As his right hand grips the mouse, the physics major's eyes are fixed on a flat-screen monitor labeled with a red sticker reminding him the computer was a gift from Kim Jong Il.
The hopes for democracy that bloomed in the "Arab Spring" are drying up in a long, hot summer of crackdowns, civil war and continuing protests.
The new U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan said Monday that the United States is not rushing to leave the country and cautioned that what happens in the months ahead will have far-reaching effects across the globe.
A Pentagon program to rush 21 helicopters to Afghan military forces in time for this summer's fighting season was derailed by the Obama administration's conciliatory policy toward Russia and by Army procurement missteps amid allegations of corruption, according to current and former defense officials and military contractors.
The Syrian foreign minister this week warned the U.S. and French ambassadors that they will face severe travel restrictions if they leave Damascus again without government permission.
Syria warned the American and French ambassadors Wednesday not to travel outside the capital without permission, two weeks after the two envoys angered the regime by visiting a city that has become the center of the country's 4-month-old uprising.
Yemeni government forces shelled a southern town overrun by radical Islamists, killing at least 20 militants in the past two days, residents said Tuesday.
Cyprus' foreign minister on Tuesday became the second Cabinet member to resign in the wake of the explosion of dozens of gunpowder-filled containers at a naval base that killed 13 people and has shaken public confidence in the government.
Syrian security forces opened fire at a funeral procession Tuesday, killing at least 10 people in a city that has been besieged for days by some of the most serious violence seen during the country's four-month-old uprising, activists said.
