A day after an Iranian passenger plane crashed in flames killing all 168 people on board, aviation officials were Thursday examining the aircraft's damaged flight data recorders to try to determine the cause of the disaster. Caspian Airlines flight 7908 -- a Russian-made Tupolev Tu-154M -- plunged to the ground and disintegrated minutes into its flight from Tehran to the Armenian capital, Yerevan, officials said. Flight data recorders were recovered Wednesday from the crash site -- a smoldering crater strewn ...

Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor avoided direct answers Wednesday to persistent questions about her personal views on abortion and gun control by repeatedly saying she needed the specific circumstances of a case in order to respond. Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma pushed Sotomayor to express her opinions on whether certain abortions would be legal and whether a person has a fundamental right to possess firearms and a right to self-defense. Each time, Sotomayor said she would need to know ...

The search for the data and voice recorders from the Air France plane that crashed more than a month ago off Brazil's coast is entering a new phase, according to France's accident investigation agency. All 228 people aboard the plane were killed in the June 1 crash. The flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, commonly known as black boxes, stop giving out acoustic broadcasts after 30 days. But investigators decided to continue listening for the "pings" for 10 ...

Seven Baha'i prisoners face a death-penalty trial Saturday in Iran amid calls for their release from a U.S. panel on religious freedom. Responding to a letter from Roxana Saberi, the Iranian-American journalist who spent four months in an Iranian jail earlier this year, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) demanded the seven prisoners be freed rather than stand trial on charges of espionage and religious violations. If convicted, they could face execution. "In addition to the hundreds ...

Russian and U.S. nuclear negotiators have completed a joint statement on the framework for a new arms control agreement to replace the 1991 START I agreement which expires December 5. A U.S. source close to the American side tells CNN that Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev will discuss the joint statement at their Monday meetings in Moscow and are expected to announce and sign it at their joint press conference Monday afternoon. The agreement will set new limits on ...

United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon was denied permission to see Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, reporters traveling with the secretary-general said Saturday. Ban told reporters about the denial after he met with Than Shwe, leader of Myanmar's military junta. Ban is in Myanmar at the invitation of the ruling military junta for talks that are expected to include the detention of Suu Kyi, as well as the detention of other political prisoners. Officials in ...

Officials in Myanmar delayed the resumption of the trial of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday, a spokesman for her political party said. No reason was given. The delay is the latest in a string of postponements and comes as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived in the Asian nation for talks with government officials. Ban is scheduled to meet with four members of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, but it was uncertain whether he would ...

He's a key Iranian politician whose name is on the lips of opponents, supporters and experts alike in the bloody aftermath of the Iran's presidential elections. But despite the chaos that's plagued the Islamic Republic for the past two weeks -- even resulting in the brief detention of his daughter -- former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has remained silent and largely unseen. The last time the world saw Iran's assembled leadership was June 19, when Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah ...

The Iranian government is considering whether to downgrade ties with Britain amid growing tensions over the disputed presidential election, the ISNA news agency reported Wednesday. The move comes after Britain expelled two Iranian diplomats Tuesday after Iran asked two of their British counterparts to leave a day earlier. The two British envoys were accused by Iran of "activities incompatible with their status," Britain's Foreign Office said. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the House of Commons -- Britain's main legislative ...

A young Iranian woman named Neda is gunned down in one of the most iconic images of the last week. Another walks down the street, defiantly showing off her hair and body in a revealing dress. And still another woman says she's not scared of paramilitary forces -- no matter how many times she gets beaten. "When they want to hit me, I say hit. I have been hit so many times and this time it doesn't matter. I just ...