Taliban militants attacked a private guesthouse in central Kabul on Wednesday morning, killing up to six U.N. staff members and wounding nine more, according to a U.N. spokesman.

Three Drug Enforcement Administration personnel were among 14 Americans killed when three helicopters went down in Afghanistan on Monday, a law enforcement source said. The joint international security force killed more than a dozen enemy fighters while searching the compound, ISAF said. The site was thought to harbor insurgents tied to narcotics trafficking in western Afghanistan. The militants were killed in a firefight when insurgents confronted the joint force. As the force was leaving, a helicopter "went down due to ...

Students from Washington University say they have complained to state and federal agencies that a Chicago, Illinois, nightclub barred six African-American members from their senior class trip celebration while admitting nearly 200 white classmates.

China plans to make "every effort to rescue" a merchant ship and crew hijacked in the Indian Ocean, the country's state news agency reported on Tuesday. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu, speaking to reporters, said the government was monitoring developments and has developed an emergency response procedure, the news agency Xinhua reported. Monday's hijacking is the first of a Chinese ship this year, according to the International Chamber of Commerce's International Maritime Bureau. Ma said the ministry warned ships and ...

A young man with tattoos covering one arm rolls hundreds of marijuana joints in the half-light of a shack, perched on a hillside in a Medellin slum. A 9mm pistol and a .38 revolver lie on his work bench. An old battery-powered radio blares out the salsa music classic, "Todo Tiene Su Final" or "Everything Comes To An End." "I'm getting calluses on my tongue rolling all these spliffs," he laughs, telling me has enough marijuana for about 1,000 joints. ...

Turkey excluded Israel from a planned NATO military exercise partly because of Turkey's criticism of Israel's Gaza offensive nearly a year ago, Turkey's foreign minister told CNN on Sunday. The Turkish government decided to change the list of participating countries and exclude Israel, according to the Israel Defense Forces. As a result, the NATO exercise was effectively scrapped, although a U.S. embassy representative said it was only postponed. Asked why Turkey excluded Israel from the exercise, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu ...

The 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro will include rugby union sevens and golf as sports, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced. Two months ago the IOC's executive board voted to include the sports in the program, a proposal that was ratified by the body's members at a meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Friday. Rugby sevens garnered 81 votes in favor of their inclusion while eight were against and one abstained. Golf was ...

Motherhood definitely seems to agree with Jennifer Hudson, who gave birth to her first child, David -- named after her fianc, David Otunga -- on August 10. "I love being nurturing and caring because I love to see other people happy," says Hudson. "Who better to devote my time to than my own child" From singing lullabies ("He can be crying at the top of his lungs and just turn off like a switch") to frequent bottle-feedings ("I've never seen ...

Leading Republicans urged President Obama to make a swift decision in favor of more U.S. troops for the war in Afghanistan after talks between the president and congressional leaders Tuesday. Obama faces an expected request for thousands of more U.S. troops from Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan. He gathered leading members of Congress from both parties at the White House on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the future of the war, which turns 8 years old Wednesday. "Obviously, ...

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, will host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee announced Friday. It is the first time South America will host an Olympics event. The city has budgeted $14.4 billion to the effort, the largest amount of any of the four finalists, according to IOC figures. The final vote was down to Rio and Madrid, Spain. In earlier voting, Chicago, Illinois, and then Tokyo, Japan, were eliminated from contention. After the cities made their presentations ...