RIGHTS: U.N. Revisits U.S. Policies on Racial Profiling

Millions of U.S. citizens continue to face discrimination at the hands of police and other law enforcement agencies just because they are not white, although the country's new leader in the White House is himself of African descent on his father's side.

HONDURAS: Obama Declares Coup "Not Legal" Amid Uncertainty

Capping a day of mixed signals, U.S. President Barack Obama said late Monday that he considered Sunday's ouster and exile of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to be "not legal" and that Washington still considered him the legitimate president of the Central American country.

POLITICS: Obama Still Buoyed by Extraordinary Global Popularity

Six months into his new job as president of the United States, Barack Obama inspires more public confidence than any other political leader, said a new WorldPublicOpinion.org (WPO) poll released here Monday.

POLITICS-US: Playing the Hawk with North Korea

If the Obama administration needed a rogue nation to demonstrate its foreign policy resolve, central casting couldn't have supplied a better candidate than North Korea. The government in Pyongyang routinely promises to unleash destruction of biblical proportions on its enemies. It has pulled out of international agreements, such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). It has sentenced two U.S. journalists to 12 years of hard labour on the charge of violating its borders. And after conducting two nuclear tests, it now declares itself a nuclear power.

RIGHTS-US: Obama to Approve Indefinite Detentions

As President Barack Obama struggles with the political backlash from a Congress determined to keep Guantanamo terrorism suspects out of the U.S., his administration is reportedly preparing an executive order that would give him authority to hold prisoners indefinitely without trial, according to weekend media reports.

US-IRAN: “Obama Effect” Versus “Freedom Agenda”

Two weeks after allegations of fraud in Iran’s presidential elections triggered massive and instantly-iconic protests, partisans here of President Barack Obama and his predecessor, George W. Bush, are debating whose policies deserve more credit for encouraging the Iranian mobilisation.

POLITICS: U.S. to Name Ambassador to Damascus after Four Years

After informing the Syrian embassy in Washington on Tuesday night, the U.S. State Department announced on Wednesday that President Barack Obama will be sending an ambassador to Damascus for the first time since 2005.

POLITICS-US: Obama "Appalled" by Iran Repression

Facing a growing chorus of Republican criticism to speak out more forcefully on Iran's disputed election results, the U.S. president made his harshest statement yet Tuesday, condemning Iran's leadership for its violent crackdown on protesters.

U.S.: Neo-Cons, Republicans Paint Obama as Weak on “Rogues”

In what appears increasingly to be an orchestrated campaign, right-wing Republicans and Israel-centred neo-conservatives are pulling out all the stops in depicting President Barack Obama as "weak" on national security and promoting democracy abroad.

POLITICS-US: Obama’s Right Turn

Human rights and open government advocates were heartened by President Barack Obama's pledge during his first week in office to create "an unprecedented level of openness in government" and "establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration".

US-MIDEAST: Carter Adds Weight to Shuttle Diplomacy Push

Pres. Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and peace envoy Sen. George Mitchell have been moving steadily ahead with the campaign Obama launched on his first day in the White House, to broker a comprehensive and sustainable Arab-Israeli peace.

US-IRAN: Electoral Chaos Energises Neoconservative Hawks

As U.S. President Barack Obama attempts to navigate the treacherous currents of the ongoing political crisis in Iran, he faces a heated attack on his right flank from neo-conservatives and other right-wing hawks, who are urging him both to offer unequivocal support to the protesters supporting moderate presidential candidate Mir Hossein Moussavi and to scuttle his planned diplomatic engagement with Tehran.

POLITICS: Will “Changed” Iran Complicate U.S. Engagement?

As uncertainty persists about the results of the Iranian election last Friday, the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama remains quiet on just exactly what the next tack will be on engaging the Islamic Republic, which experts say is entering a new and unknown period in its history.

POLITICS: India Takes Security Concerns to Shanghai Summit

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s participation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit at Yekaterinburg Tuesday appears to have been motivated chiefly by the security environment in the region shaping up around Washington’s ‘AfPak’ policy.

U.S.: Govt Report Calls for Swift Action to Avoid Climate Chaos

Fiercer heat waves and wildfires in the U.S. western states, bigger storm surges along the country’s coasts, and disruptions to energy, water and transportation systems are just some of the expected impacts of climate change, according to a new White House report that marks the first scientific statement from the Barack Obama administration acknowledging that the problem is already directly impacting U.S. citizens.

KOREAS: Obama Affirms Alliance with South Amid Rising Tensions

Amid rising tensions with North Korea, U.S. President Barack Obama Tuesday assured visiting South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak that Washington was firmly committed to their nearly 60-year alliance and their mutual determination not to yield to Pyongyang's demands that it be recognised as a nuclear power.

ZIMBABWE: Tsvangirai Gets Obama’s Seal of Approval

Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai received U.S. President Barack Obama's seal of approval and a promise of 73 million dollars in education, health, and governance-related assistance after a mid-afternoon meeting at the White House here Friday.

U.S.: Museum Attack Seen as Home-Grown Terrorism

Wednesday’s killing of a guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum by an elderly white supremacist is the latest incident in what many see as a potential new wave of right-wing violence triggered, at least in part, by the election of President Barack Obama and the economic downturn.

POLITICS: Lebanon’s Election: An International Affair

It was touted as an historic election, a vote to determine the future direction of Lebanon. But even with the winners declared, analysts say the Jun. 7 ballot was far from decisive, and did little to alter the fundamental balance of power in the country.

POLITICS: Syrian Foreign Minister Eager to Work with Obama

Former U.S. senator George Mitchell is due to arrive in Syria's capital, Damascus, Friday on his first visit there since being named Pres. Barack Obama's special envoy for Arab-Israeli peace.

US-MIDEAST: Hamas Leader to Obama: Deeds, Not Words

The head of Hamas's political bureau, Khaled Meshaal, gave a qualified welcome here Thursday to the big speech that Pres. Barack Obama addressed to the Muslim world in Cairo.