U.S. President Barack Obama is addressing the nation on the end of the combat mission in Iraq, the security challenges there and the need to rebuild the United States. In a national address from the White House, the president says the “historic moment” comes at a time of great uncertainty for many Americans, after nearly [...]
Excerpts from President Barack Obama’s Address to the Nation on the End of Combat Operations in Iraq (Released by the White House) “But this milestone should serve as a reminder to all Americans that our future is ours to shape if we move forward with confidence and commitment. It should also serve as a message [...]
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told an American veterans’ group Tuesday it is not time to celebrate victory in Iraq, even though the U.S. combat mission is formally ending. Gates spoke Tuesday to the annual meeting of the American Legion in the midwestern U.S. city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Secretary Gates called Wednesday’s formal handover in [...]
Four Israelis were killed on Tuesday after a Palestinian gunman opened fire on their vehicle on the West Bank. The Islamist militant group Hamas says its military wing carried out the attack. The attack came as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators prepare to resume direct talks. Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says the gunman opened fire [...]
Five more American soldiers were killed in separate incidents in Afghanistan Tuesday, bringing the number of U.S. troops killed in the war-torn country since Saturday to 19. NATO said four U.S. soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb in the east, while the fifth died in a gunfight with insurgents in the south. On Monday, [...]
North Korea’s leader appears to have begun a trip to China, at the same time that former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is in Pyongyang to secure the release of an imprisoned American. And China’s top envoy on Korean issues is in Seoul in a bid to restart talks on the North’s nuclear programs. South Korean [...]
In what has become common practice when it comes to North Korea, the Chinese government refuses to comment on reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is on his way to China, in what would be his second visit this year. As in the past, the Foreign Ministry had no immediate response to reports [...]
Pakistani officials are urging 400,000 people to evacuate three southern towns threatened by new flooding. Authorities issued the warning Thursday after the Indus River breached an embankment in Sindh province. Officials say the residents of Sujawal, Mir Pur Batoro and Daro are at risk. Authorities in the Thatta district are working to shore up other [...]
An Afghan presidential aide who is under investigation for corruption is on the payroll of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, according to a report published in the New York Times newspaper. The report quotes unnamed Afghan and U.S. officials as saying Afghan National Security Council official Mohammed Zia Salehi appears to have been receiving CIA [...]
The trial of four Muslim men from Newburgh New York accused of attempting to blow up two New York synagogues and conspiring to shoot down military planes began in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday. The men were arrested in May 2009 in a car containing what prosecutors allege to be live explosives. Defense lawyers [...]
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Friday issued a formal invitation to Israel and the Palestinians to re-commence direct peace negotiations early next month in Washington after a break of nearly two years. U.S. officials say a peace accord can be achieved within a year, and that the United States is ready if needed to offer [...]
Israel and the Palestinians are both welcoming the U.S. announcement on the resumption of direct negotiations between the two. Israeli and Palestinian officials both said they had achieved what they had wanted before agreeing to restart direct talks. Israel had called for talks without preconditions. The Palestinians had asked for a timeframe and negotiations [...]
In response to country-wide flooding, Pakistan has received humanitarian aid and assistance from around the world, including $5 million from its rival India. But the extent of the disaster continues to complicate aid distribution. Three weeks after massive flooding started in Pakistan, those affected say aid is reaching them slowly, if at all. Authorities are [...]
The polls are open and Australian voters are casting ballots in their most closely contested election in years. The final polls released before the vote began Saturday showed Prime Minister Julia Gillard, the head of the Labor Party, in a virtual tie with the leader of a Liberal Party-led coalition, Tony Abbott. If she wins, [...]
Iran is making final preparations to start up a nuclear reactor at the Bushehr facility, scheduled to begin operations Saturday. Russia, which helped build the Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran, on Friday gave assurances that Tehran will not be able to use fuel intended for the plant to create nuclear weapons. Deputy Foreign [...]
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he has never seen a disaster as bad as the flooding in Pakistan. He says the unprecedented floods demand unprecedented global support to help Pakistan deal with the humanitarian crisis. The United Nations chief spoke to reporters after meeting with Pakistani leaders and after flying over the worst hit areas [...]
The U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, says he sees progress in the war but cautioned that the fight against the Taliban is an “up and down process.” In an interview aired Sunday on NBC Meet the Press, General Petraeus said the goal is to defeat the Taliban and prevent the country [...]
Flags flew at half-staff and all public entertainment was suspended Sunday as China observed a national day of mourning for more than 1,200 people killed by massive mudslides in the northwest a week ago. The State Council (Cabinet) on Saturday ordered flags throughout China and at all Chinese embassies lowered to honor 1,239 people killed [...]
A Russian ban on grain exports took effect Sunday as at least 500 fires raged across the country. Moscow put a halt to the exports because of low yields caused by the wildfires, record heat and drought. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s ban on grain exports took effect Sunday, and it is expected to [...]
A series of bombings and drive-by shootings in Iraq has killed at least 10 people and wounded more than 20 others. The killings Sunday are the latest in a surge of violence that has raised security concerns as the United States prepares to withdraw the last of its combat troops from Iraq by the end [...]
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday announced the elimination of a major U.S. combat command and other steps designed to save money and protect his department’s ability to defend the country during a time of economic constraints. Secretary Gates announced that within the next year, he will close Joint Forces Command – one [...]
Crowds of Pakistanis swarm together in a camp at the Government College of Technology in Nowshera, 40 kilometers east Peshawar. In a recessed field at the site, patches of dirty water lie among rows of open tents stenciled with green Pakistani government lettering and emblems. Ghulan Rasool lives at the camp with his four children, [...]
Russia’s summer of heat, drought and fire is starting to take a human toll in Moscow, Europe’s most populous city. Deaths in Moscow have doubled to an average of 700 people a day as the city struggles with a deadly combination of record hot temperatures and poisonous smog from wildfires. Andre Seltsovky, Moscow’s health chief, [...]
A United Nations official says the number of people affected by Pakistan’s massive floods could exceed the combined total of three recent major natural disasters. Maurizio Giuliano, a spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said Monday if the Pakistan government’s calculations are correct, the scale of the disaster could be [...]
Rescuers using shovels pulled dozens of bodies from thick mud on Monday in northwestern China, where more than 1,000 people are missing. Authorities said 337 people are now confirmed dead in landslides that buried entire villages in Zhouqu County, part of Gansu province. The treeless region of hilly pastureland is populated largely by ethnic Tibetan [...]
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