Death by Remote: But Is It Legal?

As the Barack Obama administration continues to roll out justifications for its policy of targeting U.S. citizens and others thought to be attacking U.S. troops, legal and national security experts are pondering a central question: What if there's a mistake and the wrong person gets killed?

Britain to Probe Collaboration with CIA Renditions

Breaking from President Barack Obama's insistence on "moving forward, not backward" in investigating U.S. detainee torture, the British government appears poised to investigate its own complicity with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in "rendering" British citizens and residents and subjecting them to "enhanced interrogation" techniques.

Anti-Immigrant State Laws Could Multiply, Obama Warns

U.S. President Barack Obama criticised "ill conceived" immigration laws in Arizona and called on Republicans to end their opposition to immigration reform and pass bipartisan immigration reform in speech delivered Thursday morning.

US-CUBA: Key Congressional Committee Votes to Lift Travel Ban

In a major victory for anti-embargo forces, a key Congressional committee voted here Wednesday to lift restrictions on travel by U.S. citizens to Cuba.

White House Low-Key on China-Pakistan Nuke Deal

Last week's meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in New Zealand brought statements of concern over China's planned nuclear deal with Pakistan, but U.S. State Department officials avoided taking a strong position on the deal when pressed by reporters this week.

Inspectors Call Afghan Police Tracking System a Failure

A system designed to track the success of Afghan police training is deeply flawed, says a report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan (SIGAR).

US-AFGHANISTAN: What Now?

Nearly a week after the abrupt demise of Washington's top commander in Afghanistan, U.S. strategy for reversing the flood of bad news that has been recently pouring out of that strife-torn country remains as unclear as ever.

U.S. Congress Approves Strong Unilateral Sanctions on Iran

Escalating Washington's growing confrontation with Iran, both houses of Congress Thursday approved a sweeping unilateral sanctions package designed to pressure Tehran into curbing its nuclear programme.

U.S.: Right-Wing Israel Lobby Riding High in Election Run-Up

Despite the growing international condemnation and isolation incurred by the government of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the right-wing leadership of the so-called "Israel Lobby" here is riding high in the U.S. Congress.

Switch to Petraeus Betrays Afghan Policy Crisis

Despite President Barack Obama's denial that his decision to fire Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal as commander in Afghanistan and replace him with Gen. David Petraeus signified any differences with McChrystal over war strategy, the decision obviously reflects a desire by Obama to find a way out of a deepening policy crisis in Afghanistan.

U.S. Private Security in Afghanistan “Pay Off Warlords, Taliban”

Every day, as many as 260 trucks filled with supplies for U.S. troops - from muffins to fuel to armoured tanks - are driven from the Pakistani port of Karachi across the Khyber pass into Afghanistan.

BOOKS-US: The More They Promise Change…

A year and a half into the presidency of Barack Obama, any hopes that he would usher in a dramatic rethinking of U.S. foreign policy have been more or less definitively dashed.

Canadian Rendition Probe Expands to U.S., Syria

The Canadian government has quietly been conducting an international criminal probe of the actions of Syrian and U.S. authorities in the case of Maher Arar, the Canadian who was arrested in 2002 by U.S. officials and then rendered to a Syrian jail where he was held incommunicado and tortured for 10 months before being released without charge, it was revealed Monday.

Peace Groups Slam High Court Ruling on “Terror Support”

In the wake of Monday's Supreme Court decision upholding a law making it a crime to provide any "material support" to an organisation designated as a "terrorist" by the U.S. government, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter charged that the law "actually threatens our work and the work of many other peacemaking organisations that must interact directly with groups that have engaged in violence".

Chinese Currency Concession Eases Pressure Ahead of Summit

China's central bank announced Saturday that it would give the Chinese Yuan (RMB) flexibility to gradually rise in value against the U.S. dollar in a move that was welcomed by Washington and designed to appease global leaders at this weekend's G20 meeting in Toronto.

Israeli Concessions on Gaza Fall Short of a New Policy

Israel's announcement Thursday that it would ease the restrictions on goods entering Gaza has been received by NGOs and the international community as a move in the right direction, but as not going far enough in lifting the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip.

Obama Still Globally Popular, But Doubts Grow in Muslim World

While U.S. President Barack Obama has largely retained huge popularity among most of the world's publics, disillusionment with his leadership appears to have set in throughout much of the Islamic world, according to the latest annual survey of global public opinion by the Washington-based Pew Research Centre released here Thursday.

Obama Vows Clean Energy Push, Green Groups Want Details

Despite the pleas of some conservative politicians that parallels should not be drawn between the oil spreading over the Gulf of Mexico and the need to transition out of a reliance on fossil fuels, U.S. President Barack Obama made it clear Tuesday night that he sees the race against the spreading oil as inherently connected to the race against a changing climate.

/CORRECTED REPEAT*/: U.S. Urged to Engage China on N. Korea Nukes

On a day when North Korea's World Cup team played its first match in South Africa - ending in a respectable two-one loss against powerhouse Brazil - a new report is suggesting that the White House engage in more active diplomacy to address the deterioration of regional attempts to persuade Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons programme.

U.S. High Court Derails Rendition Victim’s Lawsuit

The quest for justice for a Canadian who was mistakenly tagged as a terrorist by U.S. authorities and shipped off to a Syrian prison for close to a year of abuse came to an abrupt halt Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his case.

US-CHINA: Spring Thaw to Summer Squall

Earlier this spring, many here in Washington were hopeful that Chinese president Hu Jintao's attendance at the Nuclear Security Summit, the U.S. Treasury Department's decision to hold off on naming China as a "currency manipulator", and China's support of U.N. sanctions against Iran all pointed to a thaw in the cool relationship between the Barack Obama White House and Beijing.