Hurricane Bill blew toward land early Tuesday, edging closer to the West Indies with near 100 mph winds and the potential for developing into a major hurricane. The National Hurricane Center expected Bill to strengthen over the next 48 hours. Various weather models showed the storm either missing or grazing the west side of Bermuda as it heads toward the U.S. East Coast, CNN meteorologists said Tuesday. The models showed Bill's path moving dangerously close to the Carolina ...

President Richard M. Nixon and his Brazilian counterpart, Emilio Medici, in 1971 discussed ways their countries could work together to overthrow the socialist government of Salvador Allende in Chile, according to a newly declassified document. During a meeting of the two leaders at the White House on December 9 of that year, Medici was discussing the possibility of a coup by the Chilean military with assistance from Brazilian military officers when Nixon said that it was "very important that Brazil ...

The United States knows that the leader of Pakistan's Taliban is dead because he has not appeared in public to prove that he is alive, the top U.S. envoy to the region told CNN on Monday. Richard Holbrooke said that the Pakistani Taliban have not confirmed the death of Baitullah Mehsud because of an ongoing power struggle over his successor. "The reason it's clear he's dead is that if he weren't dead, he'd be giving TV and radio interviews to ...

Two soldiers wounded by explosions in southern Afghanistan have died , bringing to 201 the number of British troops killed in the country since 2001, officials said Sunday. The first soldier, who was wounded while on car patrol in Helmand province on Thursday, died at a hospital in Britain, the Ministry of Defence said Sunday. He was a member of the 2nd Battalion the Royal Welsh. The second soldier was with the 2nd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. He ...

Officials in Mexico's Chiapas state postponed classes Friday for more than 1 million students in an effort to avoid a resurgence of H1N1 flu, which has sickened thousands throughout Mexico this year. Chiapas Education Secretary Javier Alvarez Ramos and state Health Secretary James Gomez Montes said classes will start August 31 for middle and high school students and September 7 for elementary pupils, the state-run Notimex news agency said. About 1.55 million students will be affected, 850,000 of them in ...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Cape Verde on Friday, the final stop on her seven-nation Africa tour in which she emphasized good governance and urged officials to implement reforms. Clinton is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Pedro Maria Neves before returning to the United States. The Obama administration describes the island nation on the western coast as an African success story. "Cape Verde enjoys a stable democratic system, high transparency and low corruption," said Marianne M. Myles, ...

TIME sat down with Sudan's President Hassan Omar al-Bashir in Khartoum two weeks ago. In March, the International Criminal Court indicted Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the conflict in Darfur, where at least 200,000 people have died since 2003. The interview — his first with the American newsmedia since the ICC's arrest warrants were issued — was conducted in collaboration with "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" on PBS. Here ...

These days, it seems that most Americans carry three things in their pockets or purses at all times: keys, a wallet and a phone. But, in the not-too-distant future, you may be able to leave the wallet and the keys behind. The mobile phone is staging a coup. Some analysts say that within five years, mobile phones in the United States will be able to make electronic payments, open doors, access subways, clip coupons and possibly act as another ...

The United States hailed a World Trade Organization ruling to open Chinese markets and ease controls on the import of U.S. films, DVDs, music downloads and books. "Today, a WTO panel handed a significant victory to America's creative industries," U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said Wednesday. "These findings are an important step toward ensuring market access for legitimate U.S. products in the Chinese market, as well as ensuring market access for U.S. exporters and distributors of those products." In its ...

Sen. Jim Webb will meet with leaders of Myanmar's military junta this week when he stops off in the reclusive country during a two-week, five-nation tour of Asia, his office announced Wednesday. The Virginia Democrat will be the first member of Congress to visit Myanmar in more than a decade. The visit will also be the first time a top U.S. official meets with Myanmar's top official, junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe. Webb is chairman ...