WASHINGTON - The Obama administration on Wednesday imposed sanctions against eight Iranian officials who are said to be responsible for or complicit in serious human rights abuses. The list includes the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps.
The United States has been a sponsor of four U.N. Security Council sanctions resolutions against Iran because of its […]
TEHRAN - Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi says the country’s first nuclear power plant will be ready to generate electricity by January, which is at least two months later than previously announced.
Iran’s semi-official ISNA news agency quotes Salehi Wednesday as saying officials hope to have fuel transferred to the “core” of the Bushehr reactor […]
HOUSTON - The US Space Shuttle Discovery is set to lift off from Florida on November 1 for a mission to the International Space Station. It will be one of the final missions for the shuttle; NASA is ending the program and will retire its remaining fleet of the reusable spacecraft next year. Our correspondent […]
MEXICO CITY - Mexican President Felipe Calderón said the first rescue team of 30 soldiers had arrived on foot Tuesday afternoon at Santa María Tlahuitoltepec, where a massive mudslide buried between 150 and 200 homes in this poor rural town in southern Oaxaca state.
Bad weather, blocked roads and damaged bridges have interfered with rescue efforts […]
ISLAMABAD - Pakistani officials say suspected U.S. missile strikes in the country’s northwestern tribal region have killed a senior al-Qaida leader, Sheikh al-Fateh.
Al-Fateh, believed to be about 50-years-old, is described as al-Qaida’s operational commander in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Some accounts list him as the third-ranking member of al-Qaida’s leadership - a position he held since […]
SEOUL - North Korean state media say the ruling Workers’ Party opened its biggest convention in 30 years Tuesday, hours after ruler Kim Jong Il named his youngest son as a military general.
State TV said in a broadcast that Mr. Kim was immediately reappointed as general-secretary at the start of the party meeting to elect […]
TEHRAN - The head of Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant has confirmed a computer worm infected some of the facility’s software, but says the plant’s main systems are all safe.
Bushehr Project Director Mahmoud Jahfari told state media an attack by the Stuxnet computer worm has had no impact on the operations of the nuclear power […]
JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to continue peace talks as a 10-month partial freeze on West Bank settlement construction expired.
The Israeli leader released a statement early Monday, shortly after the freeze ended at 2200 UTC Sunday. He urged Mr. Abbas to continue dialogue in order to reach a […]
WASHINGTON - Serbian President Boris Tadic has told the U.N. General Assembly that his country welcomes dialogue with Kosovo, but will never recognize the breakaway republic as independent.
Speaking to the Assembly on Saturday, Mr. Tadic said Serbia looks forward to European Union-facilitated dialogue with Kosovo, and hopes it will lead to a mutually acceptable compromise. […]
WASHINGTON - Republicans promised Thursday that if they win the congressional midterm elections in November they will move to cut taxes, roll back government spending and create jobs. The release of the Republican agenda comes less than six weeks until Election Day and amid public opinion polls that point to likely Republican gains in November […]
PARIS - French trade unions have launched a second round of protests against a government plan to raise the retirement age. Thursday’s strikes slowed travel for thousands of rail and air passengers, and disrupted schools across the country.
More than a million people protested two weeks ago against the retirement measure, and unions voiced hope early […]
WASHINGTON - Iran’s government faces yet another new round of sanctions. “CISADA” - the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions Accountability and Divestment Act - was signed by U.S. President Barak Obama in July, and is scheduled to go into effect by September 29.
For more than 30 years the United States has led the charge in sanctions against […]
WASHINGTON - An independent expert estimates that 4.4 million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico after a deep water well ruptured in April.
Earlier this week, BP confirmed that the broken well had been permanently sealed.
Since the spill, official estimates of how much oil was released kept changing, from 1,000 barrels a day […]
TEHRAN - Iranian authorities say a bomb exploded at a military parade in the northwest and has killed at least 12 people, wounding 70 others.
Reports from Mahabad say most of the victims are women and children. The wives of two military officers are said to be among those killed.
The bomb went off at a military […]
SANAA - Yemen’s government says four of its soldiers have been killed in a continuing offensive against suspected members of al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. The government has laid siege to a southern town in a bid to capture the suspects, thought to number in the dozens.
The offensive is among the most sustained against […]
JERUSALEM - Thousands of police have deployed in Jerusalem following clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli police. Tensions rose further when Israeli police entered the holy precinct known to Muslims as the Haram al Sharif, and the Temple Mount to Jews.
East Jerusalem, including the Old City, was the scene of sporadic clashes throughout the day […]
MOSCOW - Russia has dropped plans to supply Iran with S-300 air defense missiles.
The chief of Russia’s armed forces, General Nikolai Makarov, said the delivery of the missiles would violate U.N. sanctions.
The S-300 is a mobile, long-range air defense system that can detect, track and destroy ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and low-flying aircraft.
Western nations have […]
WASHINGTON - North Korea has set the date for a major political conference where Kim Jong Il is expected to name an heir to the world’s only Communist dynasty. Kim Jong Il is said to have suffered a stroke in recent years, raising questions about the health of the “Dear Leader” and the country’s stability.
The […]
WASHINGTON - U.S. voters head to the polls in less than six weeks to elect a new Congress and the results might have a major impact on President Barack Obama’s ability to govern during the next two years. All 435 seats in the House of Representatives are at stake, along with 37 Senate seats and […]
WASHINGTON - Arlington National Cemetery - just outside Washington - one of the nation’s most hallowed sites. It’s where the remains of more than 300,000 service members are buried, including many who died in military conflicts dating back to the American Civil War.
As families come here to say their final goodbyes, the Army continues to […]
NEW ORLEANS - The U.S. official in charge of the response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill said Sunday that the underwater well has been sealed permanently - five months after an explosion on an oil rig led to the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
Retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen declared the well […]
WASHINGTON - Images from a NASA probe have allowed scientists to create a precise map of the moon.
Since its launch to the Moon more than a year ago to survey future manned and robotic landing sites, the U.S. space agency’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, has beamed back a trove of high-quality images and other […]
MEXICO CITY - Mexico has begun elaborate celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of the start of its independence from Spain.
On Wednesday, thousands of people gathered in Mexico City to watch a parade, fireworks and light show.
Later in the evening, Mexican President Felipe Calderon was expected to give the famous cry of the call to arms, […]
WASHINGTON - Government officials, advocacy groups and economists in the United States are grappling with solutions to reduce high poverty rates. The U.S. Census Bureau says that last year, the number of poor Americans was the highest since such data started being collected five decades ago.
People living in poverty in the United States in 2009 […]
