The secretary of State made an impression with a heartfelt visit to eastern Congo, which is rocked by violence, particularly rape. Some have hope that U.S. efforts can end the conflict.

For most of her recent African tour, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sounded much like any visiting foreign official, male or female. Except in Congo.

Reporting from Beirut — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today named a hard-line loyalist with strong ties to the Revolutionary Guard and the pro-government Basiji militia to oversee the country’s vast intelligence infrastructure.

A campaign of killings and torture has mounted in the Russian republic of Ingushetia, rights groups say. Security forces are said to be involved, and signs reportedly point to Chechnya’s leader.

This is a place where gangs with masked faces come out of the darkness to take the young men away.

With the car bombing outside a NATO base in the capital just days before national elections, militants appear to be signaling that they can strike at will, even in heavily guarded areas.

The thunderous explosion Saturday that targeted Western military headquarters in the heart of Kabul carried an ominous message aimed at ordinary Afghans just five days before national elections: Vote at your peril.

Nixon’s offer in 1971 to help undermine Allende’s government came after Brazil’s president said his military officers were working with counterparts in Chile, a newly declassified document says.

President Nixon’s determination to eliminate the socialist government of Salvador Allende led him to offer financial support to efforts by the Brazilian military to undermine the Chilean leader, according to a newly declassified summary of a White House meeting between Nixon and the president of Brazil.

Thirty-four fishermen seized four months ago near the Gulf of Aden overpower their captors and are sailing home with eight pirates.

Talk about pirate booty.

It’s one thing for the British to criticize their National Health Service, quite another for Yanks to malign it. A backlash against U.S. criticism has erupted in cyberspace.

Castigating their public healthcare system may be a national pastime for the British, but it’s not one they care to share with Americans, thank you very much.

At least three people are killed and dozens injured in Afghanistan’s capital as tension rises before nationwide elections.

An enormous blast rocked the Afghan capital this morning, five days before the nation’s widely anticipated presidential election. The explosion, near the gates of the main Western military base, killed at least three people and injured dozens, Afghan officials said.

With street protests quiet, factional disputes intensify. Hard-line clerics call for opposition leader Karroubi to stand trial, and reformist lawmakers want supreme leader Khamenei investigated.

Rival camps within Iran’s corridors of power intensified their threats against each other Friday, signaling potentially dangerous clashes within elite circles and the security establishment after the disputed June 12 reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

‘We are like birds who have left the cage, but with our wings still clipped,’ says one Kabul student. Women enjoy a much better life than under the Taliban, but still face age-old constraints.

One is the face of despair; the other, of hope.