Search results for

President Obama was in Thailand Sunday at the start of a brief tour of Southeast Asia. The trip is supposed to show Obama's commitment to shifting U.S. focus onto Asia and the Pacific, but events in the Middle East and Washington threaten to overshadow the tour. Guy Raz Scott Horsley

With the conflict in Gaza on its seventh day on Tuesday, Egypt dispatched its foreign minister to Gaza City at the head of an Arab delegation. Egyptian officials say a ceasefire deal could be reached soon, but meanwhile the Israeli air strikes and Hamas rocket attacks continued. Anthony Kuhn talks to Audie Cornish.

Gov. Chris Christie is defending local tax increases and major federal investments, despite his tough talk on spending. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is courting the spotlight as he calls for billions of dollars from Washington to rebuild. The Republican and Democrat will have to find consensus on the plan for rebuilding — together and with a divided Congress.

Lana Peters, who died last year, defected to the U.S. in 1967. The Associated Press, citing newly declassified documents, says the FBI was trying to gauge how the former Svetlana Alliluyeva's defection was affecting international relations.

Christians the world over are celebrating Christmas. India, the birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism, marks the birth of Jesus with a national holiday. In this land of great religions, Christians and non-Christians join in the festivities of this season with song and special meals.

With former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ousted, there was space in 2012 for new political leaders to come forward. Host Jacki Lyden talks with NPR's Cairo correspondent, Leila Fadel, about the transformations that took place in Egypt in the past year.

Demonstrations in India continued for a second straight day after a young woman who was gang-raped on a public bus died of her injuries over the weekend. Police are awaiting forensic reports that would establish the presence of the men inside the bus that the young woman boarded with her companion, who was also brutally beaten in the attack.

Sopranos creator David Chase takes a shot at the big screen with Not Fade Away, which follows a young musician who dreams of breaking into the '60s rock scene. Critic Mark Jenkins says the plot is overstuffed and unfocused, and the staid sensibility is wrong for the material.

The attack at Nairobi's Westgate mall is over. Kenya's president said more than 60 civilians died in the four-day assault, but that more bodies could be pulled from the rubble. The attack was claimed by the militant group al-Shabab as retribution for Kenya's troops in Somalia.

Secretary of State Kerry and his counterparts from Britain, France, Russia, China and the European Union met with Iran's foreign minister at the United Nations on Thursday. They left the meeting praising Iran's new tone, but saying there is a lot of work to be done in dealing with Iran's suspect nuclear program. The talks resume in Geneva in mid-October.