U.S. Closes Diplomatic Posts Amid Terror Threat Top news: Amid what American security officials are vaguely describing as high levels of terrorist "chatter," nineteen American diplomatic posts throughout the Middle East and Africa will stay closed this week. Likening the intercepted electronic communication to what was heard prior to the attacks of Sept. 11, American officials say that there are clear indications an attack is coming, but where that attack may occur remains unknown. "High-level people from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula are talking about a major attack," Rep. "Dutch" Ruppersberger of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence committee, told ABC. The good news is that we've picked up intelligence. Others in Congress are less enthused about the embassy closures and argue that they represent a victory for anti-American groups. "Terrorism works -- because we're closing all of our embassies and consulates on one day," said said Rep. Ted Poe, the chairman of the House's terrorism and nonproliferation panel. We'd rather be safe than have somebody hurt but the long term answer is every time someone gets information, we can't shut them all down all over the world. Credit for detecting the attack, according to members of Congress appearing on Sunday talk shoes, belongs to the embattled National Security Agency. Zimbabwe: Amid widespread allegations of voter fraud, Robert Mugabe, the man who has ruled Zimbabwe with an iron fist since defeating the country's white rulers in 1980, secured 61 percent of the vote in his country's presidential election, dealing a massive defeat to the country's struggling opposition movement. With peace talks set to begin next week, the Israeli cabinet approved a set of subsidies for settlements on land seized in the 1967 war, a move that one PLO official called a "confidence-destruction measure." At a ceremony marking the beginning of his term in office, newly minted Iranian President Hassan Rouhani vowed to work with the international community to lift sanctions and to focus his attention on the country's stuggling economy. Secretary of State John Kerry recommended that Robert Ford, the current U.S. envoy to Syria, be appointed the next ambassador to Egypt. Facing an aging society and a potential labor shortage in years ahead, Chinese officials are considering changing the country's one-child policy. Kevin Rudd kicked off his campaign to be re-elected Australia's prime minister with a message focused on the economy. The two main parties in Cambodia's disputed election agreed to a joint commission to investigate irregularities, but the opposition then backed out of an organizing meeting amid concerns the commission remains controlled by the ruling party. Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, fresh off a tax fraud conviction and visibly shaken, said Sunday that his party would continue to support Italy's coalition government. The former head of Turkey's army was sentenced to life in prison for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government in a trial that includes some 270 defendants. With a new poll showing that Germany's three main opposition parties could together unseat Chancellor Angela Merkel, the leader of the country's Left party urged the Social Democrats to lift their ban on an alliance. Honduras ordered the military to take over the country's main prison near Tegucigalpa after three inmates died in a riot. A group of 25 Brazilian police officers were handed stiff jail sentences for their role in a 1992 jailhouse massacre that left 111 prisoners dead. Legal same-sex marriages will begin in Uruguay today, some four months after a measure passed Congress legalizing the unions. A long-delayed commission began investigating claims of corruption in a 1999 arms deal in South Africa. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was forced to return to Khartoum after his plane was denied permission to cross Saudi airspace. A U.S. jury recommended a life sentence for three men involved in the killing of four Americans off the coast of Africa.