CAIRO - Egyptian police have arrested a number of top figures in the banned Muslim Brotherhood, less than a month after the group elected new leaders. 
The website of Egypt’s banned Muslim Brotherhood says state security forces arrested close to a dozen senior leaders of the group in pre-dawn raids on their homes across the country.  […]

ISLAMABAD - NATO commanders in Afghanistan say a planned military offensive in a southern Taliban stronghold is meant to defeat the militants and win the support of the population.
U.S and British troops are set to launch what has been described as one of the biggest anti-Taliban offensives of the eight-year-old war.
The assault will target the […]

PARIS - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says he hopes strong international sanctions on Iran will forestall the need for a military strike designed to end the country’s chances of developing a nuclear weapon.  Gates spoke in Paris, where he and his French counterpart Herve Morin agreed it is time for sanctions after months of […]

WASHINGTON - Iran says it has begun enriching uranium to a higher level, defying international efforts to curb its nuclear activity.
Iranian state television quoted officials who said the process started Tuesday at Iran’s Natanz facility in the presence of International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors.
Iran told the IAEA Monday of its plans to enrich uranium to […]

WASHINGTON - Representative John Murtha, a key pro-defense Democrat who during 36 years in the U.S. House of Representatives became one of the most powerful members of Congress, died on Monday at age 77 of complications from surgery.  We offer this look at Murtha’s long and often controversial career, particularly the last years of his […]

LOS ANGELES - Michael Jackson’s personal physician has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the pop singer’s death.
Prosecutors announced the charges Monday in California against Dr. Conrad Murray, a cardiologist who was with Jackson when he died suddenly last year at the age of 50.
The coroner’s office earlier ruled Jackson’s death a homicide. 
Murray is expected […]

JERUSALEM - Israel says it is extending an olive branch to Syria in a bid to end an escalating war of words.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to ease tensions with Syria by calling for a resumption of peace talks.
Speaking at the weekly Cabinet meeting here in Jerusalem, Mr. Netanyahu said “Israel wants peace agreements […]

MIAMI - Just four years after Hurricane Katrina decimated the city of New Orleans, the Saints are the champions of the National Football League.  The New Orleans Saints defeated the Indianapolis Colts, 31-17, Sunday night in Super Bowl XLIV.
The Saints made the most of their first Super Bowl appearance in the team’s 43-year history, overcoming […]

TEHRAN - Iran’s president has ordered his country’s atomic agency to begin producing higher-enriched uranium, a move that casts doubt on the prospects of a nuclear exchange deal with the West.
In comments broadcast Sunday on state-run television, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he has asked the head of the atomic energy agency Ali Akbar Salehi to begin […]

WASHINGTON - Republican Scott Brown was sworn in Thursday as a U.S. senator from Massachusetts, officially bringing to a close the late Ted Kennedy’s long tenure in the Senate and as a national political figure.  Kennedy died last August, and Brown was elected last month to replace him. 
Republican Scott Brown took his place in the […]

BOSTON - An immigration hearing has taken place for U.S. President Barack Obama’s Kenyan aunt, who is seeking asylum in the United States.
Zeituni Onyango testified for two and-a-half hours Thursday at an immigration court in Boston, Massachusetts, asking that she be allowed to remain in the country.
Two doctors also testified in support of her case, […]

WASHINGTON - Romania has agreed to host missile interceptors as part of a revised U.S. plan to protect Europe from ballistic missiles fired from Iran. Both the United States and Romania said Thursday the system is not directed against Russia.
Romania has become the first European country to formally accept a role in the Obama administration’s […]

WASHINGTON - The number of newly-laid off Americans rose unexpectedly last month. The government’s overall unemployment figure is due out Friday, and economists do not expect any improvement in the number.
The latest snapshot of the U.S. labor market shows employers squeezing more production out of existing workers rather than hiring additional help. The number of […]

NEW YORK - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has asked former U.S. President Bill Clinton to coordinate international aid efforts on Haiti.  Mr. Ban said Wednesday that he hoped Mr. Clinton, who he appointed as his Special Envoy for Haiti last May, would rally international assistance for the earthquake-stricken country. 
Mr. Ban said President Clinton would be […]

WASHINGTON -  - U.S. and Afghan commanders say thousands of allied troops in Afghanistan’s south are planning a large offensive against a longtime Taliban stronghold.
Commanders say the joint, Afghan-led mission will target militants in Marjah, a Taliban-held district in Helmand province.  The offensive is said to be the largest since U.S. President Barack Obama ordered […]

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama wants the United States to move more quickly to increase its reliance on alternative fuels. A presidential panel advocates greater use of biofuels and clean coal technology.
President Obama says the U.S. should depend less on oil and more on so-called clean energy.
He says the country which builds a clean energy […]

TEHRAN - Iran says it has test fired a new satellite rocket and has made other advances in civilian space technology.  Wednesday’s announcement is likely to further raise concerns in the West about the potential to apply the technology to military use.
Iranian officials announced the launch of a satellite booster rocket, as well as a […]

WASHINGTON - The U.S. space agency’s ambitious plan to put astronauts back on the moon has been cancelled in the Obama administration’s proposed 2011 federal budget. The $3.6 trillion spending plan for the U.S. government was submitted to Congress on Feb. 1. 
NASA’s budget would actually increase by $6 billion over the next five years under […]

TEHRAN - Iran is starting 11 days of celebrations to mark the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.   Around the country, Iranians paused at 9:33 in the morning to remember the day that the revolution’s leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, returned from a long exile in France. 
Iranian TV showed images of men ringing bells, trains blowing […]

JERUSALEM - Two barrels of explosives have been found on Israeli beaches, as the Palestinian militant group Hamas vowed revenge on Israel for the killing of one of its founding members.
Israeli security officials say the barrels were found Monday after they washed ashore near the towns of Ashdod and Ashkelon, south of Tel Aviv.  Bomb-disposal […]

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama has sent a $3.8 trillion budget request to Congress for the fiscal year that begins on October first.  It is the first step in what is expected to be a long, contentious budget process.
President Obama is walking a fine line in his 2011 budget.  He is seeking $100 billion […]

JERUSALEM - Israel has submitted a report to the United Nations responding to allegations of war crimes against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
In an official 46-page response, Israel dismissed the U.N.-commissioned Goldstone Report, which accused the Jewish state of war crimes during the Gaza conflict a year ago. The report, authored by South African jurist […]

WASHINGTON - U.S. media reports say the United States is speeding up the deployment of anti-missile defenses in four Persian Gulf nations as it continues to confront Iran over its nuclear program.
The reports say the United States is also beefing up its naval presence in the region with special ships with the ability to shoot […]