Fidel Castro met Tuesday with three members of the Congressional Black Caucus, the former Cuban president's first known meeting with American officials since he fell ill in July 2006. ...more

April 7, 2009

Robert Vassallo and Angellette Smith had been battered by waves for two days when a final surge sent their boat crashing into a reef off the western coast of Cuba. ...more

January 9, 2009

Robert Vassallo and Angellette Smith had been battered by waves for two days when a final surge sent their boat crashing into a reef off the western coast of Cuba. ...more

January 8, 2009

The international to-do list President George W. Bush hands to his successor has a lot of boxes marked "incomplete." Some of Bush's foreign policy and security priorities were overtaken by the two expensive wars that outlast him. In other cases, Bush ran out of time or political capital, or was vexed by the realities of a new world where even close allies don't always cater to American whims. ...more

January 4, 2009

Taking a page from the successful experiment in Iraq, American commanders and Afghan leaders are preparing to arm local militias to help in the fight against a resurgent Taliban. Along with hope, however, the move is raising fears here that the new armed groups could push the country into a deeper bloodletting. ...more

December 24, 2008

It seems inconceivable: Somali pirates in speedboats foil warships from the world's most powerful navies to prey on shipping lanes crucial to the oil supply. ...more

November 19, 2008

After months of painstaking negotiations between Baghdad and Washington, the Iraqi Cabinet on Sunday approved a bilateral agreement allowing U.S. troops to remain in the country for three more years. ...more

November 17, 2008

President Bush secretly approved orders in July that for the first time allow American Special Operations forces to carry out ground assaults inside Pakistan without prior approval of the Pakistani government, according to senior American officials. ...more

September 11, 2008

Iraqi and U.S. negotiators have completed a draft security agreement that would see American troops leave Iraqi cities as soon as June 30, Iraqi and American officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday. ...more

August 21, 2008

Iraq and the United States are near an agreement on all American combat troops leaving Iraq by October 2010, with the last soldiers out three years after that, two Iraqi officials told The Associated Press on Thursday. U.S. officials, however, insisted no dates had been agreed. ...more

August 8, 2008