Washington Post

My older son was so excited when the Israeli bombing raids began. “Fireworks!” yelled Rami, 4. “No,” big sister Maryam, 6, replied. “That is fire-bombing.” “No, it’s fireworks, but a little bit different from what we used to see in Germany,” he replied as Hasan, 2, took everything in, wide-eyed and terrified.

BERLIN — Before the start of a pro-Palestinian rally — one of the scores being staged almost daily here since Israel launched its offensive in Gaza — an organizer on a bullhorn yelled out the do’s and don’ts as ordered last week by the Berlin police.

A simple blood test could determine a person’s risk of suicide and provide a future tool of prevention to stem suicide rates. In a study published online Wednesday in the American Journal of Psychiatry, researchers say they have discovered a genetic indicator of a person’s vulnerability to the effects of stress and anxiety and, therefore, the risk of suicidal thoughts or attempts.

RICHMOND — The wheeling-and-dealing Richmond businessman at the center of the corruption case against former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell and his wife stepped into public view Wednesday with a pivotal assertion: For $65,000, he testified, Maureen McDonnell said she would help his company, with her husband’s blessing.

House Republicans voted to proceed with a lawsuit against President Obama on Wednesday, saying that his executive actions are so extreme that they violate the Constitution. The nearly party-line vote — all Democrats voted against it, and all but five Republicans voted for it — further agitated an already polarized climate on Capitol Hill as both parties used the pending suit to try to rally support ahead of the November elections.

In many ways, the mere act of unveiling artifacts from the collection of James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, starts to make things real funky up in the National Museum of African American History and Culture offices.

Three years after Western powers helped Libyan rebels overthrow dictator Moammar Gaddafi, they have at least temporarily abandoned efforts on the ground to bolster Libya’s foundering democracy.

GAZA CITY — United Nations officials accused Israel of violating international law after artillery shells slammed into a school overflowing with evacuees Wednesday, an attack that Palestinian and U.N. officials said killed at least 20 people and wounded dozens as they slept.

KABUL — Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s cousin, Hashmat Khalil Karzai, was killed at his residence by a suicide bomber on Tuesday in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province, officials said. The bomber, a 16-year-old boy, detonated explosives hidden in his turban while embracing Hashmat Karzai as part of special greetings for the Eid al-Fitr Muslim holiday at Karzai’s home in Karz district of Kandahar, they said.

America's thirst for alcohol might know no boundaries, but certain parts of the country do seem especially parched.