As thousands of Colombians offered both hope and skepticism, the government of Colombia and leftist rebels who fought a bitter civil war for more than half a century signed a historic peace accord Monday, closing the Western Hemisphere's longest armed conflict. Heads of state from across the Americas...
With political pressure mounting on Iranian President Hassan Rouhani ahead of elections next year, Tehran has been abuzz with rumors that combative former leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was considering a comeback. Not so fast, Iran’s supreme leader said Monday. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the most powerful...
As rescuers in the Syrian city of Aleppo searched for survivors between bursts of bombardment, the father of one trapped toddler tore frantically at the debris. An onlooker warned him to be careful to avoid further injuring the child: “He’s crying – go slowly, go slowly!” And then the little boy...
Ammar Hammood was shopping at the market when he got word that his 9-year-old son, Haidar, had been shot by a sniper while playing near his house in the northwestern Syrian town of Fuah. Hammood pushed his way out of the market, so panicked he could barely see. “When I got to the hospital, I found...
As flames leaped high in the battered northern Syrian city of Aleppo, hopes faded anew on Thursday for any revival of Syria’s broken cease-fire. In a week meant to showcase the diplomatic drive to shore up the truce, rush humanitarian aid to the country’s hardest-hit areas, isolate and target...
Amid a fresh round of bloodletting in Syria, Secretary of State John F. Kerry called Wednesday for the grounding of all aircraft in key opposition-held areas of the country in an attempt to shore up a shattered cease-fire and rush humanitarian aid to those in the direst need. Speaking at a public...
The battered Mexican peso has tumbled to historic new lows in recent days, nearing a psychological barrier of 20 pesos to the U.S. dollar and causing anxiety on the streets, at businesses and in the halls of government. Among other factors, many point to the recent rise in U.S. presidential polls...
He used to call himself the Vatican’s exorcist, and that was a pretty apt description. Officially, Father Gabriele Amorth performed exorcisms for the Rome Diocese. He reveled in the role and was never shy about talking about what is one of the Roman Catholic Church’s most ancient, and controversial,...
Edgar Manuel Valencia Ortega grew up in Mexico with the sons and nephews of Sinaloa cartel bosses, so when he decided to get into the drug trade himself he already had the connections to rise quickly to the top, federal prosecutors say. In just a few years, Ortega became a significant middleman...
The Yuhuatai Memorial Park of Revolutionary Martyrs is hallowed ground for the Chinese Communist Party. Here stand a soaring monument and super-life-size reliefs to honor the memory of party members, most then operating as secret agents, executed by the Nationalist government in the 1930s and ’40s....
It’s 3 a.m. on a Friday, and while most denizens of Baghdad are either winding down the night or ensconced in bed, Hatem Taai and his bleary-eyed crew have just begun their work day. They assemble in a dingy alley off of Baghdad’s posh Karrada Street. The staffers’ bulky frames, bulging muscles...
A group of passengers have taken refuge in the last safe place, the front car of a train that is barreling through the hinterlands of South Korea, as a mob of zombies seethes just beyond the door. As the last few passengers who haven’t succumbed to the zombie horde beg to be let in, those inside...
Ten years ago, a young man turned up at a Pretoria athletic field and trotted around the track a few times with casual ease. This must be the man I was waiting for. His name was Oscar Pistorius, and he was running on carbon fiber blades. I had an appointment for an interview about his efforts to...
A Van Gogh still life hangs in a budget hotel room. An abstract, black and gray composition brightens a corporate office. A Paris street scene gathers dust in a kitschy bar. The artist behind any of these may well have been Xie Chunti, a 31-year-old resident of the Dafen Oil Painting Village, a...
The mercury surged toward 104 degrees at noon. Intensity drained from the busy streets. Pedestrians sought refuge at sidewalk juice stalls, where vendors ordered extra ice. Yet as the town of Siliguri in eastern India baked, its 66-year-old mayor remained unperturbed. Asok Bhattacharya walked into...
The streets are packed with people young and old in Dodgers jerseys or Raiders jackets — L.A. Raiders, that is. Some wear white socks pulled up high under Dickies shorts. There are shaved heads, tattoos celebrating Chicano culture, bright white Puma sneakers and flannel shirts, with just the top...