World/Nation

Kerry, Hagel boast about coalition efforts

LONDON - The U.S. and its allies sought to put a good face on the coalition's deliberate campaign to roll back the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria on Thursday, boasting of having killed thousands of militants while acknowledging that ousting the group from key cities remains a distant aspiration.

Speaking to reporters in London alongside the British foreign minister and Iraqi prime minister, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said nearly 2,000 air strikes had arrested the Islamic State group's momentum, squeezed its finances, killed "in the single digit" thousands of fighters and eliminated half the group's leadership.

A U.S. Central Command official said a conservative estimate would be 6,000 militants killed. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, and so spoke on condition of anonymity.

Saudi royal family nears divisive moment

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - With the death of King Abdullah, the throne of Saudi Arabia passed to another son of the country's founder as it has relatively smoothly for the past six decades. But it brings the oil-rich kingdom one step closer to a question that will test the unity of its royal family: Who in the next generation will reign?

Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, who united tribes and founded the kingdom that bears his name, had dozens of sons - possibly more than 50 - from multiple wives. Power has passed among them, from brother to brother, since his death in 1953.

Crown Prince Salman, Abdullah's half-brother, is now king.

But ranks of that generation, largely in their 70s and 80s, are thinning. Soon, the throne must go to the son of one those sons, potentially putting succession and power in the hands of one branch of the family at the expense of the others.

The health of Salman, 79, is uncertain. He suffered at least one stroke that has left him with limited movement in his left arm.

GOP pushes abortion curbs through House

WASHINGTON - With thousands of abortion protesters swarming the city in their annual March for Life, Republicans muscled broadened abortion restrictions through the House on Thursday after a GOP rebellion forced leaders into an awkward retreat on an earlier version.

By a near party-line 242-179 vote, the House voted to permanently forbid federal funds for most abortion coverage. The bill would also block tax credits for many people and employers who buy abortion coverage under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

A White House veto threat and an uncertain fate in the Senate mean the legislation has no realistic chance of becoming law. But on a day when crowds of anti-abortion demonstrators stretched for blocks outside Capitol windows - and hours after the embarrassing GOP stumble on another abortion measure - Thursday's vote let party leaders signal that the Congress they now command is at least trying to end abortion.

The GOP's passage of one bill and the abrupt derailment of another forbidding most late-term abortions underscored the party's perilous balancing act of backing abortion restrictions crucial to conservatives while not alienating women and younger voters wary of such restrictions.

U.S., Cuba end two days of historic talks

HAVANA - The United States and Cuba closed two days of historic talks in Havana with some progress toward restoring diplomatic ties after a half-century of estrangement, but sharp differences over the role of human rights in their new relationship.

"As a central element of our policy, we pressed the Cuban government for improved human rights conditions, including freedom of expression," said Roberta Jacobson, the top U.S. diplomat for Latin America and most senior American official to visit the island country in more than three decades. In Spanish, however, her statement said the U.S. "pressured" Cuba on the issue.

"Cuba has never responded to pressure," Josefina Vidal, Cuba's top diplomat for U.S. affairs, responded.

Japan faces deadline to free two captives

TOKYO - The deadline to pay ransom for two Japanese hostages of the Islamic State group was fast approaching Friday, as the mother of one of the captives appealed for her son's rescue.

With time running short, the mother of one of the hostages, 47-year-old journalist Kenji Goto, appealed for understanding and urged the government to help him.

"Time is running out. Please, Japanese government, save my son's life," said Junko Ishido, who described herself as an educator.

"My son is not an enemy of the Islamic State," she said in a tearful appearance in Tokyo.