Terror attacks have spiked dramatically in Afghanistan and Pakistan as extremists in both countries strengthen their power and expand operations, according to a State Department report released Thursday. But the State Department annual terrorism report notes an overall decline in attacks worldwide and fewer attacks in Iraq. The attacks worldwide have decreased by 20 percent, with 30 percent fewer fatalities, said Russell Travers of the National Counterterrorism Center
Tag Archives: middle-east
Analysis: What’s ahead for Obama in the next 100 days
After passing the 100 days benchmark, President Obama pushes on with a daunting task ahead of him: Tackling foreign and domestic issues while dealing with a Republican Party opposed to nearly all his major economic initiatives.
Scrutiny in horse deaths falls on vitamins
The captain of a polo team at the center of the mysterious deaths of 21 horses told an Argentine newspaper that he has "no doubts" vitamins administered to the animals by a laboratory are at fault.
U.S. Senate confirms Hill as top envoy to Iraq
The U.S. Senate confirmed veteran diplomat Christopher Hill as U.S.
Obama invites Mideast leaders for talks on ‘comprehensive peace’
President Obama is launching an effort "to achieve a comprehensive peace in the Middle East," his spokesman said Tuesday. Obama has invited key regional leaders to Washington in the coming weeks for consultations on the peace process, Robert Gibbs said. Obama wants to meet separately with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Gibbs told reporters
Why Obama Needs to Reveal Even More on Torture
So far, so good: The Administration was absolutely right to declassify the Department of Justice-CIA interrogation memos. The argument that the letters compromise national security does not hold water. As noted in the memos, the interrogations techniques are taken from the military’s escape and evasion training manuals, known as SERE — which in turn were taken from Chinese abusive interrogations used on our troops during the Korean War.
Iran sentences U.S. journalist to 8 years
A U.S. journalist in Iran was sentenced to eight years in prison for espionage, her father, lawyer and news reports said Saturday — a sentence that prompted denunciation from the United States. Iranian media, including an Iranian judiciary source quoted Saturday by the semi-official Iranian Students News Agency, confirmed the sentence of Roxana Saberi, a 31-year-old Iranian-American from North Dakota.
Getting the CIA Out of Its Other Prisons
It is a good thing the CIA is now out of the overseas prison business. Black sites, waterboarding and renditions were never really the CIA’s strong suit
Iraqi shoe-thrower’s jail sentence reduced by a third
Iraq’s federal appeals court has reduced the sentence for the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at then-President Bush at a news conference in December, his lawyer told CNN on Tuesday. Muntadhar al-Zaidi will serve one year in jail instead of three, the attorney said.
Commentary: What Obama’s trip achieved
Such has been the success of President Obama’s first overseas visit that some observers are even suggesting North Korea’s weekend rocket launch was not the dreaded "3 a.m. moment," but a golden opportunity for the U.S. president.