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Two suicide attacks left at least 23 people dead in Israel on Sunday. The bombers had targeted a crowded mall in Tel Aviv. Within hours, Israeli forces fired a barrage of missiles into the Palestinian-controlled area of Gaza. The violence came as the latest development in the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

Republicans officially took control of the 108th Congress Tuesday, with a busy schedule ahead for lawmakers from both parties. In the Senate, Tennessee Senator Bill Frist began his first day as majority leader, stating that he hoped that this Congress will be defined by achievement as well as a cooperative spirit. He added that at this point in time, our nation faces truly historic challenges.

Overview: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld signed deployment orders last Friday to send more U.S. troops to the Persian Gulf. These latest deployments will nearly double the size of the force in the region.

Overview: North Korea is reactivating nuclear facilities and might resume ballistic missile tests. North Korea's ambassador to the United Nations is placing the blame for escalating tensions over the country's nuclear program squarely with what it says is the open hostility of the United States. The Bush administration is open to talks with North Korea, but says it will not negotiate under blackm...

Overview: Two nearly simultaneous suicide bombings rocked central Tel Aviv early Sunday evening, killing at least 23 people and wounding more than 100 others.

Overview: Kuwaiti authorities and U.S. officials are searching for the attacker or attackers who ambushed two Americans on a road just outside a U.S. military base in Kuwait. Michael Rene Pouliot, 46, of San Diego, California, died at the scene, according to the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait. David Caraway, who was driving the vehicle, suffered six gunshot wounds but is expected to survive, authorities...

Overview: Republicans officially took control of the 108th Congress Tuesday, with a busy schedule ahead lawmakers from both parties. In the Senate, Tennessee Senator Bill Frist began his first day as majority leader, stating that he hoped that this Congress will be defined by achievement as well as a cooperative spirit. He added that at this point in time, our nation faces truly historic challeng...

Overview: Authorities have accused John Lee Malvo, 17, and John Allen Muhammad, 42, of being behind the series of sniper shootings that killed 10 people and wounded four in the Washington D.C. area last October. Prosecutors in Virginia are trying to make the case for John Lee Malvo to be tried as an adult. If Malvo were to be found guilty in an adult court he could face the death penalty.

Overview: North Korea announces its withdrawal from the 1994 nuclear non-proliferation treaty. However, despite international concerns about North Korea's nuclear weapons program, North Korea and South Korea seem to have warm relations, which are said to stem from what is called the sunshine policy, a policy of engagement adopted by South Korea's outgoing president Kim Dae-Jung.

According to the official North Korean news agency, North Korea has announced its withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, a major international agreement with the goal to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology. Under the treaty, North Korea had agreed to stop pursuing nuclear weapons, but the country recently admitted to having a nuclear weapons program anyway.

Prosecutors in Virginia say they have fingerprint evidence that links sniper suspect John Lee Malvo to four shootings in the Washington, D.C. area. The prosecutors are hoping to try 17-year-old Malvo as an adult. They say that he and another suspect, John Allen Muhammad, are behind 14 D.C.-area sniper attacks that took place last autumn.

Two American civilians were attacked Tuesday at an intersection in Kuwait. A video camera north of Kuwait City may have recorded the ambush where one of the Americans was shot dead and another was wounded, a Kuwaiti official said. At least 24 bullets struck the vehicle in which the U.S. military contractors were traveling. Richard Jones, the U.S. ambassador to Kuwait, called the incident a terr...

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson met with two diplomats from North Korea on Saturday. They talked about the current controversy involving the Asian country's decision to restart its nuclear weapons program. The governor - a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations - explained that North Korea uses harsh words as a way of trying to obtain something from another nation. The North Koreans, ...

Although the White House says President Bush has no timetable set for a possible strike on Iraq, the U.S. continues to deploy troops by the thousands to the Persian Gulf. Bush has said he will consider using military force if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein fails to prove to the U.N. Security Council that Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction. However, Bush has not said how long he will wait fo...