BEIJING - Chinese scientist Qian Xuesen, who is known as the father of China’s space technology program, has died in Beijing.
He was 98.
Qian, also known as Tsien Hsue-shen, set up the country’s first missile and rocket research institute, which later helped to start China’s space program.
Thanks largely to Qian, China sent a man into space […]

RAMALLAH - Palestinian officials say talks between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have yielded no breakthrough in Middle East peace negotiations.
Saeb Erekat, an aide to Mr. Abbas, says the Palestinians are not likely to resume peace talks with Israel without a total freeze in Jewish settlement construction.
Erekat says the […]

ABUJA - Thousands of protesters have marched through the streets of Abuja to protest against key policies, including privatization of refineries.
Nigerian unions have fiercely opposed the planned deregulation of the downstream sector of the oil industry. They argue that the planned withdrawal of subsidies on petroleum products would lead to higher prices and inflict more […]

PARIS - A French magistrate has ordered former President Jacques Chirac to stand trial on embezzlement charges dating back to the 1990s, when he was mayor of Paris. The order is unprecedented, and follows several other trials targeting former high-level politicians.
Former President Jacques Chirac did not respond directly to news he has been ordered to […]

CHEROKEE, NC - Six young children - four girls and two boys - sit on the floor looking up at their teacher seated in a chair. An older woman with streaks of gray in the long, straight hair pulled back from her face, she holds up flashcards with colors and words spelled out in distinctive lettering. […]

ISLAMABAD - Pakistani troops fighting militants along the Afghan border have seized passports that may be linked to suspects involved in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.
The discovery came as visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton chided the Pakistani government for failing to vigorously pursue al-Qaida inside Pakistan. In the […]

TEHRAN - Iran is reported to have rejected a United Nations-brokered uranium enrichment plan, while at the same time, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says he welcomes nuclear cooperation with the West.
A Western official close to the negotiations says Iran told the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency that it will not accept the plan to ship its […]

HANOI - Hundreds of public health experts have gathered in Hanoi, Vietnam to talk about how to link public health and human rights. The right to health is affirmed in numerous United Nations agreements. But ideas about public health and human rights often come into conflict, particularly when it comes to activity than many governments […]

ISLAMABAD - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has again defended U.S. policy to Pakistanis who are growing frustrated with growing violence in the region.
Clinton spoke in Islamabad Friday to a group of tribal leaders from the troubled northwest region. One lawmaker urged Clinton to seek to negotiate an end to the conflict in Afghanistan […]

WASHINGTON - Accused al-Qaida sleeper agent Ali al-Marri has been sentenced to more than eight years in a civilian prison. The Qatar native was labeled an “enemy combatant and held for years in isolation at a military prison in South Carolina. Al-Marri’s sentence ends years of legal limbo and provides insight into how future cases of […]

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama is consulting with top military officials Friday as he considers whether to send additional forces to Afghanistan.
Mr. Obama will meet at the White House with the Joint Chiefs of Staff - military leaders from the Air Force, Army, Navy and Marines.
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said the meeting comes as […]

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Senate Banking Committee has voted Thursday to approve legislation that would impose sanctions on companies that help Iran acquire refined petroleum products. The bill aims to step up pressure on Iran to stop its uranium enrichment program. Lawmakers are targeting Iran’s energy sector, and hoping that other nations will join the […]

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama has invited leaders of the more than 500 Native American tribes in the United States to a White House Tribal Nations Conference on November 5. Mr. Obama says he wants to hear directly from the leaders about how his administration can help them meet their needs.  
The Navajo tribe has the […]

WASHINGTON - The speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, has presented health care legislation that she says would extend coverage to millions of Americans.
At an event on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol building, Pelosi said the bill reflects the best values of the country and addresses the greatest challenges facing […]

WASHINGTON - A top Treasury Department official has ordered pay cuts for the 25 highest-paid executives at seven companies that received government bail-outs.  But he says he doesn’t want broader powers to reduce salaries in the rest of the U.S. financial sector.
Call him the pay czar. That’s what some members of Congress did when lawyer […]

WASHINGTON - The longest and deepest U.S. economic recession of the post-World War II era is over, according to government data released Thursday.
After four consecutive quarters of contraction, the U.S. economy grew at a 3.5 percent annual rate from July through September. The figure, released by the Commerce Department, showed the most robust expansion in […]

ISLAMABAD - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has met with students, officials and religious leaders in the Pakistani city Lahore during a diplomatic tour aimed at improving the U.S. image.
A day after a car bomb killed 105 people in Peshawar, Clinton urged students at the Government College of Lahore to stand against extremists that […]

WHITE HOUSE - U.S. President Barack Obama has signed into law a $680 billion defense bill, which he says will save tens of billions of dollars by cutting wasteful projects. The president says he is changing the business-as-usual atmosphere in Washington.
President Obama says the cuts he is making in the defense budget will make the […]

WHITE HOUSE - U.S. President Barack Obama has signed an expansion of federal hate crimes law. Under this measure, the government has greater ability to investigate and prosecute acts of violence driven by prejudice. And for the first time, the statute covers people targeted because of their sexual orientation or disabilities.  
Eleven years ago, two […]

STATE DEPARTMENT - The Obama administration on Wednesday defended the long-running U.S. economic embargo against Cuba in the face of another overwhelming U.N. General Assembly vote condemning American policy toward the island nation. But administration officials also stressed efforts to reach out to the Cuba’s communist government.

The Obama administration says it has broken with its […]

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Government Accountability Office is questioning the generous government subsidies companies receive for producing maize-based ethanol for fuel. In a recent report, the GAO recommends that regulators look at the broader environmental impacts of raising crops for biofuels.
Promoting ethanol to lessen oil imports may have unintended consequences
In a bid to reduce dependence […]

NEW DELHI - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has offered to talk on all issues to rival Pakistan provided it cracks down on terror groups based in the country. The Indian leader, who is visiting Indian Kashmir, also called on separatist groups in the region to join a dialogue with his government.     
Inaugurating a rail link […]

ISLAMABAD - A car bomb has killed more than 90 people and wounded more than 200 others in a shopping area of the northwestern Pakistan city of Peshawar.  U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Pakistan just hours earlier for a three-day visit. 
The blast in Peshawar was the deadliest single attack this year in […]

MIAMI - President Barack Obama traveled to Florida on Tuesday to help unveil the nation’s largest solar power plant. Advocates of renewable energy hope the new plant will spur further development in the field.
Florida energy officials led President Obama through the maze of more than 90,000 solar panels that make up the new energy plant […]