For Benazir Bhutto, the decision to return to Pakistan was sealed during a telephone call from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice just a week before Bhutto flew home in October. The call culminated more than a year of secret diplomacy - and came only when it became clear that the heir to Pakistan's most powerful political dynasty was the only one who could bail out Washington's key ally in the battle against terrorism. ...more

December 28, 2007

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee appealed to Iowa conservatives on two fronts Saturday, calling for a stronger military and stronger families. ...more

December 23, 2007

Turkey sent hundreds of troops across the border into the frigid mountains of northern Iraq on Tuesday, claiming it inflicted heavy losses on Turkish Kurd rebels in the small-scale incursion and from air strikes two days earlier. ...more

December 19, 2007

The international community is being asked today to take a very expensive leap of faith in approving a huge new injection of aid to the Palestinians. ...more

December 17, 2007

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday that militant Palestinians, not Israel, are to blame for deteriorating conditions in the sealed-off Gaza Strip, as the United States announced it intends to donate $555 million to the impoverished Palestinians next year. ...more

December 17, 2007

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday the United States would continue along a two-track strategy to deal with Iran, pressing for new sanctions and demanding Tehran come clean about its nuclear program while offering talks to sweeten the deal. But Russia ignored her calls to punish Iran. ...more

December 9, 2007

A slight woman with thick-framed glasses and somewhat disheveled graying hair wore an orange jail jumpsuit Tuesday as she sat in federal court. ...more

November 28, 2007

TAMPA U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas B. McCoun III Deloris Jean Baines threatening president ...more

November 27, 2007

Saudi Arabia and other key Arab nations Friday agreed to attend a U.S.-sponsored peace conference, a move that added credibility to Washington's attempt to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict before President Bush leaves office. ...more

November 24, 2007

In a bit of last-minute diplomacy, President Bush called the leaders of Israel, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority on Wednesday to discuss details of the U.S. peace conference set to begin in Annapolis, Md., next week, as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the goal is to wrap up a peace deal to produce a Palestinian state by the time Bush leaves office. ...more

November 22, 2007