's capacity and create, Georgian officials said, the Dubai of the Caucasus. Some of that soft green earth now is occupied by Russian tanks and soldiers camped behind huge, freshly dug trenches, within firing range of ships approaching the port. | 08/29/08 14:32:00 By - Shashank Bengali and Dave Montgomery

Mexico City's abortion-rights law is upheld

Mexico's Supreme Court rejected a constitutional challenge to abortion-rights legislation on Thursday in a decision likely to reverberate across the rest of largely Roman Catholic Latin America. | 08/28/08 19:24:00 By - Jane Bussey and Kevin G. Hall

Russian assault unites Georgia behind Saakashvili

During Russian bombing raids on Georgia's troops and villages earlier this month, Kremlin officials seemed to have another target in their sights: Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, a man they openly despise. | 08/28/08 17:56:00 By - Tom Lasseter

Costa Rica's pineapple boom raises environmental questions

The raucous honking of a cistern truck carrying potable water rouses residents from their homes here each morning, clanging plastic bottles and tin pots in hand. ''When will it stop,'' says 64-year-old Rufina Najera, lugging a yellow 5-gallon pail stained with dirt to the roadside. Last year, authorities detected small amounts of Bromacil, a pesticide used to thwart insects from pineapple plants, in the local aquifer. Since then, the government has delivered water by truck to nearly 6,000 people. "The pineapple companies tell us the water is clean, but the government won't let us drink it,.'' Najera said. | 08/28/08 07:54:14 By - Dave Sherwood

At Obama's Indonesian school, there's no doubt he'll be elected

One of the better-selling books on the U.S. presidential race at the modern, multilevel Gramedia bookstore in Jakarta is "Jangan Bunuh Obama!," or "Don't Kill Obama!" As the title indicates, many Indonesians fear that an assassin's bullet or some other plot could stop him from reaching the White House. The fact that there's another candidate in the race named John McCain barely seems to register. | 08/27/08 21:55:21 By - Warren P. Strobel

Cuba detains rocker, will try him for 'social dangerousness'

Gorki Aguila, 39, heads Porno Para Ricardo — Porn for Ricardo — a 10-year-old punk rock group that regularly denounces the government in its songs. Aguila was picked up Monday during a rehearsal for an album tentatively called ''Geriatric Central Committee,'' an apparent jab at the aging members of Cuba's communist party leadership. | 08/27/08 19:05:19 By - Frances Robles

U.S. military ship avoids tense Georgian port

Avoiding a potential confrontation with Moscow, a U.S. Coast Guard cutter ferrying humanitarian aid to Georgia steered away from the Russian-patrolled port of Poti on Wednesday and docked in Batumi instead. The U.S. decision came as Russia sent a naval task force armed with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles into the waters off of Abkhazia on Wednesday on a "peace and stability" mission. | 08/27/08 11:03:53 By - Shashank Bengali

North Korea suspends dismantling of nuclear facilities

The reclusive Stalinist regime accused the Bush administration of reneging on a deal to remove North Korea from a U.S. list of states that sponsor terrorism and warned that it soon could move to "restore" the facilities at Yongbyon "to their original state." | 08/26/08 18:39:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay

U.S. warships due to arrive in disputed Georgian port

The move would put U.S. military assets within close range of Russian forces for the first time since the Georgian conflict began. A port official said two warships were expected at the port of Poti on Wednesday. The port is within sight of a Russian military installation manned by an unknown number of soldiers. Just outside Poti sits a smaller Russian checkpoint. | 08/26/08 10:22:00 By - Shashank Bengali

Top U.S. diplomat in Peshawar, Pakistan, unhurt after ambush

Gunmen opened fire on a vehicle carrying the top U.S. diplomat in the volatile northwestern city of Peshawar Tuesday. But consul-general Lynne Tracy was unhurt as were the other two U.S. consular employees. | 08/26/08 15:05:54 By - Saeed Shah

U.S. warships set to enter disputed Georgian port

The move would put U.S. military assets within close range of Russian forces for the first time since the Georgian conflict began. A port official said two warships were expected at the port of Poti on Wednesday. The port is within sight of a Russian military installation manned by an unknown number of soldiers. Just outside Poti sits a smaller Russian checkpoint. | 08/26/08 10:27:31 By - Shashank Bengali

Dazed Iraqi teen suicide bomber says she didn't want to die

The 15-year-old girl had the chubby cheeks of a child when she was arrested Sunday by an alert policeman who chained her to the bars of a window, stripped off her dress, found an explosive vest and deactivated the bomb. Had he not, Rania would have been this year's 31st suicide bomber in Iraq. On Monday, she spoke about the people who put her up to it: the relatives who drugged her; her husband, whom police accuse of being a member of al Qaida in Iraq, and her mother, who seemed to play a central role in turning Rania into a human bomb.

Pakistan's governing coalition splits, promising more convulsions

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif pulled his party out of Pakistan's coalition government and joined the opposition Monday, a blow to chances for political stability in the nuclear-armed country. | 08/25/08 18:04:00 By - Saeed Shah

Georgia war was in South Ossetia, but Abkhazia's the prize

Russia has long sponsored the Abkhaz regime in the hope of annexing the ruggedly beautiful region, once a favored vacation spot for Soviet leaders. Roughly the size of Delaware, it boasts a 150-mile Black Sea shoreline and lies just 25 miles south of the Russian city of Sochi, the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics. | 08/25/08 17:13:00 By - Shashank Bengali

Russian parliament recognizes breakaway Georgian enclaves

The move, which requires the approval of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to become law, gave a domestic legal basis for Russia to take control of the areas in defiance of the U.S.-backed government of Georgia. Russian leaders said they weren't worried about NATO or U.S. responses to the action, saying the West has no choice but to accept it. | 08/25/08 00:39:00 By - Tom Lasseter and Alla Burakovskaya

Texas' soldier-farmers seek to remake Afghan farming

Texas soldiers, agricultural experts who come from Aledo to Weslaco, are on the forefront of a new National Guard initiative to bring Afghan farming out of the 19th century, in a place where decades of war have destroyed infrastructure, wrecked government capabilities and provided a favorable environment for illicit poppy production. | 08/25/08 07:00:12 By - Chris Vaughn

Was holding the Olympics in Beijing the right decision?

Everyone agrees that the games were a technical success, the venues beautiful and the competition exciting. But debate continued as the games ended about whether the International Olympic Committee had honored the Olympic spirit by awarding the games to a country led by an authoritarian government with little taste for dissent or transparency. "What was the goal of bringing the games to Beijing?" asked one commentator. "If it was to improve human rights, they failed miserably." | 08/24/08 23:40:51 By - Jack Chang

In Turks & Caicos, the chief minister's marriage makes waves

The love story between American actress LisaRaye McCoy and Turks and Caicos Islands Premier Michael Misick starred a beautiful bride in a gown that sported hand-sewn Swarovski crystals and a 30-foot train. Now the plot features allegations of rape, infidelity, domestic violence and corruption, leaving the people of the tiny island nation southeast of the Bahamas scratching their heads. | 08/24/08 18:46:32 By - Frances Robles

Russians give tour of Georgia, but try not to show too much

Russian officials agreed to let reporters travel with them as they gave a European Commission delegate a tour of the battlefield. But it quickly became clear they didn't really want a lot of questions about contradictions that arose to their assertion that Georgia's "genocide" against South Ossetia required a massive Russian intervention. | 08/24/08 16:57:00 By - Tom Lasseter

U.S. destroyer arrives off Georgia, unloads aid

The U.S.S. McFaul stayed a mile offshore while the aid was brought ashore by barge. Officials said that's because Georgia's main deepwater port, Poti, was still too heavily damaged from Russian bombing and looting to accomodate the ship. More ships are on the way. | 08/24/08 16:37:00 By - Shashank Bengali

Bhutto's widower will seek Pakistan's presidency

Should he win, it would be a remarkable political ascent for Asif Zardari, who previously lived in his wife's shadow and was dubbed "Mr. 10 Percent" for his alleged corruption when she was twice prime minister. He spent 11 years in jail, in two stints, over dozens of charges that were never proven, including two murder cases. | 08/23/08 18:12:00 By - Saeed Shah

Amid Georgians' tales of violence, death toll is unclear

More than a week after fighting ended between Georgia and Russia, exactly what happened on the battlefield during the five-day war remains unclear. In villages such as Tkviavi, Georgian residents accuse South Ossetian irregulars of sweeping in after the Russian advance and wreaking havoc. But tales of killings, while tragic, were relatively few. | 08/23/08 16:10:00 By - Tom Lasseter

Russia's oil boom may be running on empty

The Russian oil boom, which has produced a gusher of cash, political power and an opulent elite — and has helped fuel the country's renewed assertiveness in Georgia and elsewhere — is on shakier ground than officials in Moscow would like to admit. | 08/22/08 15:28:00 By - Tom Lasseter

Beijing disappointment: U.S. will be No. 2 in gold-medal race

With just two days left before the end of the Olympic Games, some U.S. sports officials were fretting Friday about a likely U.S. second-place finish in the gold-medal count, far behind China, and wondering what went wrong this month. | 08/22/08 14:47:52 By - Jack Chang

Senator back from Georgia wants tough action against Russia

Sen. Lindsey Graham said Friday that his visit to Georgia, Ukraine and Poland, at Sen. John McCain's behest, persuaded him that the United States and its allies must take tough steps to prevent further Russian military aggression against its smaller neighbors. | 08/22/08 13:58:00 By - James Rosen

Russia withdraws from some positions in Georgia

Troops pulled back from Gori, in central Georgia, and vacated the town of Igoeti, the closest they’d come to Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. But Russian forces maintained checkpoints on either side of Gori and in western Georgia were busy erecting a makeshift base in Chkhorotsku, 30 miles north of the town of Senaki. They continued to hold two positions outside Poti, Georgia's main Black Sea port. | 08/22/08 10:32:16 By - Shashank Bengali and Tom Lasseter

Petraeus: Iraq slows hiring of former insurgents

The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David H. Petraeus, said Thursday that the Iraqi government had been purposefully slow in absorbing into its security forces tens of thousands of mostly former Sunni insurgents who'd joined U.S.-financed militias. "This is how you end these kinds of conflicts. That's why they call it reconciliation," he said. | 08/21/08 18:55:00 By - Leila Fadel

Cease-fire pact may give Russians cover to stay in Georgia

European security officials think that a cease-fire agreement between Russia and Georgia, brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, is so vaguely worded that Russia can argue that it's fulfilling its obligations under the pact, even if it doesn't withdraw troops to the positions they held before fighting broke out Aug. 7. | 08/21/08 18:16:00 By - Julie Sell

Sandinista anniversary celebrated in Nicaragua with mixed emotions

Standing on the floor of the old national legislature where he and a group of Sandinista rebels sparked a national insurrection 30 years ago, legendary guerrilla leader Eden Pastora urges Nicaraguan youth to continue the revolution after he and his graying comrades have passed away. | 08/21/08 18:12:28 By - Tim Rogers

Double suicide blast kills 60 at Pakistan arms plant

In probably the worst-ever terrorist attack on a Pakistan military installation, two bombers blew themselves up at different gates of a giant munitions plant in Wah, about 20 miles from the capital, just as hundreds of workers were coming through for the afternoon change of shifts. Pakistan's Taliban movement, which is linked to al Qaida, claimed responsibility. | 08/21/08 17:15:00 By - Saeed Shah

Edgy Georgians now thinking about resisting invasion

After more than a week of Russian troops occupying his town, Kishvardi Taturashvili said the time for resistance was drawing near. The Russian armored fighting vehicles that are blocking routes in and out of Gori are slowing the flow of humanitarian aid and stifling trade, he said. Travel is controlled by Russian soldiers; a McClatchy reporter was turned back at checkpoints, and had to slip in via a footbridge. | 08/21/08 16:58:00 By - Tom Lasseter

Mexico's Fox chastises U.S., pushes democracy

Eighteen months after leaving office, former President Vicente Fox is taking a page from Jimmy Carter's playbook and engineering his legacy as a champion of democratic values and government transparency at home and abroad. | 08/21/08 15:48:19 By - Liza Gross

Rice meets with Iraq's Maliki on U.S. troop agreement

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Thursday with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki in an effort to close the gap between U.S. and Iraqi negotiators on an agreement that would govern the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq after a U.N. mandate expires at the end of the year. Iraqi officials have said Maliki has held up completion of the agreement because he is seeking greater authority over the conduct of American troops. | 08/21/08 05:00:01 By - Jonathan S. Landay

In Georgia, Russia appears to break pledge to pull back

Digging into Georgian territory despite promises to withdraw, Russian forces plowed ground Wednesday for what residents feared were two new checkpoints near this strategic Black Sea port. Tractors turned over fresh earth along a riverbank outside Poti, while Western news reporters said Russian soldiers in central Georgia appeared to be building a sentry post 30 miles from the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. | 08/20/08 18:38:00 By - Shashank Bengali

U.S., Poland sign pacts on missile defense

The United States will deploy anti-missile interceptors, upgrade Poland's air defenses and modernize its military under a strategic cooperation declaration signed Wednesday. | 08/20/08 10:21:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay

Is there nothing the U.S. can do about Georgia?

The options for retaliating against the Kremlin are limited. The United States has ruled out military action, and NATO on Tuesday declined to abolish cooperative programs with Russia in part because of misgivings about challenging a nation with vast oil and natural gas supplies, a large military and a huge nuclear arsenal. Other options under consideration would strike at Moscow's post-Soviet hunger to restore its lost international status, but analysts differ about their potential effectiveness. | 08/19/08 19:32:00 By - Dave Montgomery

Russia seizes prisoners in raid on Georgia’s main port

POTI, Georgia _ Russian forces took more than two dozen Georgian soldiers prisoner Tuesday in a raid on the country's main commercial seaport, a striking display of force that belied the first faint signs that Russia was reducing its troop levels elsewhere in Georgia. | 08/19/08 19:40:54 By - Shashank Bengali and Tom Lasseter

Pentagon, White House at odds over aid to Georgia

The White House would like to dispatch a U.S. Navy ship to the Black Sea to demonstrate U.S. support towards an embattled Georgia. But Pentagon officials believe such a mission is unnecessary and that the current regimen of one aid flight a day is sufficient to meet Georgia's needs. | 08/19/08 19:25:36 By - Nancy A. Youssef

NATO takes no decisive steps to force Russian withdrawal

NATO declared Tuesday that there will be no "business as usual" with Moscow while Russian forces occupied large parts of Georgia, but it took no decisive action to enforce a demand for an immediate Russian withdrawal in line with a French-brokered cease-fire. Russia's envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, mocked the outcome of an emergency meeting of the 26-nation alliance. "The mountain gave birth to a mouse," Rogozin told reporters. | 08/19/08 18:51:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay and Shashank Bengali

Iraqi army seizes 2 Sunni officials in chaotic pre-dawn raid

Iraqi forces raided the provincial government compound in Diyala Province in a chaotic operation early Tuesday, killing the governor's secretary and seizing computers and cars before local police engaged them in a two-hour gun battle, police and local officials said. | 08/19/08 17:36:00 By - Nicholas Spangler and Laith Hammoudi

Haiti PM's future on hold

The political fate of Haiti's newly ratified prime minister, Michele Duvivier Pierre-Louis, was put on hold Tuesday after the president of the lower house of parliament was forced to postpone Phase 2 of her ratification vote. ''The executive isn't ready; nobody is ready,'' a frustrated Eric Jean-Jacques told The Miami Herald in a telephone interview from Port-au-Prince. "Nobody wants to take risks.'' | 08/19/08 16:49:34 By - Jacqueline Charles

Mexico City's abortion-rights law faces constitutional test

More than a year after abortion was decriminalized in this capital city, abortion opponents hope the Mexican Supreme Court will reverse the legislation in a decision that could reverberate across Mexico and Latin America. Mexico's highest court heard public testimony in the spring, and is expected to rule as early as this month on the constitutionality of the local abortion measure. | 08/19/08 15:26:00 By - Kevin G. Hall

NATO can't agree on sanctions against Russia

In a statement after their meeting, NATO foreign ministers, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, called on Russia immediately to withdraw its tanks, but took no other action. Russia's representative to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, made light of the group's indecision. | 08/19/08 10:50:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay

Russia seizes prisoners in raid on Georgia's main port

Russian forces briefly seized Georgia's main seaport on Tuesday and carted away about 20 Georgian soldiers in a raid that paralyzed one of Georgia's key commercial hubs for several hours, port officials said. About 100 heavily armed Russian soldiers aboard six armored personnel carriers overran the port of Poti at about 8 a.m. Five hours later they drove out past helpless Georgian police officers and dozens of anxious onlookers. | 08/19/08 08:04:12 By - Shashank Bengali

Rice warns Moscow about its bomber runs off Alaska

Since Russian planes resumed patrols off Alaska in August 2007, U.S. officials have attached little significance to the flights, which U.S. and Canadian fighters have intercepted and escorted away from the U.S. coast. But Rice said Monday the invasion of Georgia puts the flights in a new context. | 08/18/08 19:12:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay

Musharraf's resignation won't solve Pakistan's problems

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf bowed to domestic and international pressure and quit Monday, but his departure could trigger further instability for the nuclear-armed U.S. ally if the country's fractious coalition government can't hold together without its common enemy. | 08/18/08 18:15:00 By - Saeed Shah

Russia takes more ground in Georgia despite pullback vow

Despite assurances that it would withdraw troops from Georgia starting Monday, the Russian military operated with impunity as its forces moved convoys in and out of the city of Gori and plowed through a police roadblock in Ingoeti, some 25 miles northwest of Tbilisi, the capital. McClatchy reporters in both central and western Georgia saw no signs Russian troops were withdrawing. | 08/18/08 18:02:00 By - Tom Lasseter and Shashank Bengali

Haiti's new prime minister seeks to revive nation

If there is a metaphor that describes the challenges facing Haiti's newly ratified Prime Minister Michele Duvivier Pierre-Louis, look no further than the Port-au-Prince neighborhood that once served as home to American dance icon Katherine Dunham. Smack in the middle of squalor, in a neighborhood marred by years of gang violence, stands 30 acres of overgrown forest, fruit trees and clogged natural springs. | 08/18/08 18:03:50 By - Jacqueline Charles

No sign that Russians have begun to leave Georgia

Despite assurances in Moscow that Russian forces would withdraw from Georgia into the breakway enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, there were no signs of a pullback. McClatchy reporters in central and western Georgia witnessed troops movements that seemed intended only to reenforce Russia's control. | 08/18/08 13:01:00 By - Tom Lasseter and Shashank Bengali

Pakistan's Musharraf resigns to avoid impeachment turmoil

Musharraf came on live on national television, just after 1 p.m. local time, in an address that lasted for over an hour. What will happen to him next wasn't announced. Musharraf's resignation avoids an impeachment battle that many worried would aired details of controversial aspects of his alliance with the Bush administration in the war on terrorism, including the disappearance of hundreds of Pakistanis, some into U.S. custody. | 08/18/08 07:30:51 By - Saeed Shah

China manages expectations in medals chase

China has dominated the first half of the Olympic Games by winning 35 gold medals as of Sunday night, 16 more than the second-place U.S. delegation. But the gold medal race should tighten this week, as Chinese athletes head into sporting events such as track and field that they're less dominant in. Even Chinese sports officials warned Sunday that their fortunes would likely change over the coming week. | 08/17/08 19:09:29 By - Jack Chang

Pakistan faces critical days as decision nears on Musharraf

President Pervez Musharraf is under intense pressure to quit before the formal start of impeachment proceedings Monday or Tuesday. But negotiators have yet to reach agreement on Musharraf's exit from power. Musharraf cannot beat impeachment, but he's demanded that he be given immunity from any future prosecution and that he be allowed to live in Pakistan, both conditions the government is reluctant to meet. | 08/17/08 17:51:00 By - Saeed Shah

Tour of Tskhinvali undercuts Russian claim of genocide

The Russian rationale for invading Georgia was that Georgian troops were killing civilians in Tskihinvali, the capital of South Ossetia. But a tour of the city without official escorts on Sunday undercut that version of events. While there's evidence of heavy fighting, there's little to support Russian claims of hundreds of dead. A doctor at the city's main hospital, the only one open during the battles that began late on Aug. 7, said the facility recorded just 40 deaths. | 08/17/08 17:28:00 By - Tom Lasseter

Tensions run high in southern Philippines island group

A renegade force of Muslim rebels began slipping into the villages near Aleoson in the southern Philippines in late June. By the time they were pushed out last week in three days of bloody fighting, the rebels had razed at least 50 houses, pilfered livestock and rubbed emotions raw between Christians and Muslims, according to residents and the Philippines military. While it's been localized, the fighting also poses a potential complication for U.S. strategy here. | 08/17/08 16:31:00 By - Warren P. Strobel

Russia: Withdrawal to begin Monday but extent is uncertain

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Sunday that troops would begin to withdraw from neighboring Georgia on Monday but there were signs that the withdrawal would still leave a potent force there. In Zugdidi, in the west, about two dozen empty Russian military trucks rumbled down the main road shortly after 9 a.m. in the direction of Poti, leading residents to speculate that Russian forces in the breakaway province of Abkhazia were resupplying. | 08/17/08 15:34:00 By - Shashank Bengali

More Chinese, beset by pollution woes, are going green

While Olympic visitors from around the world get a firsthand glimpse this month at China's pollution problems, a homegrown movement is racing to ward off what many here predict could be epic environmental meltdown. Hundreds of millions of Chinese are taking the first steps to turn the tide, fueled by growing unhappiness with the plunging quality of life caused by out-of-control environmental degradation. | 08/16/08 17:21:52 By - Jack Chang

Chavez seeks to pull Paraguay's new leader into his orbit

The dusty farm town of San Pedro, where Fernando Lugo ministered to the poor as its activist, left-leaning bishop, welcomed him back Saturday as Paraguay's unlikely president with hugs, cheers and exhortations that he not fail them. But for the second day in a row, it was Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez who stole the show, as part of a determined effort by Chavez to tug Lugo into his political camp. | 08/16/08 16:13:00 By - Tyler Bridges

No signs of Russian military standing down in Georgia

Russian troops on Saturday reportedly blew up a key railroad bridge and continued to occupy fighting positions along the main road linking Gori to the capital, Tbilisi. President Bush called for both sides to withdraw to the positions they held before war broke out on Aug. 8; Russian forces extended their lines another 15 miles toward Tbilisi, and stood just outside of Igoeti. They also held 13 villages in Abkhazia in the west. | 08/16/08 14:59:00 By - Tom Lasseter

U.S. weighing what to do next about Russia

President Bush declared Friday that the United States and its allies "stand with the people" of war-torn Georgia against Russian "bullying and intimidation." He then left Washington for a 10-day vacation at his Texas ranch. | 08/15/08 18:33:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay

Negotiations over Musharraf's exit stall on immunity request

Negotiations between the Pakistani government and President Pervez Musharraf, aimed at securing his resignation before impeachment, are stalling, with only days left before proceedings begin in parliament, according to politicians involved in the talks. | 08/15/08 17:41:00 By - Saeed Shah

Georgians still hoping that U.S. military will arrive

In refugee centers across Tbilisi, men and women who'd fled their burning villages wanted to know when the support would move beyond words. They wanted to know when the Americans, or perhaps the Europeans, were coming to save them. | 08/15/08 17:24:00 By - Tom Lasseter

Ukrainians wonder what Georgia crisis means for them

Russia's invasion of Georgia has unsettled this former Soviet republic, which like Georgia has applied for membership in NATO but now fears that the U.S. could do little to prevent similar Russian action here. "If the West swallows the pill and forgives Russia the Georgian war, the invasion of 'peacekeeping tanks' into Ukraine will just be a matter of time," Oleksandr Suchko, the research director of the Kiev-based Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation, wrote on Ukrainska Pravda (Ukrainian Truth), a leading online news site. | 08/15/08 15:15:00 By - Brian Bonner

Bush and Putin aren't so friendly anymore

There's no soul-gazing anymore between George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin. A series of disputes over Iraq, Iran, energy, NATO expansion, renewed repression of dissent in Russia and now the invasion of Georgia have breached the trust that Bush famously boasted of having placed in Putin when their presidential tenures were young. | 08/15/08 14:24:00 By - James Rosen

Indictment against Cuban exile militant reinstated

A federal appeals court in New Orleans on Thursday reinstated an indictment against Luis Posada Carriles that charged the Cuban exile militant with lying about how he sneaked into the United States in 2005. | 08/15/08 14:06:11 By - Alfonso Chardy

FARC jailer faces extradition to U.S.

Heli Mejia Mendoza was the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia's warden, the one who kept the keys to the chains wrapped around hostages' necks. He publicly admitted to safeguarding dozens of men and women the rebel group kidnapped and kept captive for years, including three American defense contractors rescued last month. | 08/15/08 14:02:50 By - Frances Robles

Colombia says journalist has FARC ties

Now a Colombian journalist who works for Telesur is accused of being a FARC collaborator. | 08/15/08 07:43:34 By - Phil Gunson

Another flub? Bush vowed Navy aid to Georgia too soon

President Bush promised that U.S. naval forces would help deliver humanitarian aid to Georgia, but administration officials said he spoke before the Pentagon had planned such an operation or Turkey, a NATO ally that controls access to the Black Sea, had cleared it. On Thursday, Pentagon officials said they doubted any ships would be sent to the Black Sea. | 08/14/08 20:56:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay

U.S. 'no' to intervention leaves Russia in control

Many Georgians saw American intervention as their sole remaining chance at avoiding Russian domination and spoke of the United States with an admiration rarely heard in many parts of the world. With the Georgian army defeated, the reports of an American aid shipment to Georgia sparked hopes that the U.S. military might follow. But Defense Secretary Robert Gates made it clear that wonl't happen. "I don’t see any prospect for the use of military force by the United States in this situation. Is that clear enough?" he said. | 08/14/08 19:33:50 By - Nancy A. Youssef, Tom Lasseter and Dave Montgomery

Georgia's bitter defeat plays out on road to capital

The road to Gori was littered with defeat. Refugees holding bags of clothes wandered toward Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, about 40 miles to the south. Georgian soldiers, beaten into retreat by the Russian military, sat blank-faced in trucks, waiting for Russian permission to go into Gori. | 08/14/08 17:43:00 By - Tom Lasseter

Ex-bishop, advocate for poor, will take Paraguay's helm

The commander had a simple message: Disperse immediately or the riot police would scatter everyone with water cannons, tear gas and truncheons. The man who was leading 10,000 protesters and blocking the dirt roadway didn't flinch, however. On Friday, that man, Fernando Lugo, a former Roman Catholic bishop, will be inaugurated as Paraguay's president. | 08/14/08 15:29:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Gates: U.S. won't intervene in Georgia; 'Is that clear enough?'

In his first public comments since the conflict began Aug. 7, Defense Secretary Robert Gates made it clear that the U.S. would not answer pleas from Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili that the U.S. military protect his country's ports and airports. The comments came as officials in Moscow made it clear that they favor redrawing Georgia's borders | 08/14/08 13:44:28 By - Nancy A. Youssef

U.S. price hikes likely result of Beijing's efforts to curb smog

In what turned out to be a futile effort to rid Beijing of air pollution, officials blocked heavy truck traffic from entering Beijing and closed nearby factories. Those steps will create shortages felt around the world long after the Olympics have ended. U.S. consumers will likely see higher prices if not outright shortages for products such as mobile telephones, auto parts, semiconductors, Vitamin C, and steel. The true impact won't be known till September. | 08/14/08 08:50:07 By - Jack Chang

Russia working to destroy Georgia's wounded military

Russia's attacks on Wednesday, including occupying two military bases well outside the truce lines and burning three Georgian coast guard vessels in the port of Poti, seemed to be a systematic effort to destroy what remains of Georgia's military equipment and capabilities, Georgian officials said. The moves prompted President Bush to order U.S. military units to deliver humanitarian aid, setting up a possible U.S.-Russia confrontation. Witnesses said the Russians also seemed to be encouraging the burning and looting of Georgian villages. | 08/13/08 11:06:10 By - Tom Lasseter and Jonathan S. Landay

Despite angry words, Pentagon seeks to avoid Russia conflict

Despite an angry pronouncement and a threat of U.S. action from President Bush, the U.S. military is determined to avoid inserting itself between its Georgian allies and its former superpower rival, Russia. The U.S. military is treading a delicate balance, trying to show its support for the struggling Georgian government without aggravating already fragile U.S.-Russian relations or, even worse, becoming embroiled in a fight with Russia. | 08/13/08 18:57:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef

Musharraf being nudged to quit before impeachment

Americans and British diplomats are trying to encourage a quick exit from office for Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, a staunch Western anti-terrorism ally, before he suffers the disgrace of impeachment, Pakistani officials said Wednesday. | 08/13/08 18:47:00 By - Saeed Shah

Bin Laden driver's story to go Hollywood

It's true that a production company owned by Hollywood heartthrob George Clooney optioned the story of Osama bin Laden's driver. Hollywood publicist Stan Rosenfield told The Miami Herald by telephone Tuesday that Grant Heslov, who wrote "Good Night, and Good Luck" with Clooney, optioned a recently released book on the Hamdan case by New York writer Jonathan Mahler. | 08/13/08 15:23:12 By - Carol Rosenberg

Russia relations sure to suffer, but no one knows how much

Experts agree that Russia's invasion of Georgia has dealt a serious blow to relations between Moscow and the United States. But the extent of the damage won't be known until Moscow makes clear whether it will cooperate in a European-led peace initiative. The United States needs Russia's help on a range of issues, from tightening U.N. sanctions against Iran to ensuring that North Korea eliminates its nuclear weapons program. | 08/13/08 01:03:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay

Russian military stronger, but still far from Cold War peak

Russia's first foreign war since Soviet troops stormed into Afghanistan nearly three decades ago is showcasing a resurgent military that's trying to overcome years of decline after the breakup of the Soviet Union. | 08/13/08 01:50:00 By - Dave Montgomery

Mexico mourns another kidnapping death

A father's pain over his son's death at the hands of abductors has reverberated across a nation overwhelmed by the rising violence of a brutal drug war, sparking a public outcry and leaving the government scrambling to clean up its discredited security forces. | 08/13/08 01:00:00 By - Jane Bussey

China's 'protest pens' unused amid arrests, permit denials

Liu Shaowu, director of security for the Olympic Games, announced July 23 that protests could occur at three public parks in Beijing. But a tour of the so-called "protest pens" found no protests. No surprise. Relatives of people who applied to use the protest venues report that applicants were arrested. | 08/13/08 01:27:38 By - Tim Johnson

Chavez's ex-wife running as opposition mayor of Venezuelan city

Hugo Chavez has left a trail of defeated men in his wake during nearly 10 years as Venezuela's socialist president, winning three elections and surviving one recall attempt. Now his ex-wife and former first lady has emerged as what Venezuelans like to call "the pebble in his shoe." Marisabel Rodriguez is one of his most dogged critics. She's also the mother of his 10-year-old daughter. | 08/13/08 06:00:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Philippine military, Muslim rebels clash; peace plan suffers

Fierce fighting between Muslim rebels and the Filipino military over the last three days has dealt a setback to a peace plan aimed at ending the world's longest-running insurgency and raised fears of violence spreading elsewhere in the southern Philippines. | 08/13/08 01:30:00 By - Warren P. Strobel

Morales survives Bolivian election test, but foes also gain

President Evo Morales scored a split victory in a national referendum Sunday when Bolivians voted to keep him in office but also ratified governors who are his implacable foes, according to television exit polls. The result will mean continued division along political and geographic lines over Morales' efforts to push through Socialist policies meant to give greater political and economic power to the indigenous majority, analysts said. | 08/13/08 01:40:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Civilians were only targets left as Russia kept bombing

On the day that Russia declared an end to its war in Georgia, explosions boomed across Gori and the valley around it. What Russian planes were targeting wasn't clear; the Georgian military had abandoned its posts overnight. But the grim toll was evident in body parts and wounded civilians. "They are punishing us," said one doctor treating the wounded. "They are punishing us for trying to be independent." | 08/13/08 01:10:00 By - Tom Lasseter

Leaders of Poland, former Soviet republics join Georgian at anti-Russia rally

With Russia seemingly on the verge of reasserting old Soviet-style authority over its neighbors, the heads of state of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine, all once controlled by the Soviet Union, joined Georgia's Mikhail Saakashvili in a late-night rally in downtown Tbilisi to vow they would not give up the independence they've enjoyed since 1991, when the Soviet Union was dissolved. | 08/13/08 01:44:58 By - Tom Lasseter and Steven Thomma

Unchallenged air power was Russia's trump card

For days, Russian jets and bombers unleashed a massive aerial campaign against Georgian forces that, more than anything, dramatically changed the war's direction. Until Russian jets showed up, Georgian tanks and infantry looked to be on their way to defeating separatist forces in Tskhinvali, the capital of the breakaway province of South Ossetia. But Georgia's ground troops couldn't do much against Russian aircraft after Russian bombing eliminated Georgia's air defenses. | 08/13/08 01:02:00 By - Tom Lasseter

Russia working to destroy Georgia's wounded military

GORI, Georgia — Russian troops, in violation of a cease-fire agreement reached on Tuesday, embarked Wednesday on what Georgian officials called a deliberate and systematic attempt to demolish what remains of the Georgian military. | 08/13/08 20:18:00 By - Tom Lasseter and Jonathan S. Landay

Mexico's drug traffickers set their sights on top officials

When Mexican Congressman David Figueroa abruptly dropped out of the race to be governor of Sonora state and was hurriedly approved as the country's new consul general in San Jose, Calif., it highlighted an alarming trend: Mexico's drug cartels, which have long targeted local officials, are now striking at higher-level ones, particularly those close to President Felipe Calderon. | 08/13/08 06:00:29 By - Kevin G. Hall

War court resumes, readies Canadian's trial

With one conviction by military jury on the books, the war court gavels back into session Wednesday with pre-trial hearings in the case of the next war-on-terror captive up for trial — Canadian Omar Khadr. Khadr, now 21, is accused of the grenade killing of a U.S. Special Forces soldier in a firefight in Afghanistan in July 2002, when he was 15. | 08/12/08 18:57:01 By - Carol Rosenberg

Russia says it's halted Georgia war, sets peace terms

TBILISI, Georgia — Russian leaders said Tuesday that they'd called off their military strikes against targets in Georgia, but bombing persisted in much of the country and the United States recommended that American citizens leave Georgia because of the continued attacks. | 08/12/08 13:16:00 By - Tom Lasseter and Steven Thomma

Russia says Georgia campaign over, but fighting persists

Russian leaders said Tuesday they'd called off their military strikes against Georgia, but reporters witnessed Russian planes bombed the town of Gori even though Georgian troops had abandoned the area, leaving artillery and troop transports on the side of the road. | 08/12/08 12:26:42 By - Steven Thomma and Tom Lasseter

Al Qaida leader reportedly killed as Pakistan's clashes escalate

A leading al Qaida commander, reputed to be number three in the terrorist group, is thought to have been killed after several days of fierce fighting in Pakistan's northwest fringe, a clash that's pushing the country toward war with the extremists. | 08/12/08 10:20:00 By - Saeed Shah

U.S. knew Georgia trouble was coming, but couldn't stop it

Bush administration officials, worried by what they saw as a series of provocative Russian actions, repeatedly warned Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili to avoid giving the Kremlin an excuse to intervene in his country militarily. But in the end, the warnings failed to stop the Georgian president — a Bush favorite — from launching an attack that now seems likely to end in his country's occupation by Russian forces. | 08/11/08 21:21:02 By - Jonathan S. Landay

Bolivia's mandate for Morales unlikely to provoke compromise with opponents

A fundamental clash between the socialist and indigenous peoples of the Andean region of Bolivia and the more entrepreneurial and racially mixed residents of the eastern lowlands paralyzed this country in 2008, and that divide seems likely to harden in the wake of Sunday's national referendum. | 08/11/08 18:56:18 By - Tyler Bridges

Al Qaida's No. 2 in a video calls for uprising in Pakistan

Pakistan's beleaguered President Pervez Musharraf on Monday received a direct violent threat from al Qaida while his political opponents convened parliament to begin impeachment proceedings against him. Ayman al Zawahri, Osama bin Laden's No. 2, spoke in English for the first time in a recording. It was Musharaf's 65th birthday. | 08/11/08 18:30:22 By - Saeed Shah

Russian troops dominate Georgia, seize key cities, port

Russian troops were reported in control of Georgia's main east-west highway outside the central Georgian town of Gori, had taken control of Georgia's main port at Poti, had seized a Georgian military base in the west and had complete dominion of the skies, from which they bombed and strafed retreating Georgian troops at will. Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili accused the Russians of "implementing the reoccupation of Georgia to eliminate the independence of Georgia." | 08/11/08 14:15:12 By - Tom Lasseter and Steven Thomma

Russia pushes deeper into Georgia, rejects ceasefire

Russia pressed its invasion of Georgia by land, sea and air for a third day Sunday, striking far beyond contested South Ossetia. Russian jets bombed near Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, including civilian housing, military bases, factories and the international airport, according to Georgian officials. Russian warships in the Black Sea sank a Georgian missile boat that approached them, state-run Russian news media said. | 08/10/08 19:16:00 By - Tom Lasseter and Jonathan S. Landay

Russia presses attack as Georgia calls for a ceasefire

Georgia drew back from Tskhinvali, the capital of breakaway South Ossetia, after a night of heavy Russian bombing, a Georgian official said, and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili called for a ceasefire. But the moves were not likely to satisfy Russia, which is demanding that Georgia recognize South Ossetia's independence and agree to a non-aggression pact. Russia set up a blockade of Georgia's Black Sea ports and continued its aerial attacks on Georgian targets. | 08/10/08 10:52:05 By - Tom Lasseter

Bush to China leaders: Widen religious, political freedoms

President Bush continued to urge Chinese leaders Sunday to allow their citizens more political and religious freedoms as he met with Chinese President Hu Jintao and other top Chinese officials on the opening weekend of the Olympic Games. | 08/10/08 10:00:00 By - Jack Chang

United States holds little leverage over Russia in Georgia conflict

WASHINGTON — Even as it accuses Russia of using "disproportionate" force in the conflict over Georgia's rebel South Ossetia province, the United States find itself with few diplomatic or military options to deter Moscow's ferocious air and ground assault. | 08/09/08 18:14:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay

Russian troops flood Georgia as war, casualties escalate

The Georgian government said it was in a state of war and declared martial law. Russian airborne troops reached Tskhinvali, the capital of the breakaway Georgian territory of South Ossetia, where fierce fighting was reported. Russian officials put the death toll at 2,000. Georgian civilians were killed and wounded when Russian planes bombed the Georgian city of Gori. An immediate cease fire seemed unlikely. | 08/09/08 00:36:00 By - Tom Lasseter

American killed, another wounded in Beijing knife attack

The dead victim was the father-in-law of the coach for U.S. Olympic men's indoor volleyball team, the wounded American, the coach's mother-in-law. U.S. officials said they don't believe the attack was related to the Olympic Games or to their being Americans. The perpetrator jumped to his death. The Chinese news agency Xinhua described him as a worker who'd recently quit his job, divorced his wife and moved out of his house. | 08/09/08 15:05:15 By - Tim Johnson

Russian troops flood Georgia as war, casualties escalate

Fierce fighting was reported Saturday in Tskhinvali, the capital of the breakaway Georgian territory of South Ossetia. Russian television showed what it said were the bodies of Georgian troops strewn amid the rubble. Georgia accused Russia of launching air strikes on cities far removed from the battle; photos from the town of Gori showed dead and wounded amid scenes of devastation. Georgia declared martial law, saying it was at war as Russian-backed separatists from another restive province, Abkhazia, launched rocket attacks. A Russian official said the death toll has reached 2,000. | 08/09/08 06:38:09 By - Tom Lasseter

Sadr promises to disband militia if U.S. sets Iraq withdrawal date

| 08/08/08 20:43:37 By - Leila Fadel

Top McCain adviser lobbied for nation of Georgia

John McCain's top foreign policy adviser, Randall Scheunemann, lobbied for the nation of Georgia for four years, including for about a year after he joined the Republican senator's presidential campaign staff in early 2007. | 08/08/08 19:28:00 By - Greg Gordon

Many ethnic conflicts erupted as Soviet Union collapsed

Until heavy fighting erupted Friday, the feud between Georgia and its rebel enclave of South Ossetia was one of the "frozen conflicts," or stalemated territorial contests between ethnic groups ignited by the former Soviet Union's collapse. | 08/08/08 18:28:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay

Bolivians head to polls Sunday with divisions deepening

Three governors have stopped eating to protest the president, and Marxist teachers have been blocking streets throughout Bolivia in the run-up to a plebiscite Sunday that was supposed to strengthen the country's democracy. Instead, Bolivians will decide whether to recall President Evo Morales and the country's governors amid a deepening climate of political and geographic polarization. The divisions have become so pronounced that in the past week Morales had to scrub campaign trips to five of Bolivia's nine states to avoid violent protests against him. | 08/08/08 16:00:00 By - Tyler Bridges