International

For thousands of U.S. Marines, the road to Afghanistan goes through an isolated training facility in the Eastern Sierra where they share the rugged Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest with civilian hunters, backpackers and skiers.

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration has been quietly working with U.S. allies and Afghan officials on a package of reforms and anti-corruption measures it hopes will boost popular support for President Hamid Karzai and erase the doubts about his legitimacy raised by his fraud-marred re-election.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama announced a shift in strategy toward Sudan on Monday, saying he'll offer incentives to the government if it will end a humanitarian crisis in its western Darfur region.

KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghan President Hamid Karzai today was expected to accept a U.N.-backed fraud audit reducing his vote in the August election to less than 50 percent, but it wasn't clear if he'd consent to a deal with his chief rival to forge a national unity government and forgo a runoff, U.S. officials said Monday.

BAGHDAD, Iraq – The bombers who attacked the western Iraqi city of Ramadi on Sunday seemed determined to make sure that none of their targets survived.

WASHINGTON – As the Obama administration reconsiders its Afghanistan policy, White House officials are minimizing warnings from the intelligence community, the military and the State Department about the risks of adopting a limited strategy focused on al-Qaida, U.S. intelligence, diplomatic and military officials told McClatchy.

MINNEAPOLIS -- As the FBI pursues one alleged terrorist plot after another, Muslim Americans are grappling with a widespread sense that the government thinks they all could be terrorists.

Because two new defendants have just been charged, there will be little or no public movement for at least six months in the case accusing 12 men of plotting the violent overthrow of the communist government in Laos.

The Mexican government has sent one of its top experts on Mexican migration to Sacramento to dispel myths about the estimated 7 million undocumented Mexicans in the United States.

When Darshana Prakasam was 12 years old, she was invited by the president of India to share her secrets for success and self-esteem with Indian youths.

The steady flow of refugees fleeing persecution into Sacramento has fallen dramatically, new state figures show.

Sacramento native Shon Meckfessel, traveling in northern Iraq, didn't go on an ill-fated hike because he had a cold – a decision that prevented him from wandering into Iran, where three of his friends were reportedly detained.

More than 800 Hmong from as far away as France came to the Hmong Shamanism Church in south Sacramento this weekend to honor the spirit and memory of Song Ger Xiong.

National Public Radio's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson must be ever mindful of who she is when reporting in Afghanistan, a world away from the university town of Davis where she makes her home.

The families of Laura Ling and Euna Lee gathered in Los Angeles over the weekend to await word on whether the two American journalists would be released by the government of North Korea.

MOSUL, Iraq – The Iraqi Army colonel glowered at his newest captain. Looking small and lost in his oversized new uniform, the captain conceded that he was an untrained civilian who had been sent to Iraq's most violent city by one of the political parties in Baghdad that's vying for control of the country's security forces.

JERUSALEM – In a speech seen as a test of Obama administration influence, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday offered conditional support for the establishment of a Palestinian state but refused to bring a halt to expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank

Juan Pedro Panuco said he and other immigrant inmates at Folsom State Prison have heard that California is so cash-strapped, some of them could get sprung early and then deported.

The two American journalists jailed in North Korea were convicted Monday and sentenced each to 12 years in labor camps for a "grave crime" against the nation and illegally crossing into the communist country from China, according to the Associated Press.

CAIRO, Egypt – They rolled out the red carpet for President Barack Obama on Tuesday at Cairo University – sweaty workmen with measuring tape yelling over one another in Arabic about how to arrange burgundy runners down the main aisle of the conference hall – as Egypt's largest and oldest secular university made the final preparations for his arrival.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's choice to take charge of the war in Afghanistan on Tuesday called significant growth of the Afghan army and national police the key to his strategy, but the annual cost of building and maintaining the existing Afghan force is more than four times larger than the entire Afghan economy.

Israel Betancourt is an American of Mexican descent. He was born in the border town of Laredo, Texas, in 1977. And his birth was assisted by a midwife.

CAIRO, Egypt – When President Barack Obama steps to the podium Thursday in Cairo to propose a new American partnership with the Muslim world, Arabs across the region will be waiting to hear what he has to say about Israel – as much as what he has to say about Islam.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama has a sweeping goal for his speech Thursday in Cairo, Egypt: to begin remaking the dynamic between the United States and Muslims abroad.

For a year and a half, Arthur Charles Carnes IV has fought deportation from Canada – arguing, even, that he was a refugee from the United States, according to authorities.

It's not exactly the romantic Italian countryside, but a tiny Palestinian sheep farm at Tubas, on the West Bank, has become the unlikely headquarters for an unusual culinary experiment.

GARMA, Iraq – Mohammed walked in disbelief through the rich green grass that carpets the farm behind his modest family home. For more than three years, he'd seen no green, no hanging branches in the orchards near his home in Garma, in Anbar province in western Iraq.

Thousands of Pakistani Americans in the Sacramento region have watched the unrest unfolding in their homeland in recent days with concern and uncertainty as to its outcome.

MOSCOW – The old diplomat sighed as he recalled his years in Afghanistan, and then leaned forward and said in a booming voice that no escalation of troops would bring lasting peace.

BEIJING – North Korea on Monday put its armed forces on standby, severed a military hotline with South Korea and warned that any attempt by the United States to shoot down a rocket launch would trigger an immediate war.

BEIJING — A fire Monday night heavily damaged a new high-rise that's part of one of Beijing's architectural wonders, the iconic headquarters of China Central Television.

WASHINGTON – A nasty legal fight complicates plans for an Armenian genocide museum, and it shows no sign of abating.

JERUSALEM – French President Nicolas Sarkozy and a European delegation Monday pleaded for Israel to call a temporary halt to its 10-day-old offensive in Gaza, but top Israeli leaders, with the explicit backing of President George W. Bush, made it clear that they aren't ready to end the fighting.

ISRAEL-GAZA BORDER – Israeli tanks and ground troops moved swiftly Sunday to seize large sections of Gaza, encircling its largest city and cutting the narrow strip of land in two in what military officials called a "real war" on the militant Islamic group Hamas.

JERUSALEM – The Israeli military extended its air campaign in the Gaza Strip on Monday, and the nation's defense minister warned that the country is in "war to the bitter end against Hamas" and allied militants, who control the Palestinian territory.

JERUSALEM – Israel on Sunday began preparing for a possible ground offensive into the Gaza Strip as its air force continued to pummel the Hamas-controlled region with dozens of new missile strikes in an operation that has killed nearly 300 Palestinians in two days.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan is moving some troops away from its border with Afghanistan, Pakistani officials said Friday, sparking renewed fears that last month's terrorist attack in Mumbai, India, could trigger a fourth war between the two countries, both of which are now armed with nuclear weapons.