Four tropical cyclones, two major earthquakes with accompanying tsunamis, all occurring around the Western Pacific and Southern Asia within one day. So much activity in the same portion of the world, how unusual is something like this, and could they be related According to CNN meteorologist and weather producer Brandon Miller this is certainly not unprecedented as far as tropical systems go. "September represents the peak of tropical activity around the world, and the Western Pacific sees more tropical cyclones ...

Iran will soon tell the International Atomic Energy Agency when it can inspect the Islamic republic's recently revealed nuclear facility, the country's state-run Press TV reported. The head of Iran's nuclear program made the announcement in an interview with Press TV on Monday, but he did not give a timetable for the potential inspection. Iran revealed the existence of the covert uranium enrichment site last week, drawing condemnation from the West. The country has also launched a series of missile ...

Five people were killed and seven were injured Tuesday when a local transit bus crashed into a ravine in western Germany, police said.

Colombian and Mexican drug cartels have jumped the Atlantic Ocean and expanded into West Africa, working closely with local criminal gangs to carve out a staging area for an assault on the lucrative European market. The situation has gotten so out of hand that tiny Guinea-Bissau, the fifth-poorest nation in the world, is being called Africa's first narco-state. Others talk about how Africa's Gold Coast has become the Coke Coast. In all, officials say, at least nine top-tier Latin American ...

For years, much of the debate over Zimbabwe has been preoccupied with how much, and how publicly, to criticize its despotic longtime leader Robert Mugabe. In the past, the West routinely harangued the ailing 85-year-old dictator, a former liberation hero who has ruled for 29 years. Western capitals and human rights groups have urged Africa to do the same, believing that the continent needed to recognize its own problems and sort them out. A few African leaders, like those ...

Five U.S. service members were killed Saturday in two bombing attacks in Afghanistan, military officials said. Two soldiers died after their patrol struck a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan's Wardak province, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said. The security force said the U.S. military confirmed that the slain troops were Americans. In western Afghanistan, three soldiers were fired upon after they struck a roadside bomb, the U.S. military said. Two died in the initial attack, the third ...

Seven emergency medics in England have been suspended from work for playing an Internet game that involves being photographed lying down in unusual places. Bosses at a hospital in Swindon, western England, were angered after photographs of the doctors and nurses lying face down on resuscitation trolleys, ward floors and an air ambulance helipad were posted on social networking site Facebook. The photographs have been removed from the site and the members of the hospital's accident and emergency staff now ...

At least 15 people are dead after a tourist boat sunk in a lake in southwest Macedonia on Saturday morning, a government spokesman told CNN. The Xinhua news agency didn't cite a reason for Li Zhi's sacking. He was replaced by Zhu Hailun, secretary of the party in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in western China. Demonstrators clashed with police in Urumqi for two days amid a strange string of syringe stabbings. The protesters were demanding better police protection and a ...

A Russian writer who contradicted some authorities by suggesting that the hijacked cargo ship Arctic Sea was carrying something other than timber was fired after he fled Russia because of threats, he told CNN Friday. Mikhail Voitenko said in multiple media interviews that he caught the first flight to Istanbul, Turkey, this week to escape possible lawsuits or worse for his comments on the Arctic Sea saga. On Friday, he told CNN by cell phone that he had moved from ...

Flanked by volcanoes and colorful Maya villages, Guatemala's Atitlan is one of the most striking lakes in the world, and there are few better places to lap up the views than Laguna Lodge, a 10-minute boat ride — but a world away — from the Western Highlands tourist town Panajachel. Hewn from a mixture of volcanic stone, wood and palm, the property is as much a showcase for indigenous crafts as it is a sanctuary for conscientious globe-trotters. Local ...