World - McClatchy Newspapers

BAGHDAD--The U.S. military in Iraq celebrated the Fourth of July with what it billed as "the largest reenlistment ceremony ever held," and 1,215 soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen raised their hands and re-pledged allegiance to America.

BOGOTA, Colombia— The final stages of Operation Check-Mate began early Wednesday morning as the guerrilla group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia gathered 15 of their most valuable hostages in an isolated forest of the southern province of Guaviare.

BOGOTA, Colombia— Ingrid Betancourt went from jungle captive to national heroine within a dizzying 24 hours, as Colombians hailed the newly freed hostage Thursday for her courage and her every public move was carried live on television.

WASHINGTON— For the families of three American defense contractors held hostage for five years by Colombian narco-guerrillas, the release of their loved ones came as an unexpected and welcome surprise.

BAGHDAD— Iraq's foreign minister said Wednesday that the wide gap between Iraq and the United States over the future of U.S. forces in Iraq had narrowed after the American side had shown "excellent flexibility" on some key issues that had threatened to derail or postpone the accord.

CARTAGENA, Colombia— John McCain and two other U.S. senators who accompanied him lavished praise on Colombian President Alvaro Uribe during a 20-hour trip here that ended Wednesday afternoon before the dramatic news that special forces had rescued 15 hostages held by anti-government guerrillas.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina— As a sold-out crowd in Buenos Aires' historic opera house erupted in applause, veteran tango singer Virginia Luque took the stage backed by some of her country's greatest musicians.

CARTAGENA, Colombia— Three American defense contractors held since 2003 by narco-guerillas in steamy jungle captivity were choppered to freedom here, it was announced Wednesday, in a daring rescue operation that resembled a Hollywood action film.

JERUSALEM— A Palestinian construction worker commandeered a construction vehicle and rampaged through central Jerusalem on Wednesday afternoon, killing three people in what police later described as the spontaneous act of a lone attacker.

UNITED NATIONS— Iran's senior diplomat said Tuesday that Tehran was seriously considering a new offer from six world powers to resolve the dispute over its nuclear program, and he praised the package as "constructive."

BAGHDAD— Iraqis no longer have to settle just for thick Turkish coffee, cardamom-laced tea, strawberry-flavored milk or bottled water to quench their summertime thirst. Beer and alcoholic beverages are readily available once again.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan— Pakistan's fitful military operation against Islamist extremists pushed into its third day Monday, but there was no sign of overt combat— and growing criticism of the army's failure to crack down on the Taliban and al Qaida, which operate out of the country's lawless tribal belt.

HARARE, Zimbabwe— Ngoni Bothwell Naite never told his family that he'd become an activist. During Zimbabwe's bloody election season, when Naite volunteered to guard the home of an opposition politician who'd been targeted for kidnapping, his mother assumed that he was staying with friends.

SANTIAGO, Chile— A Chilean judge sentenced the country's former intelligence chief, retired Gen. Manuel Contreras, to two life prison terms Monday for masterminding a double assassination that was one of the most notorious covert operations conducted by this country's military government.

BEIJING— Senior leaders exhorted local officials to deal more quickly with festering social tensions that might tarnish the upcoming Olympics as censors tried to snuff out all news about a weekend riot in southern China.

BARA, Pakistan -- Pakistan's new government claimed success Sunday in its first military operation against Islamic extremists, moving against warlords who were threatening to overrun the major city of Peshawar.

JANAJA, Iraq— Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki grew up in this village of lemon and date orchards about half an hour from the southern Shiite Muslim holy city of Karbala. He attended school in the area, according to his official biography, and members of his extended family keep elegant villas here.

HARARE, Zimbabwe— President Robert Mugabe was declared the overwhelming winner Sunday of an election marred by the murders of scores of political opponents, death threats against voters and widespread international condemnation.

BAGHDAD, Iraq— Senior Iraqi government officials said Saturday that a U.S. Special Forces counterterrorism unit conducted the raid that reportedly killed a relative of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, touching off a high-stakes diplomatic crisis between the United States and Iraq.

HARARE, Zimbabwe— The bread lines were longer than the lines at polling stations on election day here, with apparently few people eager to vote in a blood-soaked race that only President Robert Mugabe was contesting.

WASHINGTON— Barack Obama said Saturday that he'll soon travel to the Middle East and Western Europe to meet with allies and discuss terrorism, nuclear weapons and global warming.

BAGHDAD, Iraq— Outraged Iraqi officials demanded an investigation into an early morning U.S. military raid Friday near the birthplace of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, saying the operation violated the terms of the handover of Karbala province to Iraqi security forces.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan— Heavily armed Islamic militants have massed on the outskirts of Peshawar, the strategic provincial capital in northwest Pakistan, and the Pakistani government has dramatically stepped up security around the city amid fears that it could fall.

HARARE, Zimbabwe— Bowing to a government campaign of violence and intimidation, Zimbabweans voted Friday in a one-man election that's almost certain to hand another five-year term to President Robert Mugabe.

WASHINGTON— Meeting in Berlin, Germany in January 2007, in what was portrayed at the time as an accidental encounter, Christopher Hill, the State Department's top Asia hand, and his North Korean counterpart sketched out a deal to resume nuclear negotiations.

TALMON, West Bank— Blue and yellow signs advertising new homes pepper the narrow West Bank roads that wind up to gated hilltop Jewish settlements.

HARARE, Zimbabwe— President Robert Mugabe may be the only candidate contesting Friday's internationally condemned election in Zimbabwe, but opposition party officials said Thursday that militias loyal to him have threatened people across the country: Show up to vote or else.

MINERAL DE POZOS, Mexico— In a dusty two-room store near the town square, six women sat on benches at sewing machines, stitching together handmade dolls dressed in regional Mexican gowns.