PAKISTAN (AP) — Associated Press reporter, photographer and videographer Ishtiaq Mahsud spent six days with fighters from the Pakistani Taliban close to the Afghan border. His account of their travels through South Waziristan offers a look at an area that
BRUSSELS (AP) — A Belgian nurse who saved the lives of hundreds of American soldiers during the Battle of the Bulge at the end of World War II was given a U.S. award for valor Monday – 67 years late.
From the Associated Press: HONOLULU — A group of Pearl Harbor survivors say they were disrespected by the crew of the CBS drama “Hawaii Five-O” during a visit to Honolulu’s National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. The Denver-based Greatest Generations
From the Associated Press: Lynch with her daughter, Dakota MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Jessica Lynch was just 19 when the world first saw her — a broken, blond soldier caught on combat video in Iraq, her face wearing something between a
From Der Spiegel: Life expectancy for people on a low income is shorter than it was a decade ago, a report in the regional German daily Saarbrücker Zeitung said on Monday. The report, which cited the German government’s response to
From Reuters: A Congressional panel has frozen $700 million in aid to Pakistan until it gives assurances it is helping fight the spread of homemade bombs in the region, a move one Pakistani senator called unwise and likely to strain
Good thing we’ve moved on from George W. Bush’s cowboy diplomacy and become a kinder, gentler United States–a nation that asks “pretty please” when foreign despots steal its military technology. From BBC News: President Barack Obama has said the US
New Jersey Nets owner and Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov has announced today that he will challenge Vladimir Putin for the Russian presidency. From the AP: The announcement Monday by Mikhail Prokhorov underlines the extent of the discontent with Putin, who
(AFP) Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s attempt to placate the masses who rallied against a disputed poll backfired on his own Facebook page Monday when it became flooded with irate comments. More than 10,000 people posted replies, many of them insulting,
PARIS (AP) – Enthusiasm for riskier assets such as stocks and the euro faded Monday as investors worried that Europe’s new pact aimed at fixing the continent’s debt crisis would be insufficient. Markets had rallied on Friday, when the European
In the “Israel [x] to Prevent Islamic Violence” headline template, today’s entry will definitely make it as one of the year’s top ten. From Reuters: Israel on Monday closed a footbridge it deemed unsafe at Jerusalem’s holiest and most volatile
From the New York Times: Tens of thousands of Russians took to the streets in Moscow on Saturday shouting “Putin is a thief” and “Russia without Putin,” forcing the Kremlin to confront a level of public discontent that has not
Call us crazy, but maybe–just maybe–at some point you’re only looking for an excuse. From Reuters: Palestinian leaders said on Saturday U.S. Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich had invited more conflict in the Middle East by calling the Palestinians an
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) – After days of tension in Congo’s capital as the nation awaits election results, traffic began to flow once more, women selling cassava leaves took up their usual positions on the sides of roads and a few
From BBC News: Iranian TV has shown the first video footage of an advanced US drone aircraft that Tehran says it downed near the Afghan border. The film was captioned “RQ170 – advanced US spy plane” and carried on the
QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) – Pakistani police say assailants have fired rockets at tankers carrying fuel for U.S-led troops in Afghanistan, setting at least 10 vehicles on fire. The attack Thursday was the first since Pakistan closed the border for trucks
“She gave them a signal, they heard this signal and started active work.” Secretary Clinton is a lot more persuasive than we all thought–and internationally so, it seems. From BBC News: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has accused the United
From the Washington Post: The Air Force dumped the incinerated partial remains of at least 274 American troops in a Virginia landfill, far more than the military had acknowledged, before halting the secretive practice three years ago, records show. The
No preconditions, indeed. From Reuters: WASHINGTON, Dec 6 (Reuters) – The Obama administration is urging U.S. lawmakers to soften proposed sanctions targeting Iran’s central bank, Senator Mark Kirk said on Tuesday. Kirk, a Republican, is the co-author along with Democratic
From LIFE: President Franklin Roosevelt declared December 7, 1941 — when Japan launched more than 350 fighters, bombers, and torpedo planes against the U.S. naval base in Hawaii — a “date which will live in infamy.” In fact, that Sunday
We in the western world should pay attention to the recent outbreak of protests disputing the results of Russia’s parliamentary elections. Like much of the Middle Eastern “Arab Spring” and the recent Occupy movement in the United States, social networking
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – Residents of Tehran say that a web-based U.S. “embassy” to Iran has been blocked by the authorities, less than a day after it went online. The English- and Farsi-language website, designed by Washington as a virtual
Monday night, Russia deployed tens of thousands of police officers to handle protests against Vladimir Putin and his United Russia party. Confrontations between police and demonstrators became so heated, the AP reports fire bombs were used. From the Washington Post:
MOSCOW (AP) – Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s party saw its majority in Russia’s parliament weaken sharply, according to preliminary results released Monday, a humiliating setback for the man who has steadily tightened his grip on the nation for nearly 12
CAIRO (AP) – Islamist parties captured an overwhelming majority of votes in the first round of Egypt’s parliamentary elections, setting up a power struggle with the much weaker liberals behind the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak 10 months ago. A
TEHRAN, Iran–Iran’s armed forces shot down an unmanned U.S. spy plane that violated Iranian airspace along the country’s eastern border, the official IRNA news agency reported Sunday. An unidentified military official quoted in the report warned of a strong and
PARIS (AP) – France is temporarily downsizing its embassy in Iran and will bring some employees and their families home, a French official said Saturday. The move is the latest fallout from protesters’ storming of the British embassy in Tehran
From Reuters: Crowds chanted “Death to Britain” at Tehran University on Friday prayers as a hardline Iranian cleric warned the U.N. and European Union against siding with London after students and militia stormed the British embassy in Tehran. Cleric Ahmad
Alternate Headline: Tons of Awesome Saddam Palace Swag Soon to Enter U.S.A. From Reuters: The U.S. military returned its biggest base in Iraq to the government on Friday, a huge compound near Baghdad airport that housed the American war operations
From the Washington Post: The Chinese have called it their “Underground Great Wall” — a vast network of tunnels designed to hide their country’s increasingly sophisticated missile and nuclear arsenal. For the past three years, a small band of obsessively
The Jerusalem Post reports today that the U.S. Army is considering the purchase of Israel’s Iron Dome short-range missile defense system to protect bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. Iron Dome was developed in response to persistent rocket attacks by the
From the New York Times: CAIRO — Islamists claimed a decisive victory on Wednesday as early election results put them on track to win a dominant majority in Egypt’sCAIRO — Islamists claimed a decisive victory on Wednesday as early election
In a bid to save the European Union economic zone from a credit crisis resulting from worries about government debt, central banks around the world–including the U.S. Federal Reserve–have made borrowing dollars cheaper for European banks. Euro: is the bling
From the Wall Street Journal: Two months ago, Dakota Meyer was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Barack Obama for his service in Afghanistan, the military’s most prestigious award. On Monday, Sgt. Meyer alleged that a defense contractor has
After responding to possible new sanctions with a destructive assault on Britain’s embassy, Iran faces a two forms of repercussions–one diplomatic and one karmic. From the Wall Street Journal: The U.K. closed its embassy in Iran on Wednesday and expelled
Don’t expect this news to deter those who, like with Jared Loughner, would use Breivik’s horrific murders to score cheap political points. OSLO, Norway (AP) – Confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik belongs in psychiatric care instead of prison, Norwegian
From Reuters: Iranian protesters stormed two British diplomatic compounds in Tehran on Tuesday, smashing windows, hurling petrol bombs and burning the British flag in protest against sanctions imposed by London. [youtube 5OMCe_spdWs nolink] Britain said it was outraged by the
ZUBIN POTOK, Kosovo (AP) – A German NATO officer and a soldier were shot and wounded and some 23 Austrian and German soldiers injured in clashes with Serb protesters in northern Kosovo throughout Monday after the military alliance’s troops used
Like the Cabinet of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Kuwait’s own government officials have stepped down in response to continued protests from citizens. The country’s emir may go one step further and dissolve the nation’s parliament. Will this be a
More than half of Afghanistan will soon be under the control of local forces after President Hamid Karzai Sunday announced the second wave of a process which should see all NATO combat forces leave by 2014. Karzai’s office said that