Kristin Deasy is a GlobalPost breaking news writer. Before joining the GlobalPost team, she worked as a correspondent for the Prague-based Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a US-funded organization that broadcasts into countries that lack a fully free press. Her work has also appeared in World Affairs magazine, the Prague Post, Egypt's Al Masry al-Youm, and others. She currently lives and works in Berlin, Germany.
Puneh Ala’i, a California-born Iranian-American, is reaching areas of Syria where established aid organizations are failing.
US political leaders were set to discuss ways to end the government shutdown before the nation defaults its debt on Thursday.
More than a hundred thousand were evacuated from Vietnam's coastal areas on Monday.
Young firebrand Julius Malema, expelled from South Africa's African National Congress, has started his own party.
As many as 11 bombs were reportedly set off by remote control in Iraq on Sunday, killing dozens.
A stampede during a religious festival in India killed scores of people on Sunday.
An Egyptian air force fighter jet crashed in the country's south, reportedly setting a number of homes on fire.
The storm battered India on Saturday, weakening as it made its way into the nation's northwest on Sunday.
Fireworks reportedly exploded out of the building for several hours after the blast.
Over a dozen reported killed and thousands evacuated as a major typhoon hit the Philippines on Saturday.
A maximum-strength 'super-cyclone' came ashore in India on Saturday with 124 mile-per-hour winds.