http://www.post-gazette.com/nationworld/ National and world news en-us Copyright 2009, post-gazette.com. Sat, 7 Nov 2009 21:58:21 -0500 15 http://www.post-gazette.com/includes/2007design/images/150x30pg_now_logo.gif http://www.post-gazette.com/ 144 39 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09311/1011710-455.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml Shanksville, Pa. -- Under a brilliant midday sun, a simple ceremony today marked the groundbreaking for a permanent national memorial on the site where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed on Sept. 11, 2001, killing everyone aboard. Sat, 7 Nov 2009 15:43:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09311/1011600-84.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml Two Western Pennsylvania women were among the victims in Thursday's shooting rampage in Fort Hood, including a 55-year-old lieutenant colonel who was one of 13 people who died in the attack. Sat, 7 Nov 2009 10:50:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09311/1011702-84.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml Eighty-five Army reservists from three units trained to help with combat stress were among the thousands of soldiers stationed at Fort Hood on Thursday, and some of these mental health professionals were among the unlucky ones standing inside a medical and services processing center at Fort Hood, Texas on Thursday afternoon when a gunman trained as a psychiatrist went on a frightening shooting spree. Sat, 7 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09311/1011703-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml JOHANNESBURG -- An international body charged with stopping the illicit trade in diamonds that fuel conflict has decided not to suspend Zimbabwe, officials said Friday, though its investigators had concluded that Zimbabwe's military had organized smuggling syndicates with the government's permission and used "extreme violence" against illegal miners. Sat, 7 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09311/1011704-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml Sat, 7 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09311/1011705-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml Israel on Friday rejected a United Nations General Assembly vote endorsing a report accusing it of war crimes in Gaza last winter, saying the resolution did not have "the support of the moral majority." The resolution, drafted by Arab member states, was approved Thursday on a vote of 114 to 18. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the Israeli Army had demonstrated "higher military and moral standards" in Gaza than any "of this resolution's instigators." Israel said the report was one-sided Sat, 7 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09311/1011569-84.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml KILLEEN, Texas -- On Wednesday and Thursday, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan seemed in a hurry to give his worldly belongings to a neighbor. First, a Quran. Then, bags of vegetables. Sat, 7 Nov 2009 01:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09311/1011656-84.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml WASHINGTON -- By late afternoon, Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Forest Hills, was looking weary. Sat, 7 Nov 2009 00:58:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09311/1011571-84.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml Tina Reiter was treating one of her Iraq War veterans when he got the text message from his mom: an Army psychiatrist with orders to ship to the Mideast, a major no less, had just shot up a room full of soldiers preparing to deploy to war. Sat, 7 Nov 2009 00:56:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09311/1011580-84.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml The national unemployment rate rose to 10.2 percent in October, surprising economists who had been predicting a more modest increase from September's 9.8 percent. Sat, 7 Nov 2009 00:40:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011399-455.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml At least two people from Western Pennsylvania were among the victims of the shootings in Fort Hood, Texas. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 17:57:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011348-84.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml The nation's unemployment rate rose in October to 10.2 percent, as the number of those out of work increased by more than half a million people, to 15.7 million. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 09:06:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011332-84.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml An Army psychiatrist facing deployment to one of America's war zones killed 12 people and wounded 31 others on Thursday in a shooting rampage with two handguns at the sprawling Fort Hood Army post in Central Texas, military officials said. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011333-84.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml CLEVELAND -- After the third police station in a row refused to take a missing-person report about her niece two years ago, Sandy Drain took matters into her own hands. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011334-84.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml DENVER -- One of the most ambitious one-time mass-transit projects in the nation's history, called FasTracks -- $4.7 billion, 122 miles of passenger rail and a hectic construction schedule of only 12 years -- was approved by voters here in 2004 along with a regionwide sales tax to pay for it. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011335-84.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml WASHINGTON -- In separate actions to address Americans' continuing economic hardship, the government moved Thursday to assist long-unemployed workers and struggling businesses, as well as home buyers and homeowners facing foreclosure. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011336-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml MONG HPEN, Myanmar -- Conquering armies of centuries past avoided this remote, mountainous area along the present-day border with China, a place once described by a British colonial official as "an unpenetrated enclave of savage hills." Fri, 6 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011337-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml WASHINGTON -- A series of internal government reviews have presented the Obama administration with a dire portrait of Afghanistan's military and police force, bringing into serious question an ambitious goal at the heart of the evolving American war strategy -- to speed up their training and send many more Afghans to the fight. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011338-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml RAMALLAH, West Bank -- The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, warned on Thursday that he would not seek re-election, the latest sign that the Obama administration's drive to broker a Middle East peace accord, one of President Obama's key foreign policy goals, has fallen into disarray. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011339-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml MOSCOW -- Two young people identified as ultranationalists will face charges in the January shooting that killed a crusading lawyer and a reporter, an attack that cast a pall over Russia's dwindling circle of human rights activists. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011340-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml GOMA, Congo -- It was 10 p.m. in early April when Dieudonne Masha and a neighbor were walking home along the shores of Lake Kivu after a round of drinking. As the neighbor tells it, the two were confronted by a pair of soldiers patrolling the area, who asked to see their identity cards. Mr. Masha did not have his. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011341-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml BERLIN -- A young East German physicist named Angela Merkel was on her way home from her weekly trip to the sauna and a beer with a friend when she was swept up in the ecstatic crowds crossing the border at Bornholmer Street on the night of Nov. 9, 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011342-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml NAIROBI, Kenya -- Members of the political elite in Kenya, a nation where top leaders have long escaped prosecution for corruption and other crimes, could now face an international investigation into the violence that shook the country after disputed elections last year. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011343-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml KABUL, Afghanistan -- The United Nations mission in Afghanistan announced plans on Thursday to relocate hundreds of foreign staff members, sending some out of the country, in the wake of a lethal attack on its workers at a guesthouse last week. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011344-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml SÃO PAULO, Brazil -- Fernando Lugo, the president of Paraguay, swore in new commanders of the military on Thursday, just a day after he abruptly removed the leaders of the army, navy and air force amid speculation of a possible coup attempt that had stoked memories of the country's militaristic past. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011345-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml JAKARTA, Indonesia -- After mounting pressure from the public and the news media, two senior law enforcement officials suspected of trying to undermine the country's respected anticorruption agency were forced to resign Thursday. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011346-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml MEXICO CITY -- A week after an accord mediated by the United States seemed to have unblocked the political standoff that had paralyzed Honduras since President Manuel Zelaya was deposed in a June coup, progress is frozen. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011236-114.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml WASHINGTON -- House Democratic leaders worked furiously yesterday to secure the final votes for weekend approval of a sweeping health care overhaul, as President Barack Obama threw his weight behind the lobbying effort and Republicans dug in against the health plan. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011237-455.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml WASHINGTON -- Dale McCoy is sick of being called right-wing. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011242-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml JERUSALEM -- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday announced that he will not seek re-election next year, citing a lack of U.S. support for his conditions for resuming peace talks with Israel. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011243-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml KABUL -- The top United Nations official in Afghanistan yesterday issued an unusually pointed warning to President Hamid Karzai to enact major political reforms or risk losing the support of the international community. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011244-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml WASHINGTON -- A series of internal government reviews have presented the Obama administration with a dire portrait of Afghanistan's military and police force, bringing into serious question an ambitious goal at the heart of the evolving U.S. war strategy: to speed up their training and send many more Afghans to the fight. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011245-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml BAGHDAD -- The Iraqi Parliament failed again yesterday to approve a law to regulate a national election in January, deepening doubts about whether the nation can hold its election on schedule. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011247-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml SAN'A, Yemen -- Saudi Arabia sent fighter jets and artillery bombardments across the border into northern Yemen yesterday in a military incursion apparently aimed at helping its troubled southern neighbor control an escalating Shiite rebellion, Arab diplomats and the rebels said. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011266-84.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml An Army psychiatrist allegedly opened fire yesterday on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, killing at least 12 people and wounding 31 in what is believed to be the deadliest mass shooting on a U.S. military base in history. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011267-84.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml WASHINGTON) -- Missed out on Cash for Clunkers? Congress has another deal for you: Buy a home before May 1 and collect up to $6,500 from the government. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011268-84.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml WASHINGTON -- He prayed every day at the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring, Md., a devout Muslim who -- despite asking to be discharged from the U.S. Army, according to his aunt -- was on the eve of his first deployment to war. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011298-113.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml WASHINGTON -- Senate climate change legislation took a step forward yesterday, but a move by Democrats to bypass Republicans in the environment committee could result in a political setback. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1011159-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml DETROIT -- General Motors Co.'s top executive said today that the automaker could tap some of its $50 billion in U.S. government aid to help restructure GM's European Opel unit. Thu, 5 Nov 2009 15:53:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1011098-84.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml WASHINGTON -- The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted this morning to move a climate change bill, using a rare procedural move to overcome a Republican boycott Thu, 5 Nov 2009 11:37:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1011077-84.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml They had far more money and volunteers, and geography was on their side, given that New England has been more accepting of same-sex marriage than any other region of the country. Yet gay rights supporters suffered a crushing loss when voters decided to repeal Maine's new law allowing gay men and lesbians to wed, setting back a movement that had made remarkable progress nationally this year. Thu, 5 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1011078-84.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml WASHINGTON -- Republicans emerged from Tuesday's elections energized by victories in Virginia and New Jersey, but their leaders immediately began maneuvering to avoid a prolonged battle with conservative activists over what the party stands for and how to regain power. Thu, 5 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1011079-84.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml NEW YORK -- "Superfusion" -- that's the name of a new book by Zachary Karabell, which describes how "the unique relationship between China and the United States has become the axis of the world economy." Thu, 5 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1011080-84.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in two cases involving claims that the criminal justice system had gone badly awry. Thu, 5 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1011081-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml CHRISTMAS ISLAND, Australia -- Deep in the jungle on this small island lost in the Indian Ocean, Australia's new $370 million refugee detention center reaches its full power after its lights come on at dusk. Bracketed by rain forest, steep cliffs and the sea, it rises from the enveloping darkness and becomes visible from the island's only inhabited corner, about 10 miles away. Thu, 5 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1011082-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml This article is by Alissa J. Rubin, John F. Burns and Taimoor Shah. Thu, 5 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1011083-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml MILAN -- In a landmark ruling, an Italian judge on Wednesday convicted a base chief for the Central Intelligence Agency and 22 other Americans, almost all C.I.A. operatives, of kidnapping a Muslim cleric from the streets of Milan in 2003. Thu, 5 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1011084-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Iran's beleaguered opposition movement struggled to reassert itself on Wednesday, as tens of thousands of protesters braved police beatings and clouds of tear gas on the sidelines of a major, government-sponsored anti-American rally. Thu, 5 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1011085-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml GENEVA -- On a recent afternoon, stagehands prepared the Protestant meeting hall on the Place de la Fusterie for a musical, "The Calvin Generation," to be performed there that evening. Springtime for Calvin? Thu, 5 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1011086-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml BRUSSELS -- A day after the Lisbon Treaty won final approval, Belgium's prime minister emerged as the favorite on Wednesday to take the European Union's first presidential post, with Britain in the running for the top foreign policy job. Thu, 5 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1011087-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml UNITED NATIONS -- The General Assembly is preparing to approve a resolution that would endorse a United Nations report calling on both Israel and the Palestinians to investigate possible war crimes in the Gaza Strip within three months. Thu, 5 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1011088-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml WASHINGTON -- The nation's top military officer said Wednesday that he expected the Pentagon to ask Congress in the next few months for emergency financing to support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, even though President Obama has pledged to end the Bush administration practice of paying for the conflicts with so-called supplemental funds that are outside the normal Defense Department budget. Thu, 5 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1011089-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml PARIS -- Europe should take the opportunity of a new Afghan administration to coordinate its policies on Afghanistan and not wait for Washington to make all the decisions, the French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, said on Wednesday. Thu, 5 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1011090-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml BANGKOK -- A senior American diplomat who completed a rare visit to Myanmar on Wednesday said that Washington would improve relations with the nation if its military government embraced reconciliation with Myanmar's democratic opposition. Thu, 5 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1010981-84.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml First-time homebuyers who had been facing a Nov. 30 deadline to take advantage of a $8,000 tax credit offered by the federal government likely will get more time after the Senate approved an extension of the program yesterday by a 98-0 vote. Thu, 5 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1011006-113.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml WASHINGTON -- A bipartisan trio of senators trying to forge a compromise on climate change legislation huddled with Obama administration officials yesterday about their plan to combine caps on greenhouse gas emissions with expanded offshore drilling and incentives for nuclear power. Thu, 5 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1011008-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml KABUL -- British officials yesterday blamed a "rogue" Afghan policeman for the shooting deaths of five British soldiers at a checkpoint in the volatile south, raising concerns about the possible infiltration of local security forces by militants. Thu, 5 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1011010-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml TEHRAN, Iran -- Thousands of Iranians took to the streets yesterday to mark the 30th anniversary of the 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, but the annual state-sponsored anti-American rally turned into another sign of the deep divisions persisting in this country. Thu, 5 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1011011-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml JERUSALEM -- Israel's navy seized a cargo ship yesterday, intercepting what officials described as 300 tons of weapons being smuggled from Iran to Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas. Thu, 5 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1011041-455.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml More tri-state competition for gamblers is ahead, now that Ohioans legalized casinos with a vote Tuesday after rejecting them several times previously. Thu, 5 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1011046-176.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml WASHINGTON -- Democrats on Capitol Hill began a nervous debate yesterday about the course President Barack Obama has set for their party, with some questioning whether they should emphasize job creation over some of the more ambitious items on the president's agenda. Thu, 5 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1011047-84.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml CLEVELAND -- The run-down Cleveland neighborhood where 50-year-old Anthony Sowell quietly carved out an existence is the type of place where women can disappear almost in plain sight. Thu, 5 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1011048-84.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml GARDEN GROVE, Calif. -- Former Silicon Valley executive Carly Fiorina announced yesterday she is running for the chance to seize liberal stalwart Barbara Boxer's U.S. Senate seat, depicting the three-term Democrat as a Capitol Hill do-nothing who penned novels while jobs vanished and government spending soared. Thu, 5 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09308/1010689-84.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml RICHMOND, Va. -- Robert F. McDonnell, a Republican and a former state attorney general, won a decisive victory in Virginia's governor's race Tuesday, a stark reversal of fortune for Democrats who have held control in Richmond for the past eight years. Wed, 4 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09308/1010690-84.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml WASHINGTON -- For a president elevated to power on the back of history, the tears and euphoria of Grant Park feel like a thousand years ago. It has been just one year, of course, since Barack Obama's election, a year since that moment when supporters felt everything was possible amid lofty talk of "remaking this nation" and determined chants of "Yes, we can." Wed, 4 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09308/1010691-84.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml WASHINGTON -- The Republican victories in the races for New Jersey and Virginia governors put the party in a stronger position to turn back the political wave President Obama unleashed last year, setting the stage for Republicans to raise money, recruit candidates and ride the excitement of an energized base as the party heads into next year's midterm elections. Wed, 4 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09308/1010692-84.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml HOUSTON -- A dog's sniff helped put Curvis Bickham in jail for eight months. Now that the case against him has been dropped, he wants to tell the world that the investigative technique that justified his arrest smells to high heaven. Wed, 4 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09308/1010693-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml BAGHDAD -- Despite major bombings that have rattled the nation, and fears of rising violence as American troops withdraw, Iraq's security forces have been relying on a device to detect bombs and weapons that the United States military and technical experts say is useless. Wed, 4 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09308/1010694-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml CHONGQING, China -- Wen Qiang had a fondness for Louis Vuitton belts, fossilized dinosaur eggs and B-list pop stars. For a public employee in charge of the local judiciary, he also had a lot of money: nearly $3 million that investigators found buried beneath a fish pond. Wed, 4 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09308/1010695-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml GUANGZHOU, China -- Maybe it is the easy smile. Or perhaps the eyes, at once self-assured and searching. When Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo walks into the room, the similarities with President Obama, with whom he shares a father, are unmistakable if hard to pinpoint. Wed, 4 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09308/1010696-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml CAIRO -- Mohsen Mirdamadi had been applauded as a hero by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini for helping to lead the takeover of the United States Embassy in Iran 30 years ago Wednesday. Wed, 4 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09308/1010697-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml WASHINGTON --Angela Merkel, who rose from the ruins of the Communist East to serve as chancellor of a united Germany, the largest country in Europe, paid tribute to American support for her country in an address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, and offered America some support of her own in the effort to deny today's Iran a nuclear bomb. Wed, 4 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09308/1010698-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml JOHANNESBURG -- The viability of an effort endorsed by the United Nations to halt the trading of the so-called blood diamonds that have fueled conflicts across Africa is on the line this week, and the test case is Zimbabwe. Wed, 4 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09308/1010699-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- It has been a week since the bomb exploded at the women's market here, but people still talk about the images of its aftermath: women's bodies, naked and broken. A hand with hennaed nails. An arm still wearing bracelets. Wed, 4 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09308/1010592-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml KABUL -- President Hamid Karzai promised to stamp out corruption. The image suggested otherwise. Standing at Mr. Karzai's side yesterday were his two vice presidents -- both former warlords widely believed to have looted Afghanistan for years. Wed, 4 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09308/1010597-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml CAIRO -- The Obama administration has all but abandoned hope for an early resumption of face-to-face negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders or substantive movement toward agreement on a Palestinian state -- an acknowledgement that it has fallen short of one of its major initial foreign policy goals. Wed, 4 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09308/1010598-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml JERUSALEM -- Hamas militants in Gaza have successfully test-fired an Iranian rocket able to reach Israel's largest urban center, the country's military intelligence chief said yesterday. Wed, 4 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09308/1010599-82.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea claimed yesterday that it has weaponized more plutonium for atomic bombs, a day after warning Washington to agree quickly to direct talks or face the prospect of a growing North Korean nuclear arsenal. Wed, 4 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09308/1010637-113.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml WASHINGTON -- Republicans yesterday boycotted a Senate panel considering a climate change bill. Wed, 4 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500