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The Pentagon will maintain bans on women serving in most ground combat units, defense officials said Thursday, despite pressure from lawmakers and female veterans who called the restrictions outdated after a decade of war.

MEXICO CITY — The State Department advised Americans this week to defer “non-essential travel” to vast stretches of Mexico, warning that 14 of the country’s 31 states are so dangerous that visitors should avoid them if at all possible. For four other states, it counseled caution or extreme caution.

BEIJING — China’s Foreign Ministry confirmed Thursday that Wang Lijun, vice mayor of the sprawling southwestern city of Chongqing, spent one day at the U.S. Consulate in nearby Chengdu and that he is now under official investigation in a bizarre episode with potential bearing on China’s upcoming leadership transition.

BEIJING — On the eve of an official visit to Washington by Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, the country’s vice foreign minister in charge of U.S. affairs said the two countries suffer from a “trust deficit” that the trip might help resolve.

TEHRAN — Whenever Maysam, a prominent Iranian blogger, connects to the Internet from his office in the bazaar, he switches on a special connection that for years would bypass the Islamic republic’s increasingly effective firewall.

SEOUL — North Korea’s Ryugyong Hotel ranks among the world’s most remarkable — and mockable — buildings. It’s taller than New York’s Chrysler Building and wider at its base than an average city block. Constructed almost entirely of concrete, it looks like a rocket ship and casts a jagged shadow over Pyongyang’s gray vistas.

TOKYO — The U.S. military will probably scale back plans to build key bases in Japan and Guam because of political obstacles and budget pressures, according to U.S. and Japanese officials, complicating the Obama administration’s efforts to strengthen its troop presence in Asia.

The State Department has asked each component of the massive U.S. diplomatic mission in Baghdad to analyze how a 25 percent cut would affect operations, part of a rapidly moving attempt to save money and establish what a top official on Wednesday called “a more normalized embassy presence.”

Al-Qaeda’s glossy online magazine, Inspire, hasn’t been seen since its creators were killed in a U.S. drone strike last fall, but the terrorist group’s loyalists aren’t the only ones lamenting its demise.

A report by House Republicans criticizes both the Bush and Obama administration for policies that led to the transfer of detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba who later reengaged in terrorism or the insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Five months after Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was targeted in a CIA drone strike, a Democratic senator is lambasting the Obama administration for not providing Congress with the legal basis for the killing of the U.S. citizen.

In his first extended public appearance as CIA director, David H. Petraeus this week did more than display his well-known discipline for staying on message. He did his best to bring other government voices back on message as well.

The death of Kim Jong Il and ascension of his son Kim Jong Eun put a spotlight on secretive North Korea as it mourned its Dear Leader and welcomed another.

The changes in the country highlighted something else: indications that the reclusive country may be becoming more open to outsiders.

When Thomas Erdbrink, The Washington Post’s correspondent in Tehran, logs on to the Internet in Iran, he never knows whether Gmail and Google Reader, The Post or Facebook will open for him. Increasingly, this is the error message he sees instead of the page he was trying to reach:

Hamza Kashgari had no idea the firestorm sending out a few candid tweets about the prophet Muhammad would cause.

The Saudi blogger, reflecting last week on the upcoming anniversary of the prophet’s birth, wrote, in part: “On your birthday, I will say that I have loved the rebel in you, that you’ve always been a source of inspiration to me, and that I do not like the halos of divinity around you. I shall not pray for you.”

A day after Maldives president Mohammed Nasheed was forced to resign his office, reportedly at gunpoint, an arrest warrant has been issued for the deposed leader. Fresh protests are expected to follow.

Who thinks a joke about violence against women is funny?

It appears the editors of the Delhi edition of the Times of India do. In the paper with the largest English-language circulation in the world, a joke appeared this morning about singer Chris Brown’s infamous assault charges:

BERLIN — Stuck between looming bankruptcy and a flatlined economy, Greek politicians agreed Thursday to make a sweeping series of cuts that they hope will secure an international bailout, layering more pain onto what is already a deep recession.