Islamists recruiting children to bolster their numbers in Mali

By Alan Boswell and Brahima Ouologuem

DIABALY, Mali -- Just as he was paid to do, Madou Ndaou stood guard over his bank in Diabaly and watched for days as Islamist rebels moved across the village battling French aircraft before finally disappearing Thursday evening.

"There were many Arabs, many blacks. Some were old, some were young. They spoke all different types of languages. They were all heavily armed," he said.

One observation in particular irked him.

"Some were boys as young as 15," he said, speaking on Sunday in Diabaly. "I was shocked."

In Egypt, HIV-positive live in the shadows

CAIRO --As the delivery date neared for the birth of her first child, Rose was stuck between her conscience -- she didn't want to lie -- and the practical necessity of giving birth to a healthy child.

Plastic rivers flow through Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti _ Plastic and foam food containers. They're everywhere in this enterprising Caribbean nation, clogging canals, cluttering streets and choking ocean wildlife.

Jamaica sounds the alarm over its music

KINGSTON, Jamaica --Men in tight jeans pounce up and down to the thumping beat, winding suggestively against scantily clad girls in neon-colored bikini tops and super short shorts twisting their bodies to the catchy lyrics.

Bin Laden killed by U.S., Obama announces

WASHINGTON-Osama bin Laden, the world's most wanted terrorist, was killed in Pakistan as the result of a U.S. military operation, President Barack Obama announced to the nation Sunday night. The historic revelation comes about four months before the 10th anniversary of the devastating Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, which were executed by the al-Qaida network helmed by Bin Laden and prompted the start of a war on terror that has dominated U.S. foreign policy.

Report: Japan nuclear plant operator ignored tsunami warnings two years ago

TOKYO-A seismologist said he had warned two years ago that a massive tsunami might hit a nuclear power station in northeastern Japan, but the operator of the now-stricken plant had ignored it, a news report said Sunday.

Radiation spikes in sea off Fukushima plant

SAN FRANCISCO-A surge in radioactive contamination reportedly was detected Saturday in seawater near Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, signaling further signs of distress at the earthquake- crippled facility. A spokesman for Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the spike in radioactive iodine didn't pose an immediate health and environmental threat, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Japan quake toll could number in tens of thousands

SENDAI, Japan-With a death toll expected to climb into the tens of thousands, more than a half-million people displaced and a nuclear crisis continuing to unfold, rescuers converged Monday on Japan's devastated earthquake zone while workers in relatively unaffected areas struggled to return to offices and factories.

Japan's nuclear crisis widens

SENDAI, Japan-A fresh explosion rocked a crippled nuclear complex as rescuers from around the world converged on Japan's devastated earthquake zone, searching for survivors and ministering to the sick and hungry. With the death toll from the largest quake in Japan's recorded history expected to ultimately reach the tens of thousands, more than a half-million people have been displaced by growing radiation fears and the massive swath of destruction.

Despite reluctance, U.S. could be forced to act in Libya

WASHINGTON - While it's clearly reluctant to become militarily involved in Libya's burgeoning civil war, the Obama administration is coming under pressure to do just that. World oil prices are soaring, posing a threat to the U.S. economic recovery, and food and medicine shortages are looming in rebellious cities cordoned off by Moammar Gadhafi's forces. Top U.S. lawmakers, meanwhile, are calling for the imposition of a no-fly zone and even sending arms to the Libyan dictator's ragtag foes.

Mubarak's resignation a triumph for 'people power'

CAIRO -- "Leave!" the protesters chanted for 18 days. And on Friday, he left. Bowing to a popular rebellion that showed no signs of letting up, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Friday ceded authority to the military and headed to a Red Sea resort town in a stunning finish to his ...

Google executive Ghonim emerges as impassioned but reluctant symbol of resistance

CAIRO  -- Wael Ghonim stood on a tiny stage in a corner of Cairo's Tahrir Square, a spindly figure in a sea of tens of thousands of anti-government protesters, his shouts of "Long live Egypt" rippling out before evaporating in the noisy squall. As the head of marketing operations for Google in the Middle East, the gaunt 30-year-old seemed an unlikely figure ...

Democrats picked convention city with eye on Southern gains

WASHINGTON -- For all of Charlotte's charms --a glittery skyline, a hip uptown, nice hotels and good restaurants -- Democrats say they put their 2012 national convention in the Queen City to send a broader message: Republicans had best watch their backs down South.

Egypt officials offer concessions as battles spill out of Cairo square

CAIRO -- Amid an accelerating breakdown of law and order across Egypt's capital, anti-government protesters have set the stage for a potentially explosive new confrontation by declaring that Friday, the main prayer day of the Muslim week, is the deadline for the beleaguered president to step aside.

As volleys of gunfire echoed through the city's heart Thursday ....

Small protests continue as Egypt cracks down on opposition

CAIRO-Clashes erupted again Wednesday in downtown Cairo, where riot police had used rubber bullets and water cannons overnight to disperse a huge anti-government demonstration. Hundreds of protesters defied a government order and gathered in Cairo and other cities, vowing to topple the U.S.-backed authoritarian Egyptian regime even as momentum appears to have dissipated since the first wave of demonstrations.

Oil will run out 90 years before alternatives are widely available, study says

The global oil supply is set to run dry 90 years before replacements such as renewable energy are ready to satisfy the same amount of demand, according to University of California Davis researchers.

Current policies that set targets for batteries, hydrogen, biofuel and other alternative energy sources won't be enough, a new study says.

Living behind enemy lines in Mexico

REYNOSA, Mexico -- It starts at the airport. A burly guy in a hoodie drapes himself over the barrier that leads out of the parking lot. Watching. Just watching.

Most taxi drivers are on the drug cartels' payroll, ordered to spy on visitors and monitor the movements of the military and state investigators. Their license plates brazenly shed, they cruise streets dotted with paper-flower shrines marking the dead. Watching.

HALO helps the hungry

Student project helps feed school children in Arusha, Tanzania

When N.C. Central University special education graduate student Sajdah Abdul-Wakil first travelled to Africa in 2005 with her mother, Aisha Abdul-Ali, a director with the Durham chapter of Sister Cities International, she had no idea that she would be finding her mission in life.

'All the symbols of this country are gone,' Haitian widow laments

The young man slowly climbed the flagpole that still stood guard over the crumbled presidential palace, reaching up to snatch what was left of the flag, a dusty red and blue cloth.For Haitians, the red and blue ---or black and blue, depending on the presidency -- flying atop the National Palace has always been a source of pride, for better or for worse, dictatorship or democracy.

Electronics take party city

The annual electronics tradeshow returns

The world's home for gambling, drinking and fun, Sin City, took a different turn for four days in early January. From January 7-10, Las Vegas hosted the annual electronics tradeshow, the International Consumer Electronics Show. The electronics show, which was first held in June 1967, has been a place for companies to come and show off their new inventions for the upcoming year.

Corpses pile up outside packed hospital; damage stymies relief

The dead overwhelmed the General Hospital morgue, and the injured outnumbered doctors and nurses Thursday as rescue workers from across the globe struggled to reach the shattered island and distribute much-needed food, water and medical supplies.

Microfinance group helps Kenyans build a new life

On the second night in her new house here, Jane Ngoiri told one of her children to get something out of the kitchen. Then she started laughing. "I told them, 'It is us talking about a kitchen. A kitchen!' " recalled Ngoiri, a former prostitute who moved with her four children earlier this year from a rented, one-room shanty in the Nairobi slum of Mathare.

60 years after revolution, ethnic tension still plagues China

China's leadership says it has calmed this city after almost 200 people were stabbed, bludgeoned or beaten to death in July riots and more violent protests this month forced the removal of top officials.

Terror group builds big base under Pakistani officials' noses

A Pakistani terrorist group that's allied with al-Qaida and sends jihadists to Afghanistan to fight U.S. and government troops is building a huge new base in full view of the authorities in Pakistan's most heavily populated province, locals and officials told McClatchy.

Afghan woman defies threats, discrimination to run for re-election

The threats come at least once a week in the dark of night, Zaiba Habib Durrani said. The caller vows to kill her or disfigure her face with acid.Durrani also recounted how insurgents had tailed her husband and her on a 200-mile round-trip drive to Kabul ...