U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is to meet in Jordan Wednesday with top diplomats from 10 other nations as part of a U.S.-Russian push to end Syria's civil war.
World
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is to meet in Jordan Wednesday with top diplomats from 10 other nations as part of a U.S.-Russian push to end Syria's civil war.
Iran's election overseers removed potential wild-card candidates from the presidential race Tuesday, blocking a top aide of outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and a former president who revived hopes of reformers.In this Saturday, May 11, 2013 photo, former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, waves to media, as he registers his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Continue reading Top Candidates Barred From Running In Iran's Election.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has sent a senior military official as a special envoy to China, at a time of strained relations between the two traditional allies.
Continue reading North Korea's Kim Jong Un Sends Envoy to China.
Declaring that "freedom of religion is a core American value," Secretary of State John F. Kerry Monday released his department's annual worldwide religious freedom report, which found "worrying" and "negative trends" around the globe.
Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during a meeting with Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio de Aguiar Patriota at the State Department in Washington Monday, May 20, 2013. Kerry is heading back to the Middle East this week to press his case for peace talks between Syrian rebels and President Bashar Assad's regime amid increasing signs the new U.S. strategy to halt the war is being undermined by Russia. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
A suicide bomber disguised as a police officer killed 14 people on Monday, including the head of a provincial council in northern Afghanistan, officials said.Rasul Mohseni, a senior Afghan provincial government official in Baghlan, Afghanistan, was the apparent target of a suicide bombing on Monday.
Continue reading Bombing Kills Key Figure in Northern Afghan Province.
Israeli and Syrian troops exchanged fire across their tense cease-fire line in the Golan Heights on Tuesday, prompting an Israeli threat that Syria's leader will "bear the consequences" of further escalation and raising new concerns that the civil war there could explode into a region-wide conflict.March 8, 2013: A U.N. peacekeeper from the UNDOF force stands guard on a watch tower at the Quneitra Crossing between Syria and the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. (AP2013)
About 30 fighters from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and 20 Syrian soldiers and militiamen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad were killed in heavy fighting with rebels in the town of Qusair, Syrian activists said on Monday.Fighters from Hizbollah, a staunch ally of President Bashar al-Assad, have reportedly been battling alongside his troops for weeks in the Qusayr area Photo: AFP/Getty Images
Continue reading Thirty Hezbollah Fighters Killed in Syrian Town.
The Israeli military says gunfire from Syria has hit the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights overnight.
Continue reading Israeli Military says Gunfire from Syria Hit the Golan Heights Overnight.
Continue reading North Korea Fires Sixth Missile in Three Days.
South Korea on Sunday condemned North Korea's latest short-range missile launches as "provocative" and again urged it to hold talks about a suspended jointly-run industrial park.A North Korean missile is displayed during a military parade in Pyongyang, on April 15, 2012 (AFP/File, Pedro Ugarte)
Continue reading South Korea Condemns North Korea's Latest 'Provocative' Missile Launch.
Israel is "acting" to prevent weapons from Syria from reaching Lebanon's Hezbollah and will continue to do so, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, on May 19, 2013. (AFP, Ronen Zvulun)
Egyptian police closed a commercial passage with Israel on Sunday in support of colleagues who shut down a crossing with Gaza to protest the abduction of policemen, state media reported.A picture shows the closed gates of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip on August 6, 2012 (AFP/File, Said Khatib)
Continue reading Police in Egypt Close Down Passage to Israel.
French President Francois Hollande will sign a gay marriage and adoption bill into law Saturday, after the Constitutional Council threw out a legal challenge by the right-wing opposition.Members of anti gay-marriage movements gather on May 16, 2013 in front of the Sorbonne University in Paris (AFP/File, Martin Bureau)
Continue reading François Hollande Signs Homosexual Marriage Bill Into Law in France.
Suspected Sunni Muslim militants killed four state-backed Sunni fighters in Iraq on Saturday, security sources said, apparently viewing them as collaborators with the Shi'ite-led government of a nation plagued by sectarian hatred.
Continue reading 10 Policemen Kidnapped and 8 People Killed in Iraq's Sunni Heartland.
North Korea launched three short-range guided missiles into the sea off its east coast on Saturday, the South Korean Defense Ministry said.A file photo of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, (center), accompanied by President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly Kim Yong Nam, (right), waves as he attends the unveiling ceremony for statues of late leaders Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung on Mansudae in Pyongyang, North Korea. Photo: AP
At least 32 people were killed in two explosions outside a Sunni Muslim mosque in Baquba, about 50 km (30 miles) northeast of Baghdad, after Friday prayers, police and medics said.
Continue reading Bombing Outside Mosque Kills At Least 32 In Iraq.
Thousands of children are serving as child soldiers across India. That is the devastating conclusion of a new report by the Asian Center for Human Rights.
Continue reading India, World's Largest Democracy, Has 3,000 Child Soldiers.
More than 30 million people fled their homes in 2012 because of disasters such as floods, storms and earthquakes, a new report indicates.
Christianity could be facing a catastrophic collapse in Britain according to official figures suggesting it is declining 50 per cent faster than previously thought.
Pictured: Christianity in the UK is declining 50pc faster than thought. Photo: ALAMY
Two car bombs exploded in sprawling Shiite neighborhoods of the Iraqi capital on Thursday morning, killing at least 12 civilians and wounding 30, officials said.Civilians inspect the aftermath of a car bomb attack while Baghdad municipality workers clean up in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, May 16, 2013. A car bomb exploded near a bus station in Baghdad's main Shiite district Wednesday, the deadliest in a series of explosions that killed and wounded dozens of people, nationwide, officials said. (AP Photo/ Khalid Mohammed)
Continue reading 12 Dead, 30 Wounded from Car Bomb in Iraq.
The ceiling of a Cambodian factory that makes Asics sneakers collapsed on workers early Thursday, killing two people and injuring seven, in the latest accident to spotlight lax safety conditions in the global garment industry. Cambodian rescuers work at the site of a factory collapse in Kai Ruong village, south of Phnom Penh. (Photo: Heng Sinith, AP)
Continue reading Shoe Factory in Cambodia Collapses Killing 2 People.
An American citizen sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for what Pyongyang has described as hostile acts against the state has started life a "special prison," state media said Wednesday.This 1988 file photo provided by Bobby Lee shows Kenneth Bae, right, and Lee together when they were freshmen students at the University of Oregon. (Photo: AP)
A 16-year-old Muslim boy lay dying on a thin metal table. Bitten by a rabid dog a month ago, he convulsed and drooled as his parents wedged a stick between his teeth to stop him from biting off his tongue.Reuters/Reuters - A Rohingya Muslim boy wraps himself with a blanket at a camp for people displaced by violence, near Sittwe April 26, 2013. Picture taken April 26, 2013. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj
Continue reading Apartheid Tactics Against Minority Muslims Being Used in Myanmar.
China launched a large missile on Monday that reached 6,200 miles above the earth, its highest suborbital launch since 1976, according to a U.S. scientist at Harvard University.Visitors tour the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in southwest China's Sichuan province October 18, 2007. REUTERS/China Daily
Continue reading China Launches Missile that Hit Its Highest Suborbital Level Since 1976.
On the surface, the Arab League's improved peace initiative offers Israel everything it ever dreamed of -- normal relations with an entire region that has long objected to the very existence of the Jewish state, and even the chance to keep some war-won land.Associated Press/Gali Tibbon, Pool - FILE - In this Monday, April 8, 2013 file photo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, speaks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during the annual ceremony marking Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Yad Vashem memorial in Jerusalem. On the surface, the Arab League's new peace initiative offers Israel everything it ever dreamed of _ normal relations with an entire region that has long objected to the very existence of the Jewish state, and even the chance to keep some war-won land. But two weeks after Secretary of State John Kerry persuaded Arab leaders to reissue their 2002 offer with new incentives, Israel is maintaining a striking silence and critics are accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of tragically missing a historic opportunity. (AP Photo/Gali Tibbon, Pool)
Continue reading Critics Assail Israeli Silence on Arab Peace Plan.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has declared a state of emergency in three states after a spate of deadly attacks by Islamist militant groups.
A U.S. diplomat disguised in a blond wig was caught trying to recruit a Russian counterintelligence officer in Moscow, Russia's security services announced Tuesday, claiming the American was a CIA officer.
Continue reading Russia to Expel U.S. Diplomat Accused of Working for the CIA.
Russian President Vladimir Putin hosts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for talks Tuesday focused on the situation in Syria.
Continue reading Putin and Netanyahu to Hold Talks Focused on Talks.
The United Nations says at least eight people died after several boats evacuating Rohingya Muslim refugees capsized off western Burma, as tens of thousands scramble to leave low-lying refugee camps ahead of an incoming storm.People dismantle tents before moving to safer grounds in light of an approaching cyclone, in an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp for Muslims, outside Sittwe, Burma, May 13, 2013.
Thousands of mourners gathered Tuesday at the wreckage of a Bangladeshi garment factory building to offer prayers for the souls of the 1,127 people who died in the structure's collapse last month, the worst tragedy in the history of the global garment industry.A Bangladeshi rescue worker walks at the site where a garment-factory building collapsed on April 24 in Savar, near Dhaka. (Photo: A.M. Ahad, AP)
Continue reading Bangladesh Mourns the Dead From Building Collapse.
Continue reading 3 Killed from Car Bomb Outside Hospital in Benghazi, Libya.
The Bangladesh military says it is ending its search for survivors in the wreckage of an eight-story garment factory building that collapsed last month.
Continue reading Bangladesh Ends Search for Factory Building Collapse Victims.
Syria's main opposition bloc wants to consult its allies before deciding on joining a U.S.-Russia initiative to negotiate a peaceful transition in Syria, its leader said Monday.This citizen journalism image provided by Lens Young Homsi, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows a destroyed Syrian tank is seen at al-Qossur neighborhood in Homs province, Syria, Monday, May 13, 2013. Syrian troops have taken full control of a town near the highway linking the capital Damascus with Jordan, a new advance in the regime's campaign to drive rebels from the strategic south, an activist group said Monday. (AP Photo/Lens Young Homsi)
Continue reading Syria Opposition Wants to Consult Its Allies Before Peace Push.
Turkish authorities said Sunday that nine people had been detained in twin car bombings a day earlier in southern Turkey that killed 46 people and injured at least 155.A man walked through debris from the twin car bombings in Reyhanli on Sunday.
Continue reading Turkey Detains 9 People After Car Bombings.
Egyptian security forces have arrested three militants with ties to Al Qaeda who were planning terrorist attacks in Egyptian cities and against a foreign embassy, the interior minister said Saturday.
Continue reading 3 Arrested in Plot to Bomb Egyptian Cities and Embassy.
The conservative party of former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif has taken a commanding lead as votes continued to be tallied Sunday for crucial parliamentary elections marred by Taliban intimidation.The PML-N, which is set to form the next government in Pakistan, will frame a national policy to counter terrorism after consulting all political parties and stakeholders, a close associate of party chief Nawaz Sharif said today.
Continue reading After Historic Vote, Nawaz Pakistan's Sharif Poised to Regain Power .
The retrial of ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has opened at a court in Cairo.
Continue reading Retrial for Ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Begins.
At least one person was killed and 17 people injured when an earthquake jolted southern Iran early Saturday, general director of Crisis Management of Hormozgan province was quoted as saying by semi-official Mehr news agency.
Pakistanis went to the polls for a historic election on Saturday, their excitement mingled with trepidation as the country marked a democratic milestone with a riveting electoral contest that was threatened by fresh violence from Taliban insurgents.Women line up to enter a polling station on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, on Saturday.
by Rabbi Abraham Cooper
I was looking forward to hearing the iconic Stephen Hawking, the internationally renowned English theoretical physicist as he helped celebrate Shimon Peres' 90th birthday at next month's annual "Facing Tomorrow" Presidential Conference in Jerusalem.
Pictured: Physicist Stephen Hawking is boycotting a conference in Israel because he disagrees with the nation's policies. (AP)
