Americas

Ships cross the Gatun Locks Panama Canal in Colon about 100 kms north of Panama City. Panama Thursday marked the 10th anniversary of the end of US control over the legendary canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, long considered one of the world's engineering wonders. © AFP/File Elmer Martinez

PANAMA (AFP) - Panama Thursday marked the 10th anniversary of the end of US control over the legendary canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, long considered one of the world's engineering wonders.

The ...

An angry President Barack Obama has lectured US spy chiefs on an intelligence "screw-up" that left a US airliner carrying 290 people open to a barely-averted Al-Qaeda attack on Christmas Day. © AFP Mandel Ngan

WASHINGTON (AFP) - An angry President Barack Obama has lectured US spy chiefs on an intelligence "screw-up" that left a US airliner carrying 290 people open to a barely-averted Al-Qaeda attack on Christmas Day.

In ...

Supporters of deposed Honduran president Manuel Zelaya hold a new year vigil near the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa. A top US envoy met with Zelaya in a bid to resolve the political crisis set off by a coup more than six months ago. © AFP/File Claudia Barrientos

TEGUCIGALPA (AFP) - A top US envoy met with ousted President Manuel Zelaya here in a bid to resolve the political crisis set off by a coup more than six months ago.

Hondurans voted in November for a new president, ...

Supporters of deposed Honduran president Manuel Zelaya hold a new year vigil near the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa. A top US envoy met with Zelaya in a bid to resolve the political crisis set off by a coup more than six months ago. © AFP/File Claudia Barrientos

TEGUCIGALPA (AFP) - A top US envoy met with ousted President Manuel Zelaya here in a bid to resolve the political crisis set off by a coup more than six months ago.

Hondurans voted in November for a new president, ...

Picture released by the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police and Intelligence (DIJIN) shows Colombian businessman David Murcia (C) at a military airport in Bogota. The alleged fraudster dubbed the "Colombian Madoff" because of his ties to a multi-million-dollar pyramid scheme was extradited to the US to face money laundering charges © AFP/DIJIN

MIAMI (AFP) - An alleged fraudster dubbed the "Colombian Madoff" because of his ties to a multi-million-dollar pyramid scheme was extradited to the United States to face money laundering charges, authorities ...

A man claiming to be an Al-Qaeda member addresses a crowd in Yemen's southern province of Abyan in December. US intelligence missed "red flags" in the Arabian peninsula that could have disrupted a plot to blow up a US-bound plane, US President Barack Obama said, vowing to stop future lapses. © AFP/File

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US intelligence missed "red flags" in the Arabian peninsula that could have disrupted a plot to blow up a US-bound plane, US President Barack Obama said, vowing to stop future lapses.

"It is ...

File picture shows a US soldier on a guard tower at maximum security prison Camp Delta, at Guantanamo Naval Base. US President Barack Obama said Tuesday he has suspended transfers of freed Guantanamo Bay inmates to Yemen following the Christmas Day airliner attack, but renewed his vow to close the notorious prison. © AFP/POOL/File Mark Wilson

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama said he has suspended transfers of freed Guantanamo Bay inmates to Yemen following the Christmas Day airliner attack, but renewed his vow to close the notorious ...

US heiress Casey Johnson, seen here in 2009, has been found dead in Los Angeles. © AFP/Getty Images/File Noel Vasquez

NEW YORK (AFP) - Casey Johnson, the hard-living, 30-year-old heiress to the Johnson and Johnson company empire, has been found dead in Los Angeles, a family spokesman said Tuesday.

"The Johnson family is mourning ...

A passenger walks toward a security checkpoint at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia. US President Barack Obama will Tuesday unveil new measures aimed at thwarting future airborne terror attacks after seeking ways to plug US intelligence gaps in a meeting with spy chiefs. © AFP/File Saul Loeb

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama will Tuesday unveil new measures aimed at thwarting future airborne terror attacks after seeking ways to plug US intelligence gaps in a meeting with spy chiefs.

A day ...