Pakistan plans to release all Afghan Taliban prisoners still in its detention, including the group's former second-in-command, an official said on Friday, in the clearest signal yet that it backs reconciliation efforts. Regional power Pakistan is seen as critical to the success of U.S. and Afghan efforts to bring stability to Afghanistan, a task gaining urgency as the end of the U.S. combat mission in 2014 draws closer.

President Barack Obama took the official oath for his second term on Sunday at the White House in a small, private ceremony that set a more subdued tone compared to the historic start of his presidency four years ago. Gathered with his family in the Blue Room on the White House's ceremonial main floor, Obama put his hand on a family Bible and recited the 35-word oath that was read out loud by U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts.

President Barack Obama will take the oath of office for the third, fourth and final time this weekend during an inauguration celebration that kicks off his second term in a more muted tone than his historic swearing-in four years ago.

A Queens, N.Y. woman accused of pushing an Indian man to his death in front of a subway train because she believed he was Muslim has been found fit to stand trial.

– CHICAGO Republican Congressman Aaron Schock of Illinois congratulated Narendra Modi for leading an impressive electoral victory and becoming chief minister of Gujarat for the third consecutive time. Speaking on the floor of the House of Representatives on Jan. 4, Schock described Modi as a leader who has pushed “a platform of economic prosperity for all” and has two terms of proven results behind him.

– CHICAGO A federal judge on Jan. 17 sentenced a Chicago immigration consultant to 14 years in prison for his role in supporting the Pakistani terrorist group that worked with Pakistan's intelligence service to carry out the 2008 Mumbai attacks and plot a follow-up strike in Denmark.

A U.S. Marine accused of urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters and then posing for photographs, a scene captured in a widely circulated video on the Internet, is due to be tried by court martial on Wednesday at a North Carolina military base. Staff Sergeant Edward W. Deptola is among a group of Marines to face disciplinary action after the video, posted on YouTube and other websites in January 2012, showed four U.S.