Kerry, Abbas, to Meet Sunday
US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet Palestinian Authority (PA) head Mahmoud Abbas in Istanbul on Sunday, the State Department said, as a US-led "peace" push focusing on the PA's economy steps up. Kerry and Abbas, who have met several times recently, will "continue the conversation that they've been having for several weeks now about how to get both sides back to the table," a State Department official said...
Iran's oil ministry says the country should export oil to North Korea
Iran's oil ministry says the country is considering exporting oil to North Korea as a way to improve its battered economy. The official IRNA news agency quoted on Saturday Oil Minister Rostam Ghasemi as saying talks are underway between Tehran and Pyongyang on oil exports. An oil deal would bring the two nations deeply at odds with the U.S. and the West closer together.
Bombing, Aftermath Could Cost Boston Billions
The economic impact of the Boston Marathon bomb suspect manhunt could run into the billions of dollars, according to one expert, as a million city residents were stuck at home, stores were shuttered and public transit ground to a halt.
Gunfire erupts at Colo. pot event, 2 wounded
Authorities are hunting for suspects after shooting broke out during a massive marijuana celebration in Denver, leaving two people with gunshot wounds. The gunfire scattered thousands attending Saturday's 4/20 counterculture holiday, the first since Colorado legalized marijuana.
N Korea 'moves two more missile launchers'
North Korea has moved two more missile launchers to its east coast, where preparations are apparently under way for a missile test as tensions simmer on the peninsula, reports say. Expectations had been high that Pyongyang would carry out a test to coincide with celebrations marking the birth of North Korea's late founding leader Kim Il-sung on April 15 but it did not materialise.
Syria crisis: US steps up aid to rebels at talks in Turkey
US Secretary of State John Kerry has announced a doubling of US aid to Syria's rebels and told a Friends of Syria meeting its members were committed to a peaceful transition. Mr Kerry told the meeting in Istanbul that the US would provide Syrian rebels $123m (£81m) in new, non-lethal aid. He said President Barack Obama was committed to a "democratic, unified, post-Assad Syria".
China rushes relief after Sichuan quake kills 180
Rescuers and relief teams struggled to rush supplies into the rural hills of China's Sichuan province Sunday after an earthquake left at least 180 people dead and more than 11,000 injured and prompted frightened survivors to spend a night in cars, tents and makeshift shelters.
Obama requests $580m. for Mideast ‘contingencies’
Built in to President Obama’s budget proposal for 2014 is a $580 million contingency fund to address the turmoil roiling the Middle East and North Africa, to be spent across the region over the course of the year at the discretion of the White House and the State Department. That sum is striking some members of the Congress as too large for an administration without a coherent policy toward the Arab Spring.