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 ...

U.S. President Barack Obama urged the International Olympic Committee on Friday to pick his hometown of Chicago as the host of the 2016 Games, saying the city represents the American dream as well as the Olympic spirit. Obama's address to the 106 IOC members gathered in Copenhagen, Denmark, was the highlight of the Chicago bid committee's final presentation before the vote to choose the host city. "Chicago is a place where we strive to celebrate what makes us ...

After flying through the night for seven hours aboard Air Force One, nobody would blame President Obama for being at least slightly groggy when he arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark, for a quick four hours to make the final pitch for Chicago to host the 2016 Olympics. Maybe that explains why the president seemed to snag the silver medal while first lady Michelle Obama, who's been in Copenhagen a couple of days, clearly took the gold with an emotional speech focused ...

A Spanish fishing ship with 36 international crew members has lost contact with the shore after issuing distress calls saying pirates were attacking it off the coast of Somalia, the ship's owner, Echebastar Fleet, said Friday.

President Obama urged the International Olympic Committee on Friday to pick his hometown of Chicago as the host of the 2016 Games, saying the city represents the American dream as well as the Olympic spirit. Obama's address to the 106 IOC members gathered in Copenhagen, Denmark, was the highlight of the Chicago bid committee's final presentation before the vote to choose the host city. "Chicago is a place where we strive to celebrate what makes us different, just as we ...

A commander of an al Qaeda-linked terror group was killed in Pakistan by a suspected U.S. drone strike, Pakistani military officials said Friday. Obama's address to the 106 IOC members gathered in Copenhagen, Denmark, was the highlight of the Chicago bid committee's final presentation before the vote to choose the host city. "Chicago is a place where we strive to celebrate what makes us different, just as we celebrate what we have in common," Obama said. He pointed out that ...

Some Olympic experts believe Barack Obama's trip to Denmark to lobby for Chicago to host the 2016 Games could swing the decision in the U.S. city's favor. The International Olympic Committee meets in Copenhagen on Friday to choose between Chicago and three other candidate cities: Madrid, Spain, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Tokyo, Japan. For the first time, all four cities will be supported in their final presentation to IOC delegates by either heads of state or heads of government. ...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has shaken up a state commission that is probing whether a man executed in 2004 belonged on death row. Perry's move forces the commission to delay a scheduled hearing on the case. The governor acted two days before the commission was to hear from an expert who has cast doubt about the quality of the arson investigation that helped convict Cameron Todd Willingham of murder in the deaths of his three daughters in a fire at ...

Thursday's meeting between the United States and Iran may be the highest-level talks in three decades between the two countries, but the United States is cautious about predicting what might come next. The meeting is central to the Obama administration policy of international "engagement" and its attempt to persuade Iran to halt its nuclear program. Iran says its nuclear enrichment and other activities are for civilian power-generating uses only, while the United States is concerned that Iran is determined to ...

Iran will soon tell the International Atomic Energy Agency when it can inspect the Islamic republic's recently revealed nuclear facility, the country's state-run Press TV reported. The head of Iran's nuclear program made the announcement in an interview with Press TV on Monday, but he did not give a timetable for the potential inspection. Iran revealed the existence of the covert uranium enrichment site last week, drawing condemnation from the West. The country has also launched a series of missile ...