U.S.-EGYPT: Obama Looking Beyond Mubarak

With new anti-government demonstrations expected in Cairo and other Egyptian cities Tuesday, the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama appears to have concluded that the 29- year reign of President Hosni Mubarak is coming to an end.

EGYPT-U.S.: Washington Struggles to Catch Up

With tens of thousands of demonstrators still milling around the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities Friday night, the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama was struggling to come up with a policy response to an uprising that may be on the verge of ousting Washington's most important ally in the Arab world.

U.S.: Spate of Trade Deals Move Toward Passage

On the heels of U.S. President Barack Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday in which he focused squarely on resuscitating the economy, pressure is mounting in the nation's capital to move forward with free trade agreements (FTAs) whose passage would promote exports and create jobs.

EGYPT: Mubarak to Dissolve Govt in Wake of Mass Protests

After a day in which thousands of protesters called for his ouster and clashed with security forces, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced on state television after midnight Friday that he was dismantling the current government immediately and will announce a replacement cabinet on Saturday.

U.S.-MIDEAST: Obama Riding a Tiger

Suddenly faced with an unprecedented number of challenges across the Arab world, the administration of President Barack Obama is scrambling hard to keep up.

U.S.: Life Sentence for Embassy Bomber Praised by Rights Groups

In the first successful prosecution of a Guantanamo detainee handled entirely by civilian courts, a federal judge Tuesday sentenced Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani to life in prison without parole for his role in the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people and injured hundreds of others.

U.S.: Republican “Budget Hawks” Zero in on Foreign Aid

With the U.S. national debt standing at 14 trillion dollars, the Barack Obama administration pledging to tackle the monstrous deficit and a Republican-led House of Representatives pushing for a "Cut-and-Grow" Congress, budget hawks are zeroing in on international affairs spending - from diplomacy to development.

IRAN: Istanbul Talks Prove to Be a Non-Starter

Prospects for a negotiated solution of the world's nuclear quarrel with Iran are cloudier in the aftermath of talks in Istanbul that ended without even an agreement to meet again.

Report Condemns Widespread Tolerance for Torturers

The international community - from Western authorities to Southern powers - lacks courage and hides behind "soft diplomacy" in confronting human rights abusers, a leading rights group accuses in a 649-page world report released Monday.

Palestine Papers Cause More Heartburn in Washington

The exposure by Al Jazeera and London's Guardian newspaper of a huge cache of documents detailing Palestinian accounts of a decade of peace negotiations with Israel could deal a lethal blow to U.S. efforts to get a credible process back on track, according to experts here.

US-IRAN: Glimmer of Hope on Eve of New Nuclear Talks

While expectations for any major breakthroughs in the latest round of talks between Iran and the major powers are virtually nonexistent, the two-day meeting that begins Friday in Istanbul could help ease growing tensions over Iran's nuclear programme.

Three-Day Summit Cements US-China Frenemy Status

On the tail end of Chinese leader Hu Jintao's three-day visit to the U.S. capital, observers are cautiously pleased with what they see as a constructive summit between the two nation's leaders, but eager to see whether this week's promises will translate into tangible results.

Greybeards Urge U.S. not to Veto U.N. Anti-Settlement Resolution

Some four dozen former top U.S. diplomats and prominent policy analysts are urging President Barack Obama not to veto a proposed U.N. Security Council resolution that is expected to reaffirm the illegality of Jewish settlements in the Occupied Territories.

Billion-dollar Boeing Fence on U.S.-Mexico Border Canceled

One billion dollars and just over four years after Boeing won a contract to build a "virtual fence" on the Arizona-Mexico border, the high-tech project was canceled last week by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) amid widespread recognition that it has been a failure.

Clinton Raises Curtain for Upcoming Hu-Obama Summit

Ahead of a key bilateral summit between U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese leader Hu Jintao, which begins here Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a sweeping China-U.S. policy speech Friday, setting the tone for next week's meet.

U.S.-TUNISIA: Obama Applauds People, Urges Calm

Several hours after Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali fled his country in the face of massive protests, U.S. President Barack Obama applauded "the courage and dignity of the Tunisian people" and appealed for calm and "free and fair elections in the near future".

India Gathers Military Might

Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev signed a large number of contracts with India during a two-day visit to New Delhi in December. These deals were part of a series of agreements that have placed India in progressively more advantageous positions in global arms markets.

Lebanese Gov’t Collapse Adds to Obama Problems

Wednesday's collapse of the government of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri adds to the growing list of challenges faced by the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama across the Middle East.

Wikileak Cables Reveal China’s Modernising Military Might

A Wikileaked January 2009 diplomatic cable from the United States' Beijing embassy forecasting the next three decades of U.S.-China relations warned of the Asian giant's "rapid military modernisation".

Sanctions Forced Iran to Slash Bloated Energy Subsidies

Touring Iran's Arab rivals this week, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sounded almost triumphant as she asserted that economic sanctions have helped slow Tehran's nuclear progress.

Defence Contractors Insulated from Budget Cuts

In one of U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower's most remembered speeches, he warned against "the acquisition of unwarranted influence" resulting from the close brotherhood between the country's defence agencies, Capitol Hill and private business interests.