U.S.: Obama Appeals to Muslim World for "New Beginning"

In what was perhaps the most widely anticipated speech delivered by a U.S. president abroad in recent memory, Barack Obama Thursday extended a hand to the world’s 1.4 billion Muslims, receiving repeated applause and a standing ovation from the audience at Cairo University in the Egyptian capital.

US-MIDEAST: Cairo Speech Widely Hailed at Home

U.S. President Barack Obama's historic speech in Cairo Thursday elicited broad approval from around the U.S., with the notable exception of the neoconservative right.

US-MIDEAST: Obama Overture Fraught With Stumbling Blocks

In his most widely anticipated speech to date, U.S. President Barack Obama will reach out directly to the Muslim world Thursday morning at Cairo University.

US-CUBA: Obama Still Moving Cautiously Toward Normalisation

Sunday's announcement by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that Washington will begin talks with Cuba on bilateral migration issues and resume direct postal service between the two countries suggests the new administration of President Barack Obama intends to proceed cautiously toward normalising ties with the Caribbean nation, according to veteran experts here.

POLITICS-US: Eavesdropping Case Tests Obama Vows on Secrecy

Despite President Barack Obama’s formation of a new task force to review government secrecy, and an ongoing investigation into use of the so-called "state secrets doctrine", lawyers for the new administration refused last week to disclose information on the government’s use of warrantless wiretaps and backed legislation to block the release of photos of prisoner abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan.

POLITICS: Where Iran Fits in the Mideast Peace Puzzle

What is the relationship between the United States' policy towards Iran and its performance on Arab-Israeli peacemaking, including the crucial quest for peace between Israel and the Palestinians?

POLITICS: U.S. Public Most Liberal in Decades

Despite the overwhelming electoral approval of now-U.S. President Barack Obama’s progressive campaign platform, many in the media continue to portray the U.S. as a "centre-right" country, says a new report from a media watchdog and left-wing political organisation.

U.S.: Obama Picks Latina Judge as First Supreme Court Nominee

In a nomination that will almost certainly be approved by the U.S. Senate, President Barack Obama Tuesday announced the selection of Sonia Sotomayor, a federal appeals court judge whose parents were from Puerto Rico, to the nine-member Supreme Court.

POLITICS-US: Iran Hawks Push Obama on Deadline for Diplomacy

After an uneventful first meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that seemed to produce no real breakthroughs, hawks in the U.S. and Israel are seizing upon what they claim is a significant concession by Obama: his setting a "timetable" for negotiations with Iran.

POLITICS-US: Obama Defends Guantanamo Closure

President Barack Obama cautiously minced his way Thursday through a political minefield filled with imminent explosions from human rights advocates, national security hawks, and a Congress terrified by the potential political backlash of any move to bring Guantanamo Bay prisoners to the U.S. for trial or detention.

MIDEAST: : Obama Has Real Chance to Change Arab Opinion – Survey

President Barack Obama has a major opportunity to improve the mostly negative views about the United States in the Arab world, but is likely to have only a short period of time to do so, according to a major new survey of public opinion in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

U.S.: Green Groups Hail Plan to Slash Transport Emissions

Environmental groups are applauding President Barack Obama’s new nationwide rules for car emissions and mileage standards, announced Tuesday.

POLITICS: What Happened to the Afghan Elections?

After a series of well-known Afghan politicians announced their candidacy, the up-coming presidential election was widely believed to be a turning-point in the country’s history. But most of the big names declined to register, leaving what critics allege is a weak opposition to President Hamid Karzai.

U.S.: Lawyers, Rights Groups Outraged by Gitmo Decision

Human rights advocates are furious at President Barack Obama’s decision to prosecute some Guantanamo detainees through the same military commissions he criticised during his campaign as a "flawed" system that "has failed to convict anyone of a terrorist act since the 9/11 attacks".

POLITICS: U.S.-Israel Balance Echoes Tensions of 1991

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with Pres. Barack Obama in Washington next Monday, amid speculation that their two administrations may be heading for a confrontation worse than any they have known since 1991-92.

POLITICS-US: Rights Groups Slam Bid to Suppress Abuse Pics

President Barack Obama’s decision Wednesday to object to the planned release of photos showing abuse of prisoners in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan has drawn quiet praise from the military and some in Congress – and outspoken scorn from human rights advocates, a number of legal scholars and religious leaders, and many on the left of his Democratic Party.

DEVELOPMENT-AFGHANISTAN: ‘We Need a Fundamental Change Here’

The U.S. administration has pledged to increase aid and reconstruction as a central part of President Barack Obama’s new strategy. But critics charge that the new policy contains very little specifics on how to bring development and jobs to the country.

AFGHANISTAN-US: More Troops, Humvees, and Dollars

Life in the quaint, muddied town of Maydan Shahr appears to be going on as it has for years. Wrinkled, wizened men manage under-stocked shops in the sleepy central bazaar, while jobless youths idle nearby.

Q&A: ‘We will not leave you alone’

U.S. President Barack Obama has made Afghanistan and Pakistan his number one foreign policy priority. As acting U.S. Ambassador, Francis J. Ricciardone, outlined his country's strategy for long-term peace, justice and prosperity in the region in an exclusive hour-long interview. Excerpts:

Q&A: “Springtime of Hope” Seen for Nuke Disarmament

When he addressed a massive gathering in the Czech capital of Prague last month, U.S. President Barack Obama made a historic statement pledging that his country will take "concrete steps towards a world without nuclear weapons."

U.S.: Major Foreign Tests Likely Over Next 100 Days

While Barack Obama has clearly improved Washington's image abroad during his first 100 days in office, the next 100 will almost certainly prove much more challenging for the new president's foreign policy.