Two people were killed and four wounded in a suspected U.S. drone attack in northwestern Pakistan early Wednesday, Pakistani intelligence and Taliban sources said. "They are en route to Los Angeles, where Laura and Euna will be reunited with their families," spokesman Matt McKenna said in a written statement. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed relief at the release of the two journalists. "Obviously I am very happy and relieved to have these two young women, Laura Ling and ...

Add to the well worn Obama-Lincoln comparisons one more similarity: an apparent aversion to big birthday parties. The 16th President never celebrated his birthday in the White House, according to Lincoln biographer Emanuel Hertz. Obama, likewise, is ringing in his 48th on Aug. 4 with a decided lack of pomp. He dined, hooped and — ahem — bowled with friends at Camp David over the weekend, but he's spending his big day itself on the job, having lunch with ...

In the four-and-a-half months that two American journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, have been held captive in North Korea, there has been one constant amidst the rumors swirling around the case: the North Koreans wanted a high-powered emissary to come from the U.S. to try to win the release of the prisoners — and, no doubt, listen to whatever else it was that Pyongyang had to say about the current, dismal state of relations between the two countries. ...

Former President Clinton met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il on Tuesday in North Korea, according to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency, citing North Korean state-run media reports. Clinton is in Pyongyang trying to negotiate the release of two American journalists, according to the White House. Clinton landed in North Korea early Tuesday on a mission to negotiate the release of the journalists who have been imprisoned there since March. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs gave little detail ...

Authorities have identified what is believed to be the wreckage of a Merpati Nusantara Airlines plane that disappeared shortly after takeoff in eastern Indonesia over the weekend. The three were arrested in the western Iranian city of Marivan, the deputy governor of Kurdistan province, Iraj Hassanzadeh, told the Fars News Agency. Earlier, Swiss diplomats in Iran and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington had urged Iran to provide information on the hikers. "Obviously, we are concerned," she said. ...

Iran confirmed Tuesday the arrest of three American hikers who crossed into the country from neighboring Iraq and said they have been charged with "illegal entry," a semi-official news agency reported. The three were arrested in the western Iranian city of Marivan, the deputy governor of Kurdistan province, Iraj Hassanzadeh, told the Fars News Agency. Earlier, Swiss diplomats in Iran and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington had urged Iran to provide information on the hikers. "Obviously, we ...

One is a freelance journalist who intended to cover elections in Iraq's Kurdistan region. Another also has been trying her hand at reporting, and the third is a friend who shared their love of travel. Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Joshua Fattal -- three University of California-Berkeley graduates believed to have been arrested Friday after crossing from Iraq into Iran during a hike -- are seasoned travelers with an appetite for interaction with other cultures, friends and associates said. ...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is embarking on her biggest international trip yet: Africa. Seven countries in 11 days. Issues as diverse as economic entrepreneurship and gender-based violence. The trip, which was to begin with Clinton's scheduled departure Monday evening, comes just three weeks after President Obama's trip to Accra, Ghana. She will highlight many of the themes he struck. The State Department notes it is the earliest trip by a secretary of state and a president to ...

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday condemned an attack Sunday in southern Sudan that killed 161 people. The women, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, are reporters for California-based Current TV, a media venture of former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, who served under Clinton. They were arrested while reporting on the border between North Korea and China and sentenced in June to 12 years in prison on charges of entering the country illegally to conduct a smear campaign. The United ...

Every political coalition needs a catchy name. The 1840s had the Know-Nothings, the 1980s had the Boll Weevils, and now there are the Blue Dogs, a group of 52 fiscally conservative Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives whose staunch resistance to the White House's health-care legislation efforts might delay a vote well past President Obama's August deadline. When the Democrats lost Congress in 1994, some Representatives blamed the defeat on a party they felt had ...