Iraqi President Jalal Talabani will likely not seek re-election once his term ends. Talabani, 75, has been president since April 2005. The ethnic Kurd was re-elected in 2006 for a four-year term. Although he "has expressed his willingness not to seek another presidential nomination ... it does not mean that he will withdraw from the political and partisan arena," a message on Talabani's Web site said. "President Talabani, on various occasions, sought to emphasize the importance and the need to ...

Voters in El Salvador will line up at a crossroads of history Sunday, deciding whether to give the presidency to a political party that 17 years ago was waging guerrilla war on the government. Although polls indicate that the race has tightened considerably, most analysts say that Mauricio Funes, the candidate of the former guerrilla group known as FMLN, is still slightly favored to beat ARENA party hopeful Rodrigo Avila. That would end a 20-year hold on the presidency by ...

It could be the ultimate test of human endurance: Three British explorers are risking their lives in subzero temperatures to measure the melting Arctic ice cap. The team is on a three-month, 621-mile (1,000-kilometer) hike to their final destination at the North Pole. Along the way, taking precise measurements to determine exactly how fast the ice cap is disappearing. "It's extremely difficult to live out here. It's very, very easy to get cold injuries in seconds," said Martin Hartley, team ...

The incumbent Basque nationalists won the most seats in Basque regional parliamentary elections on Sunday, but they could lose a 29-year hold on power because three non-nationalist parties won a combined majority for the first time, according to official election results. The vote for the powerful 75-seat regional parliament and Basque president are seen as a bellwether of the region's sentiment on how to end decades of violence by the Basque separatist group ETA. The moderate Basque Nationalist Party won ...

Benjamin Netanyahu, the head of the conservative Likud Party, has been chosen to form Israel's next government, Israeli President Shimon Peres announced Friday. At a joint news conference with Peres, Netanyahu said he accepted the task and he is willing to work with the moderate parties of Labor, led by Ehud Barak, and Kadima, headed by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. "We have different approaches in different areas, but we are all together in our desire to act for the good ...

The mayor of Juarez announced Friday that the city's police chief is stepping down after receiving death threats from local drug cartels. At a joint news conference with Peres, Netanyahu said he accepted the task and he is willing to work with the moderate parties of Labor, led by Ehud Barak, and Kadima, headed by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. "We have different approaches in different areas, but we are all together in our desire to act for the good of ...

The Palestinian militant group Hamas said Monday that it is willing to consider the release of an Israeli soldier who was seized in a cross-border raid more than two years ago. But the Hamas leadership of Gaza will not release Gilad Shalit as part of a broader cease-fire agreement with Israel, according to a statement released Monday from Hamas political official Raafat Naseef. Hamas is a fundamentalist Palestinian Islamic group whose military wing has attacked Israel. The United States and ...

Israel's centrist Kadima is maintaining its one-seat lead over right-wing Likud but with about 100,000 ballots yet to be counted the result is not yet official, the Central Elections Committee said Thursday. About 99 percent of the vote has been counted and the parties have already begun negotiations to form a ruling coalition in the 120-seat Knesset. The elections committee said ballots from such people as soldiers and diplomats remain to be counted, and final certification of the vote totals ...

It's that time of year again. Started in 1964 as a way to fill a winter lull in sports coverage, the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue has become one of the most eagerly anticipated magazine issues of the year. Sports Illustrated estimates that the franchise reaches some 66 million people, including 4 in 10 adult American men. As befits such a massive enterprise, the cover is a closely guarded secret; even the model featured on it isn't informed until the ...

Israelis braved pouring rain and strong winds Tuesday to cast ballots in an election that will pick not just the next prime minister but create a new balance of power and lay the groundwork for the next stage of the nation's future. If the polls hold true, the right-wing Likud Party may come out ahead, allowing former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to once again take the reins of the country. But Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's ruling Kadima Party is ...