IRAQ

American hikers Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer have been released from prison in Iran, the U.S. State Department said Wednesday.

Turner noted that, at age 72, he is too old to run a corporation while Murdoch is even older.

After waiting for days to get one signature needed for the release of two U.S. hikers in Iran, lawyer Masoud Shafiei said he has finally succeeded in his mission on Wednesday.

Iran is expected to free two American men convicted of espionage on bail Wednesday and turn them over to the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, their lawyer told Reuters.

Director general of the Al-Jazeera satellite TV channel has stepped down on Tuesday after serving the network for eight years, the channel announced.

The Clinton-era don't ask, don't tell military policy, under which service members were forbidden to come out as gay, was officially repealed on Tuesday. Here's what politicians and military officials are saying.

Tony Bennett, the famous singer who left his heart in San Francisco, made some controversial remarks about Sept. 11 and former President George W. Bush on Howard Stern’s radio program on Monday night.

Roadside bombs or improvised explosive devices, killer of many U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, can now be detected before they explode from a safe distance by a laser beam, researchers from Michigan State University say.

A federal appeals court said on Monday that the 17-year prison sentence imposed on Jose Padilla, a US citizen also known as Abdullah al-Muhajir or Muhajir Abdullah, who was convicted of aiding terrorists in 2007, was too lenient.

Researchers at Michigan State University (MSU) have developed a new high-tech laser that can detect roadside bombs, one of the greatest causes of death for coalition soldiers.

Researchers from Michigan State University (MSU) said the laser they've managed to develop has comparable output to a simple presentation pointer. However, it potentially has the sensitivity and selectivity to canvas large areas and identify the presence of roadside bombs, which they say account for about 60 percent of coalition soldiers' deaths.

Republicans are saying President Barack Obama's unveiling of a $3 trillion long-term deficit reduction plan -- dubbed the Buffett Rule -- that relies upon raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans is political posturing and window dressing.

Although President Obama’s new deficit reduction plan will be portrayed as a tax hike, in reality, it by and large returns the tax code, with a few exceptions, to levels that existed prior to the 2001 Bush income tax cut -- a cut that fundamentally altered the U.S.'s fiscal and economic trajectory. The nation has been trying to recover ever since.

Rep. Ron Paul won the California straw poll on Saturday, receiving almost half of all the votes.

British oil major BP remains committed to reaching its oil production targets at Iraq's huge Rumaila field and is not renegotiating contract terms, the company's chief executive Bob Dudley said on Sunday.

The idea is out there: Republicans on Capitol Hill considering a ceiling for defense cuts mandated by the deficit-reduction super committee. If it becomes a reality, however, it would not exceed $150 billion over 10 years.

The Kabul attack is now over, but the Middle East and Arab worlds are still overflowing with violence, social unrest and international tension. Here is the round up of news from Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.

A group of manufacturers and defense companies are lobbying members of Congress on the deficit-reduction committee to oppose further cuts to military spending cuts.

The United States gave Libya's new rulers a very visible show of support on Wednesday when a senior envoy visited the capital and praised their efforts to assert control of armed groups three weeks after Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown.

The Arab Spring revolutions could enable sectarian and religious violence in countries where civil society has collapsed, the U.S. State Department said in its annual report on religious freedom.

During every presidential campaign season, a number of underdog candidates decide to run for the White House – most of whom have no hopes of ever getting elected.