At first glance it feels like any Latin American barrio filled with kids. It's a Saturday afternoon, and a dozen young children are sprawled out on a yard, painting a large canvass. Others run free through the one-square-block area that resembles a cramped town, with its food stands and kiosks. The tykes rattle off for me what they like best about their community: the mess hall, their friends, the food, the paint — and, for many, just "living with mom." ...

In Paris, a woman pushed through the crowd to kiss America's first black President. In London, the public celebrated how Barack Obama charmed a rare smile out of Queen Elizabeth II. In Istanbul, a fan claimed that the American head of state was a symbolic leader of Turkey. But right on the U.S. doorstep in Mexico City, Obama was surrounded by no throngs but only thousands of federal police and soldiers, including snipers overlooking the paths of his bulletproof limousine. ...

It's the return of an American president to Mexico City. Although George W. Bush visited the country several times, he never made it to this city of more than 20 million people, and it is President Obama's first visit to Latin America. MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) -- It's the return of an American president to Mexico City. Although George W. Bush visited the country several times, he never made it to this city of more than 20 million people, and ...

Few things engender hypocrisy more broadly than does U.S. policy on Cuba. It's embarrassingly inconsistent for Washington to maintain a trade embargo against Havana, and bar U.S. citizens from traveling to Cuba, when America gleefully does business with regimes like China, whose human rights violations are more egregious than Cuba's. At the same time, it's curious at best that embargo foes like California Congresswoman Barbara Lee, who led a congressional delegation to Havana last week that met with President Raul ...

A new poll shows that two-thirds of Americans surveyed think the U.S. should lift its travel ban on Cuba, and three-quarters think the U.S. should end its five-decade estrangement with the country. According to the CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll conducted April 3 to 5, 64 percent of the 1,023 Americans surveyed by telephone thought the U.S. government should allow citizens to travel to Cuba. And 71 percent of those polled said that the U.S. should reestablish diplomatic relations with Cuba, ...

The prospects are not good. The men and women called together in London by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown to counter an economic slump are politicians -- just at a time when the world's electorates are demonstrating their lack of faith in governments and in their ability to understand, let alone sort out, the economic mess. Thirty, 20, even 10 years back there used to be some belief that getting the power-players together could solve problems, or at least ...

Can this G-20 summit prove to be anything more than group therapy for a bunch of fingernail-gnawing, troubled individuals? The prospects are not good. The men and women called together in London by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown to counter an economic slump are politicians -- just at a time when the world's electorates are demonstrating their lack of faith in governments and in their ability to understand, let alone sort out, the economic mess. Thirty, 20, even 10 years ...

Tens of thousands of people packed a soccer stadium in Cameroon Thursday, including President Paul Biya and his wife, for the first large-scale mass of Pope Benedict XVI's first visit to Africa. Africa is the last continent that Benedict had left to visit, and one he could not avoid, said David Gibson, a biographer of the pope. "He knows he has to do this. He knows Africa is the future of the (Roman Catholic) Church, as it is for all ...

The president of Costa Rica announced Wednesday that he is re-establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba more than 47 years after one of his predecessors severed them. "The time has arrived for direct and open dialogue, for official and normal relations that should permit us to tackle our agreements and our disagreements, talking with ourselves openly and with sincerity," President Oscar Arias said in a written statement. "Today, it makes no sense to play the official coldness when we have opened ...

Mauricio Funes, a member of a political party that waged guerrilla war against the government 17 years ago, has claimed the presidency of El Salvador. "This is the happiest night of my life," Funes told a jubilant crowd at his election headquarters Sunday night. "It's also the night of greatest hope for El Salvador." The FMLN party's Funes had 51.12 percent of the vote, while the ARENA party's Rodrigo Avila had 48.87 percent with 84 percent of the national ...