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Pakistan suicide bombing kills 58

More than 100 are injured in the assault on a Shiite procession in Quetta, which comes two days after similar attacks on Shiites in Lahore. A suicide bombing Friday targeting a Shiite procession in the southern city of Quetta killed 58 people and injured more than 100 others, police said. The explosion came two days [...]

Migrant massacre shakes Central America

The recent killing of 72 people, from El Salvador, Honduras and other nations, as they tried to cross through Mexico into the U.S., has sent shockwaves across the continent. But many may still attempt the perilous trek. Cayetano Flores wishes he had just said no.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck much of New Zealand’s South Island early Saturday and caused widespread damage, but there were just two reports of serious injuries. Looters broke into some damaged shops in Christchurch, police said.

Middle East talks begin with work plan

Israeli and Palestinian leaders meet in Washington and agree on a talks schedule to work toward a peace deal even as the issue of settlement construction in the West Bank threatens to derail the effort. Israeli and Palestinian leaders formally reopened peace talks Thursday by setting a work plan for the next year, but adjourned [...]

An image of border harmony

Old family photo memorializes a time of vibrant connection Not long ago, my wife put up a black-and-white photograph in our living room. It shows her grandparents, very young — supposedly on a street in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Troops rescued three hostages and seized drugs and weapons in the clash with purported drug traffickers in Tamaulipas state, the army says. Meanwhile, a former mayor is reported missing. At least 25 people were killed Thursday in a gun battle between army troops and purported drug traffickers in the violent border state of Tamaulipas, just [...]

Public servants say a 7.5% increase is not enough. They march through Johannesburg in protest. A strike by 1.3 million South African public servants threatened Thursday to drag on for a third week as unions signaled that they would reject the government’s latest compromise offer, a wage hike that would be more than double the [...]

Hebron, home to more than 150,000 Palestinians and 400 Jewish settlers, is often at the center of the storm, and it is once again. Residents are bracing themselves and warn violence could spread. The fate of the U.S.-sponsored peace talks launched Thursday in Washington could hinge in part on how things play out in this [...]

The 1Malaysia campaign, promoting unity and national pride, comes as ethnic tensions have increased and the ruling party has seen its support decline. Many dismiss the effort as style over substance. Malaysia’s reputation as a moderate, progressive Muslim nation has been sullied by a string of embarrassing news stories involving church burnings, pig heads dumped [...]

Officials say the bank is safe despite reports of massive losses. Afghans on Thursday rushed to withdraw their savings from troubled Kabul Bank despite attempts by officials to reassure nervous depositors that their money was safe.

The prime minister says he fully supports Foreign Secretary William Hague, who hired a young man as a top advisor and has denied an improper relationship with him. British Prime Minister David Cameron gave his full backing Thursday to a top Cabinet minister who has denied rumors that he is gay and that he carried [...]

Iraqi politicians, security officers and civil servants, as well as a senior U.S. military officer, speak of daunting and dangerous challenges. In a crystal-chandeliered palace once occupied by Saddam Hussein, American and Iraqi leaders gathered Wednesday for the latest ceremony to herald an independent, democratic Iraq.

The government decrees that the now-’chaotic’ call by thousands of men must instead be delivered by one muezzin broadcast over a system linking 4,500 mosques. ‘It’ll never work,’ one veteran prayer caller says. Sandals in alleys, keys scraping locks, the holy men are the first ones up, opening mosque doors and clicking on microphones, their [...]

Central Tehran is blanketed with security forces and the home of a reformist leader reportedly remains under siege by pro-government militiamen in apparent attempts to intimidate the opposition. Iranian security forces patrolled central Tehran on Thursday and the home of a reformist leader reportedly remained under siege by pro-government militiamen in what appeared to be [...]

The attacks occur during a march by the religious minority through the streets of Lahore in a traditional mourning ceremony honoring a holy figure. Sunni Muslim groups have frequently targeted Pakistan’s Shiites. Three bomb blasts tore through a Shiite Muslim procession Wednesday in Pakistan’s second-largest city, Lahore, killing at least 28 people and wounding 200 [...]

American Charles Usher has an ambitious blog project to describe the intricacies of Seoul subway stops, all 477 of them. He wants to find the unique hidden in the urban landscape. The question has popped into the minds of most subway commuters, only to vanish amid the chaos of the workaday rush: “What if I [...]