An invitation to dinner at the French embassy in London is the dream of any true gourmet. Ambassador Jean Chauvel's chef is one of the world's great cooks. A tiny Tonkinese, Bui Van Han, 50, has presided over the Chauvel kitchen for 22 years, is a graduate of Paris' famed Cordon Bleu school, a master of haute cuisine. In the posts where he has cooked for the Chauvels—Paris, Bern, New York —the mere memory of his Pauppiette de Sole la Richelieu or Cotelettes de ...

The streets of central Kabul's bustling open-air Mandavi market was cleared of shopkeepers and shoppers early this afternoon after Taliban suicide bombers and gunmen attacked a large police station on the area's main street. The three attackers killed five civilians, three policemen and an intelligence officer when they breached the gate of the compound and opened fire, the Interior Ministry confirmed in a statement, according to Afghan news sources agencies. The insurgents were killed when the police ...

The arrests came as fast as drops of monsoon rain. On Feb. 22, more than 100 Indonesian special police raided a terrorist training camp deep in the jungles of Sumatra island. Within days they captured 14 suspected Islamic militants from a shadowy group called al-Qaeda in Aceh that was believed to have been planning an imminent attack. Then, on March 9, the police converged on an Internet caf near the Indonesian capital Jakarta and engaged in a firefight that killed ...

The French Embassy in Ivory Coast announced on Monday that Ivory Coast security forces had arrested incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo, after major fighting that had torn apart the city of Abidjan since March 31. TIME reporter Monica Mark was caught up in the chaos. This is her report of a week of surviving the siege. I should really have known better. But I'd lived in Ivory Coast for two years, working as a journalist out of Abidjan, as ...

Heavy gun battles raged around the last bastions of Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo as the United Nations warned both sides to rein in their soldiers; the countdown to Gbagbo's exit began. The boom of large weapons rang across the city as forces loyal to President-elect Alassane Ouattara targeted the two official presidential residences and the state broadcaster. The state broadcaster changed hands between the pro-Ouattara Republican Forces and Gbagbo's Republican Guards at least twice overnight, while ...

A suicide car bomb attack near the Indian Embassy in Kabul killed at least seven people and wounded 60 others on Thursday, officials said, adding that their offices were targeted. A similar attack last year killed at least 58 people. The bomb went off at about 8:30 a.m. (0400 GMT), just as offices and shops were opening for the day, and damaged a security checkpoint outside the embassy, said staffer J.P. Singh. "But there were no casualties on the Indian ...

The Tanzanian national indicted in the 1998 terrorist bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania will not face the possibility of the death penalty, according to a letter issued by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday. Holder's letter directed U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara "not to seek the death penalty" against Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani. CNN obtained the letter from the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Bharara sent his own letter to ...

A handful of people rallied outside the Japanese Embassy on Saturday to show support for an American man who is jailed in Japan, accused of trying to kidnap his own children. During the demonstration, Christopher Savoie's wife, Amy, along with others from the Children's Rights Council of Japan -- a group that advocates visitation for both parents in divorce cases, and which organized Saturday's event -- called for Savoie's release. "It makes me feel wonderful to know that these people ...

Ahead of a United Nations Security Council briefing Tuesday on Afghanistan, the country's foreign minister urged patience from the international community in dealing with his struggling homeland. "The freedoms inherent in the suspended rights are inalienable and cannot be limited or restricted without seriously damaging the democratic aspirations of the Honduran people," said State Department spokesman Ian Kelly in a statement late Monday night. Earlier Monday, Roberto Micheletti announced he would repeal the law, but it would not be immediately. ...

Honduras is accusing Brazil's government of instigating an insurrection within its borders, and gave the Brazilian Embassy 10 days to decide the status of ousted Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya, who has taken refuge there. "Since the clandestine arrival to Honduras by ex-president Zelaya, the Brazil embassy has been used to instigate violence and insurrection against the Honduran people and the constitutional government," the secretary of foreign affairs for Honduras' de facto government said in a statement late Saturday night. ...