• 
  Health crisis in Haiti enters a deadly new phase

  Fourteen-month-old Abigail Charlot survived Haiti's cataclysmic earthquake but not its miserable aftermath. Brought into the capital's General Hospital with fever and diarrhea, little Abigail literally dried up.

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  Doctor says vendor may have been in rubble 27 days

  A rice vendor may have lived under the rubble of a flea market for 27 days with little more than water and possibly fruit, a doctor said Tuesday, in what would be a dramatic tale of survival four weeks after Haiti's devastating earthquake.

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  US poised to seize Afghan town as Taliban dig in

  U.S. and Afghan forces pushed Tuesday to the edge of the southern Afghan town of Marjah, poised to seize the major Taliban supply and drug-smuggling stronghold in hopes of building public support by providing aid and services once the insurgents are gone.

• Myanmar court sentences US man to 3 years prison

  A Myanmar court ordered a U.S. citizen on Wednesday to serve three years in prison for entering the military-ruled country with forged documents and undeclared foreign currency.

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  UN envoy in North Korea to spur nuke talks

  A senior U.N. envoy pressed ahead Wednesday with international efforts to get North Korea back into nuclear disarmament talks, during the world body's first high-level visit to the reclusive state in nearly six years.

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  Iran boosts nuclear enrichment, drawing warnings

  Iranian nuclear technicians set dozens of centrifuges spinning Tuesday to begin enriching uranium stocks to a significantly higher level, prompting President Barack Obama to warn of a "significant regime of sanctions."

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  Nigeria: Vice president now acting president

  Nigeria's parliament empowered Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to run Africa's most populous nation Tuesday in place of an ill and absent president, striving for a political end to a crisis that ground the government to a virtual halt and triggered the resumption of an insurgency in the vital oil ector.

• Iran sentences another activist to death

  Iran has convicted another opposition activist on charges related to the country's post-election turmoil and sentenced him to death, the judiciary said Tuesday, bringing to at least 10 the number of those facing the death penalty for the unrest following June's disputed presidential election.

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  Haiti parents testify they gave kids to Americans

  Parents of some of the children who 10 U.S. missionaries tried to take out of Haiti after its catastrophic earthquake told a judge Tuesday that they freely handed over their kids, the Americans' lawyer said.

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  Italian Catholic scandal draws in Pope Benedict

  A scandal in Italy's Catholic Church has morphed into a tale of Vatican intrigue complete with forged documents, reports of dueling cardinals and a papal admonishment Tuesday to put the matter to rest.

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  Obama says world moving quickly on Iran sanctions

  President Barack Obama said on Tuesday the international community was moving "fairly quickly" toward imposing broader sanctions on Iran, as the Islamic Republic defiantly expanded its nuclear program.

• China PLA officers urge economic punch against U.S.

  Senior Chinese military officers have proposed that their country boost defense spending, adjust PLA deployments, and possibly sell some U.S. bonds to punish Washington for its latest round of arms sales to Taiwan.

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  Ukraine's Tymoshenko girds to contest result

  Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko launched action on Tuesday to call rival Viktor Yanukovich's election into question, ignoring international endorsement of the poll and threatening a lengthy legal battle.

• Haiti secure after quake, but escapees a concern: U.N.

  The top U.N. official in Haiti urged Haitians on Tuesday to turn in thousands of escaped criminals before they start trouble, but said the security situation in the quake-struck Caribbean nation is stable.

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  Nigerian VP assumes office as acting president

  Nigerian Vice President Goodluck Jonathan assumed office as acting president on Tuesday to fill a power vacuum more than two months after President Umaru Yar'Adua left for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia.

• Japan PM sees new reform minister lifting support

  Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said on Wednesday he will appoint a member of a waste-cutting task force as administrative reform minister, in a bid to boost flagging support ahead of a mid-year election.

• Over 60 feared dead in Afghan avalanches

  More than 60 people were feared dead and hundreds still trapped on a treacherous mountain pass in Afghanistan on Tuesday after a series of avalanches smashed into an alpine tunnel.

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  Moscow says U.S. missile shield aimed at Russia

  Russia's top general said on Tuesday that differences over U.S. missile defense plans were directed against his country and were holding up an arms treaty with Washington, Russian news agencies reported.

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  North Korea nuclear envoy visits China, talks closer

  North Korea's top nuclear envoy arrived in Beijing on Tuesday as Pyongyang said it was willing to step up talks with China on resuming stalled disarmament-for-aid talks.

• How the poor can get poorer, and be OK about that

  Moody's upgraded the outlook for Lithuania's debt rating recently, but that means nothing to people like Lijandra Garniene.

• Sports Briefing | Boxing: Holyfield to Fight in Uganda

  The former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield, 47, will challenge Francois Botha, 41, for the lightly regarded World Boxing Federation title in Uganda on Jan. 16.

• Names of the Dead

  The Department of Defense has identified 931 American service members who have died as a part of the Afghan war and related operations. It confirmed the death of the following American on Thursday:.

• Letter From Europe: Why a Rush to Pius XII Sainthood?

  Does the world really need yet another Roman Catholic saint, particularly if that means canonizing one of the most controversial popes in history?

• Afghans Investigate Reports of More Civilian Deaths

  Afghan government and NATO officials are investigating reports that seven civilians were killed in Helmand Province in a NATO missile strike.

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  Hundreds Demonstrate on Border With Gaza

  Hundreds of demonstrators gathered on both sides of the Israeli-Gazan border to mark a year since Israel’s three-week war in Gaza.

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  Hamburg Journal: Grand New Concert Hall Tests a City’s Frugal Ways

  This affluent but unassuming German city is seeking recognition with showpiece architecture, but its residents are gulping as the project’s cost soars.

• Heavy Toll at Sports Event in Pakistan After Bomb Blast

  A suicide bomber set off an explosives-laden vehicle on a field during a volleyball tournament Friday, killing at least 40, police said.

• Touring the Temples of German Automaking

  In the last five years, four leading German automakers have opened or reworked the museums dedicated to each brand’s heritage and history.

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  In Cuba’s Time Capsule, an Automotive Legacy

  In the heart of Havana’s historic district, a museum displays cars, trucks and motorcycles that represent the last century of Cuba’s automotive history.

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  Asia Free-Trade Zone Raises Hopes, and Some Fears About China

  The new zone, consisting of China and 10 Southeast Asian nations, will remove tariffs on 90 percent of traded goods.

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• 
  Interactive: development calendar for upcoming events in 2010

  Use our interactive calendar to find out which events, lectures and summits that focus on aid and development are being held each month

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  Sri Lanka's president Mahinda Rajapaksa dissolves parliament

  Decision comes day after arrest of opposition leader General Sarath Fonseka, whom he defeated in last month's electionTensions in Sri Lanka rose tonight after the president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, dissolved parliament in a move aimed at further consolidating his power as the opposition called for natio...

• 
  Toyota recalls Prius over brake fault

  Anger mounts as carmaker issues 'non-safety' recall, taking its 2010 total to 8.5mThe consumer backlash against Toyota intensified tonight when drivers of the recalled Prius complained that the ­company had allowed the vehicle's brake fault to go untreated for months and claimed Toyota is wrong to ...

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  Haiti man rescued after 27 days

  • Evan Muncie discovered buried in market ruins• Family feared they would never see him alive againA Haitian man who has been pulled alive from rubble in Port-au-Prince may have been trapped since anearthquake ­devastated the city 27 days ago.

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  Philippines clan head charged

  Andal Ampatuan Sr indicted with 196 others including soldiers and police after 57 people were killed by gunmenProsecutors in the Philippines today filed murder charges against the head of a powerful lan and 196 others, including his three sons, for the massacre of 57 people in November.

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  Michelle Obama campaigns on obesity

  • One in three American children overweight or obese• Schools and food industry enlisted in driveThe Obama administration today embarked on a programme to eliminate childhood obesity, one of the biggst health problems in the US, "within a generation".

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  Sacking of science teacher divides town

  A class experiment has left a deep mark in a strongly religious communityJennifer Dennis studied her 13-year-old son's skin and was uncertain which to be more astonished by: the shape made by the strnge dots running the length of his forearm, or how they got there.

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  Chinese farms 'worse than factories'

  Groundbreaking government survey pinpoints fertilisers and pesticides as greater source of water contaminationFarmers' fields are a bigger source of water contamination in China than factory effluent the Chinese government revealed today in its first census on pollution.

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  Canadian air ace on murder charge

  • Colonel Russell Williams also charged with sexual assault• Arrest of military's 'shining bright star' stuns CFB TrentonAt face value, Colonel Russell Williams had all the qualities to make it to th top.

• The euro: Continental drift | Editorial

  Having made the mess in the first place, the markets are now punishing Europe's governments for trying to clear it up. Just as in Britain and France, soaring state debts in Greece, Portugal and Spainreflect, more than anything, a pressing need to restart economies failed by the forces of finance.

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• India's Maoists 'ready for talks'

  A leader of India's Maoist rebels says they are ready to talk with the government - if some of their leaders are freed.

• S Lanka parliament dissolved

  Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa dissolves parliament to set up early elections, a day after his main rival was arrested.

• Haiti quake toll rises to 230,000

  The death toll from the Haiti quake could be 230,000, the government says - close to the number killed in the 2004 Asian tsunami.

• Jakarta hotel bombs trial begins

  The alleged driver for militant Noordin Top goes on trial in Jakarta accused of aiding a twin hotel bombing.

• India's Moaists 'ready for talks'

  A leader of India's Maoist rebels says they are ready to talk with the government - if some of their leaders are freed.

• Chinese quake activist sentenced

  An activist who questioned why so many died in a huge quake in China in 2008 is jailed for five years for subversion.

• Sri Lankan parliament dissolved

  Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa dissolves parliament to set up early elections, a day after his main rival was arrested.

• Trouble flares

  How a more active Sun could wreak havoc for sat-nav

• Respect My Authority! South Park episode stopped over Mexico flag

  Respect My Authority! Derision as South Park episode is pulled over Mexican flag

• Policing Mexico's deadliest beat

  Katya Adler meets a Mexican widow joining the police on one of the world's most dangerous beats.

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• Pakistani Taliban confirm leader's death

  Hakimullah Mahsud was injured in a missile strike by a U.S. drone last month. He is the group's second leader killed in six months. The Pakistani Taliban confirmed Tuesday that their leader, Hakimulah Mahsud, died from injuries suffered in a U.

• 
  In Haiti, a rum everyone can agree on

  Rhum Barbancourt is a national tradition, surviving the tumult of the last century and a half. Whether it is weddings or holidays, or raising voodoo spirits, no other will do. When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt arrived here in 1934 to mark the end of America's occupation of Haiti, he insiste...

• 
  Marines focus on civilian safety in Afghanistan

  Preparing for battle in a Taliban stronghold, the Marines are warning civilians to flee the area, and they plan restraint in their use of artillery and air power. Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan, nd Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan -- Heading into battle to seize a Taliban stronghold, U.

• 
  Iran plans to build 10 more nuclear plants

  Despite Western threats of sanctions, Tehran says it will build more nuclear fuel plants and beef up its military. As Iran moved to enrich uranium to a higher level of purity and build new nuclear-fel plants, U.

• 
  Ukraine's Yulia Tymoshenko under pressure to concede in presidential race

  The prime minister stays quiet while supporters of her rival, Viktor Yanukovich, celebrate his win. Pressure swelled Monday for Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to bow out gracefully from ahard-fought and narrowly lost presidential race.

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  Gates quietly draws more allied troops for Afghanistan effort

  The U.S. Defense secretary emphasizes training and tones down his approach. In many ways, it was a familiar scene: Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, in Europe, meeting with U.S. allies about the wa in Afghanistan.

• China earthquake activist sentenced

  A Chinese activist who sought to document shoddy construction that contributed to deaths in China's devastating 2008 earthquake has been sentenced to five years in prison for subversion, his lawyer sid Tuesday.

• 2 suspected drug gang leaders held in Tijuana

  Raydel Lopez Uriarte and Manuel Garcia Simental are believed to be top lieutenants in a cartel blamed for a string of massacres, police killings, beheadings and kidnappings in Tijuana. Two reputed leaders of a drug cartel that waged a years-long campaign of terror in Tijuana were arrested Monday i...

• China says it shut down online academy for hackers

  Black Hawk Safety Net was shut down in November and its founders later arrested, state media reports. The school took tuition from tens of thousands who wanted to learn 'successful attack tools.' The pitch was tantalizing: Just a little training and you too could hack websites, earning thrills, po...

• For Japan's cellphone novelists, proof of success is in the print

  One teenager who wrote a three-volume novel on her phone has gone on to sell more than 110,000 paperback copies, grossing more than $611,000 in sales. She likes Care Bears, doesn't wear makeup yet, nd took her nom de plume from a character in the Disney classic "Bambi.

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• No God But God

  Malaysia's Allah Controversy February 10, 2010 Last December, the Malaysian High Court ruled that the Herald, a weekly Catholic magazine, was allowed to use the Arabic word "Allah" to refe to God in its Malay-language section.

• What to Read on Taiwanese Politics

  February 9, 2010 Taiwan is a fascinating polity to study--simultaneously a troubled democracy, an economic powerhouse, and a target for absorption by a rising China. It is impossible to predict cofidently what Taiwan's status will be even a decade or two hence.

• The Hamas Conundrum

  The Untamed Shrew, Four Years On February 8, 2010 In the four years since it swept Palestinian parliamentary elections, Hamas has neither moderated its policies nor adopted democratic princiles.

• The World Next Week Podcast: February 5, 2010

  February 5, 2010 CFR.org Editor Robert McMahon and Foreign Affairs Associate Editor Joshua Yaffa preview major world events in the week ahead. In this week's podcast: Washington debates U.S. President Barack Obama's proposed budget for 2011; efforts in Haiti shift from rescue to rebuilding; an...

• Burnt Orange

  What Ukraine’s Presidential Election Means for Democracy February 4, 2010 In 2004, the world watched as the Orange Revolution unfolded in Ukraine, pitting an insurgent, pro-Western opposition, led by Viktor Yushchenko and Yulia Tymoshenko, against a pro-Russian autocratic government, repre...

• The End of the Beijing Consensus

  Can China's Model of Authoritarian Growth Survive? February 2, 2010 Since China began undertaking economic reforms in 1978, its economy has grown at a rate of nearly ten percent a year, and ts per-capita GDP is now twelve times greater than it was three decades ago.

• What to Read on Foreign Aid

  February 2, 2010 Over the course of the twentieth century, the richer, more industrialized nations of the world shifted from seeing the poorer nations as targets of conquest or exploitation to seeng them as problems in need of solutions.

• Letter From Manila

  How to Talk to a MILF January 29, 2010 Last month, peace talks to bring an end to four decades of Islamist insurgency in the southern Philippines resumed, with both the government and the main secessionist group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), making optimistic pronouncements ab...

• The World Next Week Podcast: January 29, 2009

  January 29, 2010 CFR.org Editor Robert McMahon and Foreign Affairs Associate Editor Joshua Yaffa preview major world events in the week ahead. In this week's podcast: the world reacts to U.S. President Barack Obama's State of the Union address; countries release emissions targets for the year 2...

• Blacklisted in Baghdad

  Can Washington Fix Iraq’s Election Crisis? January 27, 2010 Until recently, the United States viewed Iraq's upcoming parliamentary elections on March 7 as a reflection of the country's stability and self-sufficiency -- the main ingredient needed if Washington is going to successfully end i...

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• Man 'Lives For 27 Days' In Haiti Rubble

  Doctors say a man may have survived under the rubble of a flea market for 27 days following the earthquake in Haiti four weeks ago.

• Fans Welcome Saints Back To New Orleans

  The New Orleans Saints have been given a jubilant reception by tens of thousands of fans during a victory parade to mark the team's first NFL championship.

• Fight To Ban McCanns Book Enters Final Day

  The McCanns are set to face the final day of proceedings in their fight to uphold a ban on a book claiming they covered up the death of their daughter Madeleine.

• A Tale Of Two Coasts: US Braces For Extremes

  With America's east coast braced for 'Snowmageddon: Part Two', people on the other side of the country are facing a weather crisis of their own.

• Google Buzz: Gmail's Own Social Network

  Google has revealed its latest effort to take on Twitter, with the launch of an online status application for Gmail.

• Woman Denies Fire Attack On Bikini Dancer

  A woman has appeared in court accused of setting a bikini dancer on fire at a California club.

• 'Family Man' Killed In 'Bungled Robbery'

  The daughter of a British man killed in his villa in Tenerife has told Sky News Online that her family are "devastated".

• Shock As Brit Killed In 'Bungled Robbery'

  The daughter of a British man killed in his villa in Tenerife has told Sky News Online that her family are "devastated".

• British Man Killed In 'Bungled Robbery'

  A British man has been killed on the Spanish island of Tenerife in what may have been a bungled robbery.

• Toyota Drivers Raise Concerns Over Steering

  US safety officials are looking into complaints from Toyota Corolla drivers about problems with steering on their vehicles.

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