WASHINGTON - Just four months after his inauguration for a second four-year term, President Barack Obama finds himself on the defensive in three controversies that threaten to derail his political agenda. Obama may be on the verge of joining a long list of his predecessors who ran into severe political problems in their second terms […]

WASHINGTON — A former U.S. diplomat in Libya who says more could have been done to protect Americans at the U.S. mission in Benghazi when it was attacked last September will be a featured witness on Wednesday during a congressional hearing.
 Gregory Hicks, deputy chief of mission in Libya at the time of the attack, will […]

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto both say they will work together to further integrate their countries’ economies, and to fight cross-border crime. The two leaders met Thursday in Mexico City.
 After their meeting, President Obama said he and Pena Nieto are working to further bolster an economic relationship that […]

WASHINGTON - After the U.S. Senate Wednesday defeated a bill to require gun buyers to pass expanded background checks, President Barack Obama angrily blamed a minority of senators and gun owners groups for the setback. Both the president and the families of shooting victims vowed to continue fighting.
 
 In a highly unusual move, President Obama allowed […]

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama has vowed to bring to justice to whoever was responsible for the explosions in Boston Monday that killed at least two people and wounded many others. 
 President Obama says he has directed the full resources of the federal government to help state and local authorities protect Americans, as an investigation continues […]

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama called Friday for $21 billion in public and private investment in roads, bridges and other public projects.  The president is aiming to reassure Americans that he remains focused on the economic recovery.
 
 President Obama said rebuilding infrastructure, with the help of private investment, is one of the best ways to put […]

WASHINGTON - The United States is strengthening ground-based missile defenses after threats by North Korea against South Korea and the United States. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke with reporters in Washington.
 Fourteen interceptors capable of destroying ballistic missiles in flight will be added to an existing West Coast defense system.
 North Korea conducted its third nuclear test […]

WASHINGTON - For years, the United States has used drone aircraft to attack suspected terrorists in other nations.  Now, America’s top law enforcement official has not entirely ruled out a president ordering drone strikes on U.S. soil. 
 Attorney General Eric Holder testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee amid a firestorm on Capitol Hill over presidential authority […]

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration has unveiled a new strategy to help protect American companies from economic espionage and thefts of trade secrets, an issue linked to intensified concerns about cyber espionage.
 Trade secret theft and intensifying cyber attacks targeting U.S. industrial and technological sectors are closely intertwined.  President Obama says they threaten the U.S. economy […]

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama has urged Congress to delay automatic spending cuts set for March 1.
 Speaking at the White House Tuesday, the president called on lawmakers to quickly pass a package of limited spending cuts and tax reforms until they can come up with a “smarter solution” to the nation’s debt problems. 
 Obama acknowledged […]

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama is to highlight immigration proposals Tuesday, after a bipartisan group of U.S. senators unveiled an immigration reform plan Monday that includes a path to citizenship for those in the country illegally.
 Obama will speak in Nevada, a state among the most-affected by immigration.
 Senior administration officials say the president will not introduce […]

WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says last September’s attack on the U.S. mission in the Libyan city of Benghazi is part of wider terrorist insecurity across North Africa. Clinton made the remarks during testimony Wednesday before Congress on the attack that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens.
 Clinton […]

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama is taking aim at gun violence with a comprehensive set of proposals expected to ignite a political fight with pro-gun groups and their supporters.
 Obama called keeping children safe “our first task as a society,” adding that if even one life can be saved by reducing gun violence, it is […]

WASHINGTON - After a dramatic day of unexpected twists and turns, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed the Senate compromise bill to avert massive tax increases and severe cuts to government spending known as the fiscal cliff.
 Earlier in the day, passage of the measure seemed in doubt, when House Republicans complained bitterly about the […]

WASHINGTON - An independent U.S. panel investigating the September 11 attack in Libya that resulted in the deaths of four Americans has concluded that security at the mission in Benghazi was “grossly inadequate.”
 The Accountability Review Board said senior-level “systematic failures and management deficiencies” within two State Department bureaus led to a security posture that was […]

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama says he and parents across the country are feeling overwhelming grief over the mass school shooting Friday that killed children and school staff in the northeastern state of Connecticut.
 
Obama, visibly upset and wiping tears from his eye as he spoke at the White House, said most of the victims […]

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Senate has voted down a United Nations treaty that supporters say is intended to safeguard the rights and improve the treatment of disabled people around the world.  The Senate did not muster the two-thirds majority needed to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which was signed by […]

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Senate has unanimously approved an amendment that reaffirms Washington’s commitment to Japan in its territorial dispute with China over islands in the East China Sea.
 
 The measure was attached Thursday to the National Defense Authorization Bill for Fiscal Year 2012, which is still being debated in the Senate - the upper body […]

WASHINGTON - The United States says a conference on banning nuclear weapons in the Middle East will not be held because of current conditions in the region.
 
The announcement comes amid a flare up in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza, civil war in Syria and an unsettled political situation in Egypt.
 
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said […]

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama is using his first trip abroad since winning re-election to push for renewed U.S. interests on trade and economic development in Asia.
But some critics are urging the president to press Asian countries on human-rights abuses.
In Phnom Penh, where Obama arrived late Monday to meet with leaders from the 10-member […]

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama has won a second four-year term as president of the United States.  The Democratic incumbent defeated Republican Mitt Romney in Tuesday’s U.S. presidential election.
America’s first African-American president won more than the 270 electoral votes he needed to secure four more years in the White House.
After clinching the victory, Obama told a […]

WASHINGTON - In their final debate before the November 6 U.S. presidential election, President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney battled over foreign policy issues, including the U.S. response to Syria’s civil war, Iran’s nuclear program, and defense spending. 
The 90 minute encounter was Governor Romney’s chance to put to rest doubts about his ability […]

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney faced off Tuesday in the second of three nationally televised debates. This forum contained far more confrontation than the first, with the candidates occasionally lapsing into arguments.
 
With his poll numbers fading after a listless performance in the first debate, President Obama was far more […]

WASHINGTON - Voters think former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney was the winner in Wednesday’s U.S. presidential debate, according to two overnight polls.
 
A CNN poll of 430 registered voters said 67 percent of respondents believe Romney won the debate, compared to only 25 percent who said President Barack Obama, a Democrat, came out on top.
 
A CBS […]