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More than $200M pledged to beat Somali pirates

Countries have pledged $213 million at an international conference to boost security in Somalia and halt the country’s growing piracy problem. “We have a unique opportunity to support leaders who have shown a commitment to building peace and rebuilding the Somali state,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. “By opening the space for security, we open the door to a better life for Somalia’s people.” “The risks of not supporting the new government are too high and the costs of failure too enormous,” Ban added

Spain’s jobless rate soars above 17 percent

Spain’s jobless rate rose sharply, to 17.36 percent in the first quarter, with more than 4 million people out of work, the government said Friday. Nearly half of the 4 million lost their jobs in the past year, the National Statistics Institute said. It’s the first time that Spain’s jobless total has exceeded 4 million, economist Carlos Maravall told CNN.

Does Pakistan’s Taliban Surge Raise a Nuclear Threat?

When asked last year about the security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Mike Mullen didn’t hesitate: “I’m very comfortable that the nuclear weapons in Pakistan are secure,” he said flatly. Asked the same question earlier this month, his answer had changed.

Bioengineered bugs could lead to malaria vaccine

For most Americans, mosquitoes are pests whose bites leave behind itchy bumps.

Report: Reporters to be tried in N. Korea

North Korea has concluded an investigation of two detained American journalists, and they will stand trial, according to the nation’s state-run news service, KCNA. “A competent organ of (North Korea) concluded the investigation into the journalists of the United States,” the news service reported Friday. “The organ formally decided to refer them to a trial on the basis of the confirmed crimes committed by them.” The two journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, entered the country illegally and intended “hostile acts,” according to KCNA last month.

Vacation Blues as Tourists Stay at Home

On a typical weekend afternoon, Beijing’s Silk Street Market buzzes with the sound of tens of thousands of tourists haggling over antiques, jewelry and knock-off Gucci handbags. Rickshaw drivers normally scoop up these marketgoers, pedal them to their hotels and return with pockets full of foreign currency — a lucrative cycle drivers can repeat dozens of times a day. In recent months, though, the Silk Street Market’s once reliable bustle has thinned dramatically

Q&A: Taliban influence weakens Pakistan

Taliban advances in Pakistan are raising concerns in Islamabad and capitals as far away as Washington. How is the Taliban extending its influence in Pakistan It has extended its considerably over the last few years moving northwards along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, from South Waziristan to North Waziristan to Bajur and across now to Swat and Buner. But the Taliban has also extended its influence because it is now involved with several Punjab terrorist groups that have affiliated themselves with the border Taliban and have helped commit some attacks such as one on a police station in Lahore.

Why Andorrans live longer than everyone else

Getting to Andorra, a tiny country wedged in the mountains between France and Spain, is no easy feat. No airport, no train station, and the nearest city Toulouse is at least a 2 hour drive away. Perhaps that’s part of the secret of this tiny principality high up in the Pyrenees Mountains: that its quiet isolation has created a relatively stress-free life-style which has made them the world champions in the global longevity sweepstakes, at least according to the latest U.S.

Taliban Advance: Is Pakistan Nearing Collapse?

The move by Taliban-backed militants into the Buner district of northwestern Pakistan, closer than ever to Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad, have prompted concerns both within the country and abroad that the nuclear-armed nation of 165 million is on the verge of inexorable collapse. On Wednesday a local Taliban militia crossed from the Swat Valley — where a February cease-fire allowed the implementation of strict Islamic, or Shari’a, law — into the neighboring Buner district, which is just a few hours drive from Islamabad .

Bombings kill more than 70 in Iraq

Suicide bombers in Iraq launched two deadly attacks Thursday, killing at least 45 people in Diyala province and at least 28 in Baghdad, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said. An attacker set off a suicide vest at a restaurant in Imam Wais, a Diyala provincial security official said.