MEXICO CITY - Mexican President Felipe Calderon is urging people to stay at home while the federal government suspends non-essential activities in an effort to combat the spread of swine flu.
In a nationally televised address late Wednesday, Mr. Calderon said that home was the safest place for Mexicans at this time.
The Mexican government is suspending […]

CAPITOL HILL - Members of the U.S. Congress - particularly those representing states along the border with Mexico and Canada - are calling on the Obama administration to do more to prevent travelers infected with swine flu from entering the United States. They made their appeals to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano during a Senate […]

WASHINGTON - North Korea has threatened to hold a nuclear test and a test-launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile if the United Nations Security Council does not apologize for criticizing a controversial rocket launch by Pyongyang earlier this month.
On Wednesday, state media carried a statement from the foreign ministry that said the North would be […]

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Congress took steps on Tuesday to tighten sanctions against Iran in what many lawmakers call an effort to provide President Barack Obama the authority he needs to increase pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program. One week after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Congress that the Obama administration will […]

WASHINGTON - Veteran U.S. Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania stunned the Washington establishment by announcing he is leaving the Republican Party to become a Democrat. The move will bring Democrats closer to the 60-vote majority they need to overcome potential Republican roadblocks and move President Barack Obama’s agenda through the Senate.
Senator Specter, who’s been in […]

WASHINGTON - The State Department says U.S. diplomats are holding talks with officials of Cuba’s diplomatic mission in Washington on possible follow-up measures to steps President Barack Obama took earlier this month to ease restrictions on the island nation. The Obama administration says it wants to see an easing of political conditions by the Havana […]

NEW YORK - A U.S. presidential airplane escorted by a military fighter jet flew low over southern New York City early Monday, startling some office workers still scarred by memories of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.
People fled from several buildings in New York City as the presidential 747 and the […]

JERUSALEM - Israel’s new government is offering to resume peace negotiations with Syria. But it wants to change the ground rules. 
Israel’s ultra-nationalist Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said his government is ready to open peace talks with Syria. But he said Israel would not agree in advance to Syria’s long-time demand to withdraw from the strategic […]

BAGHDAD - Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has denounced Sunday’s deadly raid by the U.S. military in southern Iraq, and has demanded that U.S. forces hand over to Iraqi courts those who were responsible.
Mr. Maliki called the pre-dawn raid that killed two people in the town of Kut a crime that violated the U.S.-Iraqi security […]

BEIRUT - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made an unannounced stop in Lebanon. Clinton expressed hope that Lebanon’s June parliamentary elections will be free and fair.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to Lebanon, on the heels of her trip Saturday to Baghdad, comes less than six weeks before parliamentary elections in early […]

WASHINGTON - The World Health Organization is expressing concern about a possible swine flu pandemic as the number of confirmed cases rises in the United States and Mexico - and new cases have been reported in Canada.  The Obama administration declared a public health emergency to mobilize federal and state resources to combat the infectious […]

MOSCOW - Russian Operational Forces in Chechnya are reporting renewed counterterrorism operations in Chechnya just days after the Kremlin ordered a halt to them. But Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov is denying the reports, saying rebel groups have been disbanded, and international terrorists in his republic have been destroyed.
The press spokesman for Russian Operational Forces in […]

CAPITOL HILL - Former U.S. Iraq commander General David Petraeus said the latest bombings in Iraq underscore the need for vigilance to prevent the situation from deteriorating.

Attacks by suicide bombers that have killed at least 140 people in the last two days, 185 so far in April, have caused renewed concern in the U.S. Congress, […]

UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council sanctions committee has called for a freeze of assets of three North Korean companies it says are involved in the arms trade, as well as updating a lengthy list of items that North Korea will now be prohibited from either importing or exporting. The action comes three weeks […]

WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Iraq Saturday for her first visit to the country as the top U.S. diplomat.
Clinton’s previously unannounced trip comes as Iraq reels from a recent surge in violence. Suicide bombings this week have killed more than 140 people.
Clinton says she will meet with the top U.S. […]

WASHINGTON - The military commander of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan is warning that security gains in Iraq are fragile and that a tough fight lies ahead in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

General David Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command, testified before a House of Representatives panel Friday.

He said substantial progress has been made in […]

BEIRUT - A Lebanese prosecutor has charged a retired general and three other people with spying for Israel.
Retired Brigadier General Abid al-Aalam, his wife, nephew and a fourth suspect were charged Thursday with providing information to Israel about military and civilian Lebanese and Syrian centers, with the aim of facilitating Israeli attacks.
If convicted, the four […]

WASHINGTON - U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder says the Justice Department will pursue any wrongdoing found in its investigation of Bush administration detainee interrogation practices. But in an appearance before a congressional panel Thursday, he said he would not allow what he called criminalization of policy differences over such practices.Attorney General Holder came before a […]

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has deployed a few hundred paramilitary troops to provide extra security in the northwestern district of Buner, where the Taliban have recently expanded their presence.
Police say unknown gunmen fired on a vehicle carrying some of the troops Thursday, killing one policeman and injuring another.
Armed militants from neighboring Malakand region entered Buner earlier […]

CAPITOL HILL - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has harshly criticized Pakistan’s government saying it has abdicated to the Taliban, adding the potential collapse of the Pakistani state would pose a mortal threat to global security.
The remarks, coming in response to questions from lawmakers on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, are some […]

WASHINGTON - Struggling U.S. carmaker General Motors is reported to be planning to close most of its factories for as long as nine weeks during the upcoming summer season in the middle of this year.
Various news reports say the decision was made because the company is facing low demand and a growing inventory of unsold […]

SEOUL - Top defense officials in the United States and South Korea have gone public this week to offer reassurance of their ability to defend the South against any North Korean aggression. Their statements are an apparent response to recently heightened military rhetoric carried by the North’s official media.   
The Commander of U.S. Forces in South […]

HAVANA - Former Cuban President Fidel Castro says U.S. President Barack Obama has “misinterpreted” statements made by his younger brother to suggest a thaw in relations between the two rivals.
In an essay published Tuesday on a government website, the older Castro says President Raul Castro’s offer to hold discussions with the new U.S. administration was […]

CAPITOL HILL - U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has defended the Obama administration’s program to rescue financially troubled banks. Secretary Geithner spoke before a congressional panel overseeing the massive bailout.
It was Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s first appearance before the Congressional Oversight Panel, which was established as part of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program […]