Last year, the wealthy city-state was still flying high, spending freely to fuel its ambition of becoming a business, financial and tourist capital of the Persian Gulf. Between all the oil wealth continuing to pour in and the royal family's deep coffers, few were worried about the massive debt being used to fund the development. Today, all of that has changed. Full Story »
President Obama's trip to Capitol Hill to fight for health care legislation was only one lobbying effort by his administration over the weekend. Key cabinet members and military officers fanned out over the airwaves to sell the president's policy toward Afghanistan as well. They tried to make it clear that the pace of a U.S. troop withdrawal will depend on conditions on the ground. Full Story »
Iraqi lawmakers have passed a long-awaited measure that clears the way for national elections to be held in late February. The White House hailed the move, in part because the election delay had threatened to complicate U.S. plans to start withdrawing American combat forces. The vote came after weeks of dispute that highlighted the country's ethnic and religious divisions. Full Story »
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visits President Obama at the White House Monday. Turkey is building stronger ties with Iran and that has raised concerns in Washington. Also the prime minister heads a party with Islamist roots — a departure from decades of secular leadership in Turkey. That has some asking if the NATO member is titling East at the expense of the West. Full Story »
The transformation of Russia's military may be the most successful of President Dmitry Medvedev's programs, but it's also one of the most controversial. The huge project involves painful cuts and dismantling deep-vested interests that have thrived on bloated, Soviet-style armed forces. Full Story »
The world's leaders are descending on Copenhagen for the long-awaited United Nations climate conference. NPR's Richard Harris fills in host Guy Raz on the gap between rich and poor nations, and why the last major climate treaty, worked out in Kyoto, Japan, didn't live up to its promise. Full Story »
Iraqi lawmakers approved plans Sunday to hold parliamentary elections early next year that are seen as an important step toward political reconciliation and easing the withdrawal of U.S. troops. Full Story »
Just as in Iraq, the U.S. eventually will turn over provinces to local security forces, allowing the United States to bring the number of troops down steadily, according to Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Full Story »
Pepe Lobo won last week's controversial presidential election in Honduras, but now he faces huge challenges. In addition to moving past the worst political crisis in the region in decades, Lobo will have to deal with a wide range of social and economic problems. Full Story »
The headline on President Obama's Afghanistan plan unveiled last week was troop levels: 30,000 more Americans will be fighting there by next year. But Kalev Sepp says there's another vital shift — in the strategy those troops will pursue. Sepp, one of the gurus of America's counterinsurgency strategy, tells Guy Raz that the tactics in Afghanistan will differ from those used in Iraq. Sepp is a former Special Forces officer and, until earlier this year, a top official at the Pentagon in charge of counterterrorism. He now teaches at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. Full Story »
