Israeli textbooks for Arab school children will no longer say that Arabs refer to the period surrounding the birth of Israel as al-Nakba, or "the catastrophe," Israel's education minister said Wednesday. In a statement explaining the decision, Gideon Sa'ar said there is "no reason" for the birth of Israel "to be presented as a 'catastrophe or shoah.'" After Israel was created in 1948, a war broke out between the Israelis and Arabs, and some 700,000 Palestinians either fled or were ...

The FBI, in a rare response to rampant rumors on the Internet, said it is not investigating Alaska Gov. Sara Palin on public corruption charges. "Normally, we don't confirm or deny those kind of allegations out there. But, by not doing so, it just casts her in a very bad light," said FBI Special Agent Eric Gonzalez, who confirmed for CNN the statement he made to the Anchorage Daily News. "There is just no truth to those rumors ...

Alaskan Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, who will succeed Gov. Sarah Palin after she leaves office later this month, called Palin Alaska's greatest gift to the United States on Saturday. "I was very surprised at first," he said of Palin's decision to resign, which he said she told him Wednesday. "But then as she began to explain why she was doing it, I began to see it was Sarah Palin, once again, moving to put Alaska's interest first," Parnell told CNN. ...

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili vowed Friday to remain in office until his term ends, defying calls by anti-government protesters that he step down. Up to 60,000 demonstrators took to the streets Thursday, issuing a 24-hour ultimatum to Saakashvili to resign. The protesters blame the president for leading the country into a brief war with Russia last year over the breakaway province of South Ossetia, and plunging it into a political crisis. But Saakashvili has refused to bow to the demands, ...

The parents of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit set up camp Sunday outside the residence of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in hopes of pressuring government officials to a secure a deal with Hamas that would bring their son home. Noam and Aviva Shalit took up residence in a tent across from the outgoing Prime Minister's office, vowing to stay there until Olmert completes his term. "We demand that this government will conclude the crisis and will bring back Gilad ...