A top Taliban political leader delivered a message Friday to President Obama, calling his attempt to lure away Taliban fighters with money "an old weapon that has failed already." Obama meets Friday with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who will tell the U.S. leader how a large deployment to Afghanistan would affect the military. Akhund warned Obama against maintaining a military presence in Afghanistan, saying it "will only deepen your economic crisis and will harm your international reputation." "Pull all ...

Broadening the number of health care professionals who can administer vaccine, New York Gov. David Paterson issued a sweeping executive order Thursday officially declaring a state of emergency due to the increase in H1N1 cases, including 75 H1N1-related deaths in New York state.

A major earthquake vibrated deep in Indonesia's Banda Sea on Saturday night, but the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center predicted the quake would not be destructive.The officials didn't want their names used because they were not authorized to speak on the record. Obama's action allows Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius "to temporarily waive or modify certain requirements" to help health care facilities enact emergency plans to deal with the pandemic. Those requirements are contained in Medicare, Medicaid and state ...

At least 30 people died and 70 were wounded in shelling on a marketplace in the Somali capital of Mogadishu Thursday, according to journalists and emergency services. A local journalist called the rocket fire on Bakara market "unprecedented." "This was the most brutal shelling," according to an ambulance service representative who said they had picked up 61 wounded, but expect the number to climb. Other victims were being brought to hospitals by family and friends. The source ...

A powerful typhoon lumbered toward the storm-battered Philippines on Monday, as the death toll from two devastating storms in the last month climbed to 858. Typhoon Lupit, packing winds of 109 miles per hour (175 km per hour), was expected to hit land Thursday, the National Disaster Coordinating Council said. It was hovering about 720 miles (1,160 km) east of Cagayan, the northernmost province. The government placed emergency teams on standby and stockpiled food, blankets and water. It fears landslides ...

Heavy rains triggered by El Nino weather patterns could potentially prove devastating for east African nations that have been water-starved for months, the United Nations has warned. Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda are facing mudslides, crop destruction, waterborne diseases and disrupted road networks, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Friday. Djibouti, Eritrea and Ethiopia could also be affected. The effects of flooding are expected to be exacerbated because so much greenery has disappeared in the drought. ...

A balloon that was set adrift by a 6-year-old boy from his parents' Colorado home was found empty, CNN affiliate KMGH said, citing a police report. The balloon landed south of Prospect Springs, near Colorado Springs. The boy was not inside the helium aircraft when it landed, KMGH reported. A sibling saw the boy get into the craft Thursday morning. Officials were concerned that the boy may have fallen out of it, an undersheriff said. Margie Martinez of the Weld ...

A negotiator for de facto Honduran President Roberto Micheletti said that no deal was reached between the two opposed sides Wednesday, as other government officials had reported. Ninety percent of an agreement to end the country's ongoing political crisis has been reached, Micheletti negotiator Vilma Morales said at a news conference Wednesday, but some key points remained to be worked out. Earlier Wednesday, a government official told CNN en Espaol that negotiators for both sides had reached a consensus that ...

With comedy stars like Brooke Shields and Jim Belushi aboard, even a plane landing can be funny. A small Cessna carrying Shields and Belushi ran into a parked SUV on Friday afternoon. After landing the plane, the pilot left the aircraft without securing the brakes, San Luis Obispo, California sheriff's officials told PEOPLE. People.com: Ashton Kutcher's plane makes emergency landing. The Cessna 421B had touched down at a private airstrip at Hearst Castle in San ...

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency Sunday in San Bernardino County as a fast-moving wildfire burned through a national forest, threatening homes and forcing hundreds of evacuations. "The Sheep Fire has now scorched 3,500 acres and is only 10 percent contained," said Carol Underhill, a public information officer with the U.S. Forest Service. A mandatory evacuation order is in effect for the entire community of Wrightwood and parts of Lytle Creek in San Bernadino County, the ...