China Census Aims to Chart Shifting Population China began tallying its population on Monday for the first time since 2000, an arduous task at best, likely to be made tougher by the need to count scores of millions of migrant workers in the nation’s big cities. The government said it has sent more than six million census-takers out to survey 400 million households, including the shantytowns and dormitories that often house rural men who have flooded into the cities to work in ...

Two international staffers supporting the peacekeeping mission in the volatile Sudanese region of Darfur were kidnapped Saturday morning, a spokesman for the peacekeeping force told CNN. The man and the woman, whose identities and nationalities were withheld, worked for UNAMID, a U.N. and African Union force designated to keep peace in Darfur. "Our people have been able to establish contact with the people responsible for the abduction," said UNAMID spokesman Noureddine Mezni, but he declined to identify the abductors. The ...

Honduras' de facto president said Thursday that he is willing to resign and let ousted President Jose Manuel Zelaya back into the country, as long as Zelaya gives up his quest for leadership. The new proposal calls for the person next in line, as required by the constitution, to succeed de facto President Roberto Micheletti. Under terms of the proposal, Zelaya could return as a private citizen, but not be allowed to resume his post. Presidential elections held after both ...

In Pakistan's combustible Swat Valley, some girls refuse to wear uniforms so they can make it to school without being harmed. Other girls hide textbooks in their shawls to escape harassment. School-age girls are among the victims in the fierce fighting between government soldiers and Taliban militants in the Swat Valley. The Pakistani government said it has flushed much of the Taliban out of the area, but some fighting persists. Many girls remain banned from schools. Dozens of their schools ...

The State Department said Wednesday it continues to talk to Libyan officials about next month's visit to the New York area by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly continued to hold out the possibility of a compromise over Gadhafi's reported plans to pitch his Bedouin tent on the grounds of a Libyan diplomatic residence in suburban New Jersey during his visit to participate in the annual United Nations General Assembly. Gadhafi last week permitted a large welcome ...

The government of de facto Honduran President Roberto Micheletti is not ready to sign a proposed agreement to end the country's ongoing political crisis, Costa Rican Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno said in Honduras. His remarks came on Tuesday at the conclusion of a two-day visit by a delegation of the Organization of American States. "Although the commission concludes that progress was made during its visit, it must recognize that there still no disposition toward full acceptance of the San Jose ...

After smiling broadly for the TV cameras and complimenting one another, U.S. President Barack Obama and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak provided little food for thought about what really transpired between them in an Oval Office meeting Tuesday. (CNN) -- After smiling broadly for the TV cameras and complimenting one another, U.S. President Barack Obama and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak provided little food for thought about what really transpired between them in an Oval Office meeting Tuesday. Historically, the ...

Up to 75 migrants are missing and feared dead after a harrowing 20-day journey from northern Africa to Europe, a United Nations agency said Friday.

Flash floods have inundated refugee camps in northern Sri Lanka, endangering more than 16,000 Tamil refugees who only months ago survived cross-fire in the country's two-decade civil war, the United Nations says. Three days of heavy rains have damaged or destroyed nearly 2,000 shelters housing the refugees in the Vavuniya District and in Menik Farm, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. An internal U.N. memo obtained by CNN painted a dismal picture for the refugees, ...

The Rev. Jesse Jackson ended a trip to the Ivory Coast on Friday, after he spoke to leaders from the nation's political parties and was honored as a prince by a tribe in the West African nation. Jackson said he met with President Laurent Gbagbo and leading members of two opposition parties, Henri Konan Bedie and Alassane Ouattara. Bedie is a former president of the nation and Ouattara is a former prime minister. Jackson said his mission was not to ...