Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine, was arrested in August while visiting his grandmother and other relatives, his family in Michigan said last month.
A powerful earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia's Aceh province, prompting officials to issue a brief tsunami warning.
The case of a tortured Afghan child bride that shocked the world will be taken directly to President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday, a lawyer for a women's group said.
The United States has declared Venezuela's consul general in Miami persona non grata and said she must leave the country by Tuesday.
European Union governments have agreed to ban imports of Iranian oil as part of a Western campaign to pressure Iran over its controversial nuclear program.
A dog walks among tons of dead herring that washed up on a beach at Kvaenes in northern Norway on New Year's Eve.
At least 18 people were also poisoned by what authorities have described as contaminated moonshine in Andhra Pradesh's Krishna district, P.V.S. Ramkrishna, the district police chief, said.
Iraq's leadership is dominated by Shiite Muslims, including Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. The country's Sunni minority held power under former leader Saddam Hussein.
"The profession of doctors is very noble but when their voice is not heard they are forced to go on the path of agitation," said a letter signed by the heads of three medical associations in Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh.
The Philippines government says 1,079 people are still missing in the wake of the devastating Typhoon Washi.