All Blog Posts from World Watch

Eight years after a U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, the country ranks as the worst place to be born, according to a United Nations report.

The United Nation's Children's Fund, better known as UNICEF, says Afghanistan has the highest infant mortality rate in the world with 257 deaths per 1,000 live births, and 70 percent of Afghans have access to clean water.

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Syria's first lady has put out the welcome mat for the Obamas, a further sign that the once frosty relations between the two nations is thawing.

In an interview with Britain's Sky News, Asma al Assad envisioned her husband, Bashar, and Barack Obama joining forces.

"The fact is President Obama is young," al Assad said, "and President Assad is also very young as well, so maybe it is time for these young leaders to make a difference in the world."

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Iranian state media pounced Friday on statements made by three U.S. senators claiming Iran's election was "rigged."

Republican Senators John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, along with Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., came out in support of protesters of Iran's recent election.

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There's good news and bad news to glean from North Korea, former U.N. ambassador Bill Richardson says.

The bad news: Their tough talk on nuclear weapons and missile tests has been amplified to the point they are threatening a "fire shower" on South Korea should the U.S. launch any sort of attack.

The good news: That kind of rhetoric is "muted" when it comes to the fate of U.S. journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, currently held in a North Korean prison after being convicted of entering the country illegally. The absence of heated words, "gives me hope," Richardson said.

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Pakistan has unleashed a new military campaign in the country’s Waziristan region along the Afghan border, driven mainly by a combination "quick strikes" on suspected Taliban militant targets as well as all out attacks, senior government officials and Western diplomats said.

Scores of Taliban were killed in two days of fighting after the military went on the offensive earlier in the week to block up to 800 Taliban militants from traveling from Waziristan to the nearby Bannu region, Pakistani government officials said Thursday.

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The United States is nearing a deal that would send nearly 100 Yemeni detainees held at Guantanamo Bay to Saudi Arabia, according to a Wall Street Journal report Thursday.

Officials told the Journal the deal could speed up President Obama's plan to close the U.S. military facility that houses alleged terrorists.

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For more than two months, two 20-foot container vans sat idly at the port of Manila. Official documents indicated that blow molding machines and plastic scraps were inside the shipments. But when Philippine Customs authorities inspected them early this week, what they found were not scraps but valuables — elephant tusks estimated to be worth over $2 million.

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The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) was not a likely international organization to follow Hollywood’s lead to expose the horrors of modern day slavery. But this week, there was a red carpet entrance at the General Assembly and the stars mingled in the moonlight facing the East River on the outdoor veranda of the Delegates Dining Room, to showcase paintings by young victims of the rebel war in Uganda.

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President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday defended his alliance with Iran as "strategic," only a couple of days ahead of a visit by two high-level U.S. officials to Damascus in their bids to weaken the long-time bond.

The Syrian leader told reporters following his talks with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that both countries’ vision over the past years was "correct."

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Lost amid the hubbub of St. Patrick's Day cheer at the White House Tuesday was Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's not-so-subtle request for European help with Guantanamo detainees during her meeting with Irish Foreign Minister Michael Martin yesterday.

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