Al-Qaida decentralized, but not necessarily weaker Obama said in his foreign policy speech last week that the prime threat comes not from al-Qaida's core leadership, but from affiliates and extremists with their sights trained on targets in the Middle East and Africa, where they are based.June 1, 2014
Who are the five Guantanamo detainees released in prisoner swap? As part of a prisoner swap to free Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the United States agreed to transfer five Guantanamo detainees to Qatar. NPR's Tom Bowman received a list of the prisoners being released from a Pentagon official. According to documents leaked to the organization WikiLeaks, all five prisoners were high-ranking Taliban officials.May 31, 2014
Taliban release US soldier taken hostage in 2009 Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the final remaining captured American soldier from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been released after almost five years of being held captive by the Afghan Taliban, the White House said on Saturday.May 31, 2014
In India, fifth person arrested in gang rape, murder case The two girls, ages 14 and 15, were killed and then hanged from a tree in a village more than 100 miles east of New Delhi. The case sparked demonstrations against what villagers perceived was official inaction.May 31, 2014
Obama plans to leave 9,800 troops in Afghanistan past 2014 The number is in line with what military officials had asked for. The United States will end America's longest-running war in 2014 and expects most of the residual force out of the country by 2016.May 27, 2014
Across the US and Minnesota, bowed heads of thanks on Memorial Day President Barack Obama, who just returned just hours earlier from a surprise visit with U.S. troops at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan, paid tribute to those lost in battle there and elsewhere over history. He called them "patriots who made the ultimate sacrifice" for their country.May 26, 2014
David Blight on The Civil War in American Memory On Memorial Day, historian David Blight explores the immediate aftermath of the Civil War... efforts to fulfill the promise of emancipation, repairing, repairing the sectional divide between north and south, and the racial divide. He spoke in 2013 at the Minnesota History Forum in St. Paul.Minnesota Public Radio News Presents, May 26, 2014
Germany claims right to prosecute Karkoc over alleged Nazi ties The Federal Court of Justice said in its ruling that 95-year-old Michael Karkoc's service as a commander in the SS-led Ukrainian Self Defense Legion made him the "holder of a German office" -- giving Germany the legal right to prosecute him even though he is not German himself.May 22, 2014
White House to release secret memo on drone strikes The White House will reportedly comply with a court order to release a secret memorandum describing the legal justification for the 2011 drone strike against three Americans in Yemen, including Anwar al-Awlaki, an al-Qaida leader born in the U.S.May 20, 2014
Photos: The National September 11 Memorial Museum officially opens President Barack Obama praised the new Sept. 11 museum on Thursday as "a sacred place of healing and of hope" that captures both the story and the spirit of heroism and helping others that followed the attacks.May 15, 2014
Al-Shabab recruiting video shows a fake Minnesota airline boarding pass Extremist group al-Shabaab released a video in English this week that calls for supporters to carry out a "lone-wolf mission" of terrorism or travel to Somalia to join the terrorist group. The video closes with a mock-up of an airplane boarding pass showing Minnesota as the point of origin and the slogan, "Next flight to Mogadishu the only one missing is you."May 15, 2014