Witness confirms cover-up of Mexico army slayings
By MARK STEVENSON When the witness refused to sign a false statement that 22 suspected drug gang members had died in a shootout with the Mexican army, state investigators began…
Military and defense
AP poll: Police killings of blacks voted top story of 2014
By DAVID CRARY The police killings of unarmed blacks in Ferguson, Missouri, and elsewhere — and the investigations and tumultuous protests they inspired — was the top news story of…
Ariz. sheriff aims to halt Obama immigration order
By PETE YOST A gadfly attorney and an Arizona county sheriff want to halt President Barack Obama’s immigration order in the first courtroom battle over an initiative designed to spare…
2014 frustrates US hopes for Israeli-Palestinian peace
By LARA JAKES Secretary of State John Kerry is ending 2014 much in the same way he started it, frustrated in efforts to push Israel and Palestinians toward peace. With…
Bush officials gave CIA wide latitude
By KEN DILANIAN In July 2004, despite growing internal concerns about the CIA’s brutal interrogation methods, senior members of George W. Bush’s national security team gave the agency permission to…
Pakistan: 77 militants killed after school massacre
By MUNIR AHMED Pakistani warplanes and ground forces killed at least 77 militants in a northwestern tribal region near the Afghan border, officials said Friday, days after Taliban fighters killed…
Digital dilemma: How will US respond to Sony hack?
By ERIC TUCKER and TAMI ABDOLLAH The detective work blaming North Korea for the Sony hacker break-in appears so far to be largely circumstantial, The Associated Press has learned. The…
Lawyer defends acts of Nigeria soldiers sentenced to death
By BASHIR ADIGUN and MICHELLE FAUL A human rights lawyer says 54 soldiers have been sentenced to death because they embarrassed Nigeria’s military by demanding weapons to fight Islamic extremists,…