Michele Kelemen

The U.S. broke off relations with Cuba the year President Obama was born. Now, he's trying a different approach having resolved one issue — the jailing of a U.S. aid worker.

Signaling what could be a major shift in U.S. relations with Cuba, Gross, who has been jailed in Cuba for five years, will be released, while the U.S. will release three Cubans.

For years, Cuban-Americans in Miami supported punitive policies against Cuba. But since Obama's election, that view has moderated.

Officials and experts say the sanctions will be targeted at officials involved in a violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters this year, and won't make life even harder for average Venezuelans.

The past few years have been a roller coaster for Egyptian activists like Kholoud Saber Barakat, whose organization helps victims of sexual abuse.

The United Nations Children's Fund calls 2014 a devastating year for children, reporting that as many as 15 million young people are caught in conflicts in the Central African Republic, Iraq, South Sudan, the Palestinian territories, Syria and Ukraine.

Among the grim statistics in a newly released UNICEF report: ...

About three hours southeast of Dallas, there's a city that's been hit by almost every disaster you could imagine including earthquakes, hurricanes and even bombs. It's appropriately called Disaster City.

It's a training site for first responders, but the facility is looking ahead to a different kind of disaster — ...

Retired U.S. Air Force Col. David Roeder spent more than a year as one of 52 American hostages held by Iranian revolutionaries who took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979.

"I spent 14 months of my life and getting beaten around and tortured and threats against my family ...

Secretary of State John Kerry is urging lawmakers to give diplomats some more time to negotiate a final nuclear deal with Iran. Republicans are skeptical of the administration's overtures to Tehran.

The UN's top official for refugees, Antonio Guterres, says the wars in Iraq and Syria have created a "mega-crisis" straining the world's relief efforts.

A UN General Assembly committee that deals with human rights and social issues is expected to vote on a measure that puts Pyongyang on a path toward the International Criminal Court.

Russia and Western countries have had several close encounters in the air and at sea recently. Russia says these are just routine military exercises, but NATO and its Nordic partners are alarmed.

UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura stood amid the ruins of Homs, Syria, this week, saying it is time for a new approach. He's pushing for a local truce between the regime and rebels.

A former head of the Los Alamos National Laboratory has worked with Russia for years on securing loose nukes and upgrading facilities in the former Soviet Union. Siegfried Hecker is n...

U.S. airstrikes helped save thousands from the Yazidi community in northern Iraq in August. But the group says the Islamic State has seized many Yazidi women and is selling them as sex slaves.

Ryan Boyette arrived in the Nuba Mountains more than a decade ago and has made it his mission to document abuses he says the government carries out with regularity.

An American held by North Korea since June was freed on Tuesday. The U.S. State Department confirmed that Jeffrey Fowle was released following negotiations.

John Kerry is in Vienna for a meeting with Iran's foreign minister as a deadline approaches for a nuclear deal. Kerry was in Paris on Tuesday to consult with other partners including Russia.

It will be hard to make sure that concrete needed to rebuild the Palestinian territory's demolished buildings isn't diverted to Hamas, the militant group that had been tunneling into Israeli towns.

The U.S. has been bombing ISIS targets in Syria, but that has not stopped the self-proclaimed Islamic State from threatening civilians in the country.