WASHINGTON - In a White House news conference Wednesday, President Barack Obama again defended U.S. involvement in the NATO-led military operation in Libya and renewed a call for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to step down.
Reporters pressed Mr. Obama about his administration’s legal justifications for U.S. participation in the NATO military campaign, backed by a United […]
WASHINGTON - A new report issued by Brown University says the cost of America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - and operations in Pakistan - will cost the country nearly $4 trillion. The report’s total is more than three times higher than U.S. President Barack Obama’s estimate in a recent speech.
When Obama recently announced a […]
ATHENS - Greece is enduring the second day of a 48-hour general strike in protest of a new round of national austerity reforms.
New clashes took place Wednesday as lawmakers considered Prime Minister George Papandreou’s plan to raise taxes, cut government spending and sell state assets.
About 20,000 people had gathered Tuesday in Athens for initially peaceful […]
WASHINGTON - In U.S. politics, the Republican presidential contenders for 2012 continue to hammer away at President Barack Obama’s economic record. But some of the Republican candidates are also taking shots at the president’s foreign policy agenda.
The latest salvo on foreign policy came from former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty.
Pawlenty told the Council on Foreign Relations […]
TRIPOLI - Libya has dismissed arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for leader Moammar Gadhafi and two top lieutenants on war crimes charges linked to their suppression of an opposition uprising.
Justice Minister Mohammad al-Gamudi said Monday that Libya does not accept the legitimacy of the court.
The ICC issued the warrants earlier Monday against […]
WASHINGTON - Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann has formally launched her campaign for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination. Bachmann is not the best known Republican running for president for next year, but she does have a growing national following among conservative voters who are looking for an alternative to the current front runner, former Massachusetts governor […]
WASHINGTON - Judges at the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on Monday for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and two of his most trusted lieutenants on war crimes charges.
The decision came after ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo had asked for arrest warrants for Mr. Gadhafi, his son Seif al-Islam and the head of Libyan intelligence, Abdullah […]
WASHINGTON - The top surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge appeared in a Cambodian courtroom Monday at the beginning of their long-awaited trial for crimes against humanity.
The trial is the showcase event for the United Nations-backed war crimes tribunal, which was created to demonstrate impartial justice and foster healing in a country long divided by […]
WASHINGTON - On Monday, President Barack Obama will become directly involved in the stalled negotiations over the U.S. national debt amid debate over raising the federal borrowing limit. The president is expected to meet separately with the Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate, days after a key Republican lawmaker walked out of talks that […]
TRIPOLI - NATO officials have responded to Libyan claims that alliance forces struck a restaurant and bakery in the eastern city of Brega, killing 15 civilians, saying its aircraft hit “legitimate military targets.”
A spokesman for the NATO mission in Libya said Saturday that allied warplanes hit key command and control centers in the strategic port […]
BEIRUT - Hundreds of Syrians have fled across the border into neighboring Lebanon to escape escalating violence in their homeland.
A Lebanese security official said Saturday that up to 1,000 Syrians, at least six with gunshot wounds, have crossed into northern Lebanon over the past two days near the border town of Wadi Khaled. The injured […]
LOS ANGELES - Actor Peter Falk has died at the age of 83.
Falk is best known for his portrayal of the rumpled, seemingly slow-witted television detective Columbo, a role that earned him four Emmy awards.
One of Lieutenant Columbo’s trademarks was an ever-present, wrinkled raincoat that was plucked from Falk’s personal closet.
In 2006 Falk wrote a […]
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration announced Thursday that it is releasing 30 million barrels of oil from the United States’ emergency reserve to offset production lost because of the fighting in Libya. The U.S. oil will be about half of a 60 million barrel international release.
The United States and the other member nations of the […]
WASHINGTON - The commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan says President Barack Obama’s timetable for withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan is more “aggressive” than he and other military officers had counseled, but achievable without undue risks to U.S. objectives. General David Petraeus, Obama’s pick to be the next director of the Central Intelligence […]
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama plans to withdraw one-third of U.S. forces from Afghanistan by late 2012. The president said Wednesday the recent increase in troop strength is meeting its goals.
President Obama told a nationwide television audience he is beginning the effort to wind down one of America’s longest wars. “America, it is time to […]
WASHINGTON - The beginning of the expected drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan follows a steady decline in American public support for a war that has gone on for nearly 10 years.
When he ran for president in 2008, then candidate Barack Obama promised to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq, a war he opposed, and to […]
JERUSALEM - Israel has approved one of the largest housing projects the Gaza Strip has seen in years, authorizing the construction of 1,200 new homes and 18 schools in the impoverished Palestinian territory.
Military spokesman Guy Inbar said Tuesday that Israel had given the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which assists Palestinian refugees, the green […]
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Senate has confirmed Leon Panetta as defense secretary by a unanimous vote of 100 to nothing. The current director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Panetta will shift to the Pentagon, replacing outgoing Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Panetta’s already-impressive resume is about to get longer. The onetime congressman, White House chief of staff, […]
WASHINGTON - In U.S. politics, the Republican presidential field continues to expand in the lead up to the 2012 presidential election. The latest to join the race is former Utah governor Jon Huntsman, who until recently served as President Barack Obama’s ambassador to China.
Jon Huntsman is a former governor and diplomat who is little known […]
PARIS - France says it will begin proceedings to extradite former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega to his home country.
Noriega served 20 years in prison in the United States for drug trafficking, money laundering and racketeering before being extradited to France in 2010. He had been sentenced in absentia in 1999 to seven years in jail […]
BEIJING - China’s state-controlled media are warning Vietnam that Beijing will “take whatever measures necessary,” including military action, to protect its interests in the South China Sea.
The Global Times newspaper, in an editorial Tuesday, issued Beijing’s sternest public warning yet to Vietnam as regional tensions rise over conflicting maritime claims to territories thought to be […]
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration continues to defend the legality of U.S. military engagement in Libya, as a 90-day window for securing congressional approval of the operation expires.
Sunday marked 90 days since President Barack Obama notified Congress about the use of American military power in the skies over Libya - what is now a NATO-led […]
MIAMI - Clarence Clemons, the burly star saxophonist of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, died Saturday, six days after suffering a stroke following surgery. Clemons was 69.
His bandleader, Springsteen, announced on his website Clemons’ loss was “immeasurable.” Springsteen said “we are honored and thankful to have known him and had the opportunity to stand beside […]
TRIPOLI - Libyan officials say NATO bombed a residential neighborhood in the capital Sunday, killing at least five civilians, including children.
Journalists were taken to the Arada district of Tripoli where rescue operations were under way at a destroyed building.
Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim accused NATO of “intentional and deliberate targeting of civilian houses.” He said […]
