HERMOSILLO, Mexico — A fast-moving fire killed 31 children in a day care center in northern Mexico despite desperate attempts of firefighters who punched through the walls and fought their way through flames to rescue babies, toddlers and others trapped inside.
At least 25 children and five employees were hospitalized after Friday’s fire in ABC day care in the city of Hermosillo, said Jose Larrinaga, a spokesman for investigators in the state of Sonora, which borders Arizona.
Some of the injured suffered severe burns and might be taken to U.S. hospitals, Sonora …

In the 48 hours since President Obama’s speech in Cairo, Israeli journalists and pundits have had a lot to say. Their comments offer insights into U.S. foreign policy that many American observers might not get at home.
Much of the Israeli media commentary is conducted in Hebrew, but key outlets offer English editions and translations. These sources provide Americans with a window into the debates occurring across Israel’s dominant Jewish majority.
In the hours after Obama concluded his speech, Israeli commentators were particularly struck by his implicit linkage of Palestinian …

What happened today in Washington was, as Senator Russ Feingold called it, “historic.” Thirty-eight years nearly to the day when a young John Kerry shocked the nation with his fiery anti-Vietnam war testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Rick Reyes, a former US Marine Corporal, delivered an equally puissant testimony in which he expressed his disenchantment with the war in Afghanistan. How appropriate Kerry should be sitting directly across from Reyes as Committee Chairman, listening attentively as Congress heard one of the first major voices of dissent …

In an interview with ABC News, Jeffrey Davidow — a senior adviser to President Obama on Latin American affairs and director of the Summit of the Americas — said that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez rushed a photograph of he and President Obama shaking hands onto his government’s website because Mr. Obama is more popular than Mr. Chavez in Venezuela.
“Every president and political leader in Latin America, and many in the rest of the world as well — maybe not every one of them — really sees political benefit in being …

Better than an iPod? On the second day of the Summit of the Americas Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez presented President Obama with a book on Latin American history.
Much attention has been paid so far to the interactions between the two leaders, who had never met before the summit. Their first meeting Friday night, which consisted simply of smiling and shaking hands, caused quite a stir. If yesterday’s photo-op was all about the handshake, than today’s was all about the gift.
More details from the AP:
In front of photographers, Chavez gave Obama …

BAGHDAD — Suspected militants shelled Baghdad’s protected Green Zone on Saturday in the first such bombardment in more than three months.
The back-to-back strikes reverberated across the Tigris River to a popular promenade, sending families packing up from fish restaurants and abruptly halting a party at a club.
Violence across Iraq remains sharply down compared with past years, but attacks and bloodshed have edged up in recent weeks and brought worries that it could slow the return of nightlife and commerce to parts of Baghdad.
The U.S military said the Green Zone was hit …

Step off the plane and there is Dan smiling like a fool. I take a deep breath, breath deep the Kenyan sky and let out a small yell. The African sky has been worshiped for all time. Cliché and overused, the rumors hold true and its expanse still moves me. Laughing outloud, Dan grins and says, “it’s good to be back on this continent man, I’ve been jonesin for some Africa.”
Jonesin. Such an odd phenomenon. Still, the story keeps. I’ve yet to meet …

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad — It looks like the United States and Cuba are getting unstuck, taking tentative steps in a diplomatic dance that could resolve a half-century of hostility. Within the last 24 hours, Barack Obama, Raul Castro and Hillary Rodham Clinton have made a flurry of conciliatory gestures, and expectations for a thaw are soaring.
The head of the Organization of American States acknowledged the momentum Friday by saying he’ll ask his group to readmit Cuba 47 years after it suspended the communist country to support the U.S. trade embargo. Caribbean …

In one of his final interviews, former president George W. Bush told ABC News Martha Raddatz that the war in Iraq was justified because of al-Qaeda. But Raddatz said that wasn’t “until the U.S. invaded.” Then Bush responded with “So what? The point is that al-Qaeda said they’re going to take a stand… we have denied al-Qaeda a safe haven because a young democracy is beginning to grow, which will be an important sign for people in the Middle East.”
But how much of a presence does al-Qaeda …

TVNZ

Obama in Mexico: No Hero’s Welcome
TIME
By Ioan Grillo / Mexico City Friday, Apr. 17, 2009 US President Barack Obama makes remarks as he attends a dinner in his honor at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City.
Video: Assault weapons ban: Would it curb Mexico’s drug problem? UPI
Mexican Press: Obama Made Good Impression, But Few Promises Washington Post
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