WASHINGTON - The commander who oversees U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan has cited progress in both places, but also warned of uncertain times ahead. General David Petraeus appeared in Washington Tuesday before the U.S. Senate’s Armed Services Committee.
General Petraeus says the recent operation in and around the town of Marjah in Afghanistan’s Helmand […]

WASHINGTON - The United States is asking Israel to take steps to restore confidence in the Mideast peace process after Israel’s controversial announcement last week on new Jewish housing in East Jerusalem.  U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell is expected to visit the region this week.
A senior State Department official says Secretary of State Hillary […]

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration continues to blast Israel’s announcement it will build new housing in disputed East Jerusalem.  VOA reports from Washington on the uncharacteristically blunt language that continues to flow between the United States and Israel.
Days have passed since Israel announced its intention to build 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem during a […]

WASHINGTON - The U.S. State Department’s annual report on human rights world-wide issued Thursday cited an upsurge in efforts to restrict access to the Internet and other new communications means, and escalating persecution of vulnerable minorities. The report was sharply critical of the rights performance of several countries including China, North Korea and Iran.
The massive […]

WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the United States is preparing an extensive aid package for Chile after Saturday’s powerful earthquake that killed more than 700 people and displaced an estimated two million.  Clinton made a brief stop in Santiago to meet with Chile’s president, who has pledged swift delivery of food […]

WASHINGTON - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday that the Obama administration remains committed to the nuclear test ban treaty and efforts to stop the spread of atomic weapons.  But, Biden stressed that the United States will not disarm unilaterally.
Ten months ago, President Barack Obama called for international action to create a world without […]

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama says the government will guarantee more than $8 billion in loans to help build the first new American nuclear power plant in decades.  The project is expected to produce roughly 4000 new jobs.
The president says clean, safe nuclear power is vital to the nation’s future. “To meet our growing […]

WASHINGTON - The White House says U.S. President Barack Obama would consider a military trial for five men charged with planning the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.  Republicans and Democrats are criticizing the administration’s decision to hold the trial in a civilian court in New York.
 
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder decided last year that the […]

WASHINGTON - The United States is targeting affiliates of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps with new sanctions designed to curtail the activities of individuals and companies involved in Iran’s nuclear and missile program.
The U.S. Treasury Department announced Wednesday it is freezing the assets of Revolutionary Guard General Rostam Qasemi and four subsidiaries of a construction company […]

WASHINGTON - The second major snowstorm to hit Washington, D.C in less than a week  has buried legislative action on Capitol Hill, with the House of Representatives canceling its voting schedule for the week, and the Senate postponing hearings and votes set for Wednesday.  Plans by Democratic lawmakers to quickly pass a jobs creation bill […]

WASHINGTON - Representative John Murtha, a key pro-defense Democrat who during 36 years in the U.S. House of Representatives became one of the most powerful members of Congress, died on Monday at age 77 of complications from surgery.  We offer this look at Murtha’s long and often controversial career, particularly the last years of his […]

BOSTON - An immigration hearing has taken place for U.S. President Barack Obama’s Kenyan aunt, who is seeking asylum in the United States.
Zeituni Onyango testified for two and-a-half hours Thursday at an immigration court in Boston, Massachusetts, asking that she be allowed to remain in the country.
Two doctors also testified in support of her case, […]

WASHINGTON - A top Republican in the U.S. Senate is questioning the Obama administration’s treatment of the man arrested in connection with the attempted bombing of a U.S. airliner last month.
In Saturday’s weekly Republican address, Senator Susan Collins expressed her shock and disbelief that federal investigators spent only 50 minutes questioning bombing suspect Umar Farouk […]

WASHINGTON - People in the Middle East were watching closely as U.S. President Barack Obama gave his annual State of the Union address, setting out his domestic and foreign policy agenda. 
For Israelis and Palestinians, it is not what President Obama said in his State of the Union address, but what he did not say. 
Mr. Obama […]

NEW YORK - Residents living in Lower Manhattan have urged the U.S. Justice Department to change its plans to bring the five accused plotters of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks to New York for trial in a civilian court.  The group believes holding the trial in their neighborhood will bring unwanted security concerns and […]

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court issued a long-awaited decision on campaign finance laws Thursday that opens the way for corporations and labor unions to have an even greater impact on the U.S. elections process. 
A sharply divided Supreme Court, by a vote of five to four, struck down campaign finance laws going back decades that […]

NEW YORK - A search and rescue team from New York City’s police and fire departments will be helping with disaster relief in Haiti. The highly trained group will be searching for survivors in the rubble of buildings leveled by Tuesday’s 7.0 earthquake.
The 80-member crew will arrive soon in Haiti (Friday night). The force, called […]

WASHINGTON - Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and several other Republican senators held a news conference at the Capitol in Washington after returning from a trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan.  They said U.S. and NATO forces are making progress in Afghanistan, but that U.S. military leaders and troops are confused by Obama administration policies aimed […]

WASHINGTON - As U.S. President Barack Obama prepares to start his second year in office, national security has jumped to the top of his priority list in the wake of the failed bombing attempt aboard a U.S. jetliner on Christmas Day.  Our national correspondent has more on what is becoming a crowded ‘to-do’ list for […]

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator John McCain says the Nigerian accused of attempting to blow up a Detroit-bound U.S. airliner on Christmas Day (December 25) should be tried as an enemy combatant in a military court.
McCain told CNN Sunday that giving the man the right to an American lawyer that could help him legally withhold damaging […]

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama says the United States will take steps to ensure the intelligence and security failures that led to the Christmas Day attempted attack on a Detroit-bound airliner do not happen again.  The president says ultimately, responsibility for the nation’s security rests with him.
President Obama says no one person or agency […]

WASHINGTON - U.S. human rights groups have criticized President Barack Obama’s decision to halt the transfer of detainees to Yemen from a U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Mr. Obama suspended the repatriation of Yemeni detainees Tuesday because of what he called an “unsettled” security situation in Yemen. Some U.S. lawmakers had expressed concern that freed […]

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama said this week that his administration has to do a better job of dealing with terrorism threats in the wake of the failed Christmas Day bomb plot aboard a commercial flight en route to Detroit.  Opposition Republicans have been critical of the administration’s handling of the incident, and political […]

WASHINGTON - After nearly 30 years as a U.S. senator from Connecticut, Christopher Dodd says he will not run for re-election later this year.
Speaking from his Connecticut home Wednesday, Dodd said he made the decision two weeks ago, and admitted he was, in his words, in the toughest shape of his political career.
He also cited […]