“New Egypt” the Wild Card in Stalled Mideast Peace Process

The ability of the United States to broker a successful Palestinian-Israeli peace agreement will hinge on the future of Israeli-Egyptian relations, a panel of experts at the Palestinian Centre argued here Thursday.

U.S.: Neo-Con Hawks Take Flight over Libya

In a distinct echo of the tactics they pursued to encourage U.S. intervention in the Balkans and Iraq, a familiar clutch of neo-conservatives appealed Friday for the United States and NATO to "immediately" prepare military action to help bring down the regime of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and end the violence that is believed to have killed well over a thousand people in the past week.

U.S. Lays Out Sanctions on Libya as “First Step”

As the bloodshed of protestors in Libya continues unabated for the eighth day in a row, the White House took its strongest stance against Muammar Gaddafi's regime Friday, announcing that the United States will impose unilateral sanctions and has suspended its embassy operations in the oil-producing country.

U.S.: Environment Agency Moves to Regulate Carbon Dioxide

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has begun the initial stages of a process that may lead to the federal agency's first regulations to limit emissions of carbon dioxide from power plants and oil refineries.

LIBYA: Obama Says U.S. Considering “Full Range of Options”

As more Libyan towns and cities fell to anti-government forces Wednesday, U.S. President Barack Obama said Washington is preparing "the full range of options" to respond to the ongoing violence in the oil-rich North African state.

LIBYA-U.S.: Obama Ally Calls for Regime Change

As Libyan strongman Muammar Al-Gaddafi vowed to hang on to power, a close Congressional ally of U.S. President Barack Obama Tuesday called for an end to his regime.

Bill Would Aid Afghan Women Caught in U.S.-led War

As conflict continues to rage in Afghanistan, the U.S. Congress is gearing up to debate a bill that could support the country's long-oppressed women in their struggle to achieve gender equality, even in the years after the U.S. military occupation ends.

U.S. House Pushes Through Deep Aid Cuts

With a 2015 deadline fast approaching to meet a collective global promise to tackle poverty and improve education, health and environmental sustainability around the world, development and humanitarian advocates are up in arms over conservative lawmakers' proposals to slash and burn entire chunks of the United States' foreign aid budget.

MIDEAST: U.S. Vetoes Settlement Freeze

Amid unprecedented political ferment in the Arab world, the United States used its veto Friday to block a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israel's continuing annexation of Palestinian territory and calling for a freeze on settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Mideast Crackdown Puts U.S. Democracy Line to the Test

As popular protests escalated in some restive Arab countries Friday, U.S. President Barack Obama criticised the regime- sanctioned blood- letting of innocent demonstrators mobilising against government corruption and repression.

U.S.: Women’s Health in Crosshairs of Republican Congress

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are seeking to eliminate the federal family planning programme and cut funding from Planned Parenthood, one of the country's leading providers of reproductive health care to low-income women.

Residents of Razed Afghan Village Dispute U.S. Case for Destruction

The commander of U.S.-NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, Maj. Gen. James Terry, asserted last month that the homes systematically destroyed by U.S. forces across three districts of Kandahar province as part of Operation Dragon Strike in October and November "were abandoned, empty and wired with ingenious arrays of bombs".

BAHRAIN: U.S. Faces New Test Over State Violence

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Thursday expressed "deep concerns" about the deadly attack on hundreds of sleeping anti-government protestors carried out by Bahrain's security forces at a central square in the capital, Manama, Wednesday night.

Dead Peace Process Could be “National Suicide” for Israel

The U.N. Security Council is poised to vote this week on a new resolution condemning Israeli expansion into the Occupied Palestinian Territories and calling for an immediate freeze on settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, but the United States has already declared its intention to again deploy its veto power.

As Talks Stall with Iran, U.S. Steps Up Propaganda War

Egypt's revolution appears to have stiffened the spine of the Barack Obama administration when it comes to Iran.

Axe Descends on U.S. Overseas Aid

With U.S. President Barack Obama's release of his Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 foreign affairs budget Monday and a proposal currently in the U.S. House of Representatives for massive cuts in FY 2011 international spending, the fight to sustain U.S. aid abroad is intensifying.

EGYPT-U.S.: Revolution or Coup?

Four days after the stunning departure of Hosni Mubarak from the presidential palace in Cairo, analysts here are still trying to determine whether his ouster represents a revolution heralding the advent of democratic governance or a coup d'etat staged by the already-dominant military.

Obama AIDS Plan Stumbles over Funding

When U.S. President Barack Obama raised the curtain on a six- year, six-billion-dollar Global Health Initiative (GHI) in May 2009, he appeared to be embarking on the path of promises that paved the way to his election victory earlier that year.

US-SUDAN: Priorities Shift to Mounting Violence in Darfur

As peace negotiations over Sudan's Darfur region come to a close in Doha, Qatar and a number of issues related to last month's referendum remain unresolved, several Washington-based advocacy groups have warned against the pitfalls of losing focus on a comprehensive peace agreement for Darfur.

Efforts to Demobilise Uganda’s LRA Not Enough, Says Report

The rebel group that terrorised Ugandan civilians for more than two decades, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), could continue to haunt the people of Central Africa if the Ugandan government fails to properly support demobilisation efforts, according to a new report released Monday.

Deferring to Petraeus, NIE Failed to Register Taliban Growth

Despite evidence that the Taliban insurgency had grown significantly in 2010, the U.S. intelligence community failed to revise its estimate for Taliban forces as part of a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Afghanistan in December.