Aides say the president is expected to focus on the economy when he addresses a joint session of Congress Tuesday evening, but will also touch lightly on foreign policy issues. After much talk of engaging America's adversaries, chief among them Iran, the Obama administration has made no move so far, pending a policy review. But Iranian leaders from President Ahmadinejad on down have sent letters and delivered speeches welcoming a change of U.S. policy and declaring themselves ...

"Smile, you're in Swat," reads a billboard on the main road into the lush green honeymooners' valley once dubbed the "Switzerland of Asia". But over the past two years, Swat has been turned into a playground for the Taliban. And it may be the Taliban, and their fellow Islamists, who have most reason to smile as a result of the government's decision, last week, to end its floundering military campaign and instead ...

Islamist fighters in Somalia have made significant gains in the country, according to the latest statement purportedly from al Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri. The 25-minute audio recording, titled "From Kabul to Mogadishu," focuses primarily on the "important developments" in Somalia, which al-Zawahiri called "a step on the path of victory of Islam." CNN cannot authenticate the message, which was released on Sunday and was interspersed with television news reports and statements from various al Qaeda-linked commanders. CNN analysts who listened ...

The mother of an American humanitarian worker kidnapped in Pakistan has pleaded for him to be freed in an audio recording released by the United Nations. Rose Solecki, whose son John was abducted three weeks ago, describes how the "happy memory" of visiting him in the province of Balochistan "turned into a nightmare." "I simply do not understand why this is happening to our dear John," Rose Solecki, 83, says in the recording. "I cannot begin to explain the sorrows ...

Taliban militants released a kidnapped Pakistani official in exchange for two of their men in the troubled Swat Valley, government officials said Monday. Kushal Khan was on his way to take up his new post as the district coordination officer Sunday when unknown gunmen kidnapped him and six members of his security detail near Mingora, the valley's main city. Late Sunday, Khan and his security guards were released after two Taliban militants were freed in a swap, said Syed Muhammad ...

A top official in Pakistan's troubled Swat Valley was kidnapped Sunday -- a day after a cease-fire between the government and Taliban militants was supposed to go into effect. Kushal Khan was on his way to take up his new post as the District Coordination Officer when unknown gunmen kidnapped him and six members of his security guards near Mingora, the valley's main city, officials said. Khan was nabbed a day after the provincial government declared a permanent cease-fire agreement ...

The Taliban and the government of North West Frontier Province in Pakistan have agreed to a permanent cease-fire in the nation's volatile Swat Valley, an official said. Syed Mohammad Javed, commissioner for the Malakand region, which includes Swat Valley, told reporters in Mingora that the two parties had agreed to make permanent a 10-day cease-fire declared earlier this week. Javed said the agreement meant boys schools will reopen on Monday and camps will be set up for Swat residents who ...

An Afghanistan native living in California has been arrested and charged with lying to federal authorities, including trying to hide a trip he took to Pakistan to visit Osama bin Laden's security coordinator. The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey, released Friday, also suggests that six in 10 support the economic stimulus package that Obama signed into law Tuesday. Obama's approval rating stands at 67 percent in the new poll. That's down 9 percentage points from the most recent CNN poll, which ...

Police moved to dissipate possible sectarian violence after a suicide bombing in the middle of a Shia funeral procession killed at least 27 people and injured 75 others in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province Friday morning, police said. Charla Nash, 55, was transferred by airplane and ambulance to the clinic, where doctors in December performed the first facial transplant in the United States. The attack has raised questions about whether exotic animals should be kept as pets. Connecticut Attorney General ...

At this year's U.S.-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar, speaker after Muslim speaker had nothing particularly awful to say about the United States. The Muslims were, in fact, hopeful about, and slightly amazed by, the new American President. Some even wondered aloud what they could do to help him succeed. Anwar Ibrahim, the Malaysian opposition leader, listed the significant gestures that Obama had made toward the Islamic world, from the President's interview with al-Arabiya television network to the appointment of ...