Seeking unity, US revamps Ebola protocol
WASHINGTON — The U.S. government on Monday tried to take charge of an increasingly acrimonious national debate over how to treat people in contact with Ebola patients by announcing guidelines that stopped short of tough measures in New York and New Jersey and were carefully devised, officials said, not to harm the effort to recruit badly needed medical workers to West Africa.
U.S. and allies hit Islamic State targets in Syria
WASHINGTON — The United States and allies launched airstrikes against Sunni militants in Syria early Tuesday, unleashing a torrent of cruise missiles and precision-guided bombs from the air and sea on the militants’ de facto capital of Raqqa and along the porous Iraq border.
US plan to destroy Islamic State could stretch past 2016
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is preparing to carry out a campaign against the Islamic State that may take three years to complete — requiring a sustained effort that could last until after President Barack Obama has left office, according to senior administration officials.
Obama sets goal of economy built for the long run
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama pledged on Tuesday night to use government power to balance the scale between America’s rich and the rest of the public, seeking to present an election-year choice between his continued leadership toward an economy “built to last” and a Republican argument that the country would benefit from less federal intervention.
Among Rice’s diplomatic groupies: Moammar Gadhafi
When you’re the single, attractive secretary of state for the United States, you’re bound to pick up groupies in all corners of the international diplomatic scene.
US relations with Saudi Arabia chilled
WASHINGTON — The brutal crackdown in Bahrain poses the greatest Middle East democracy dilemma yet to the Obama administration, deepening a rift with its most important Arab ally, Saudi Arabia, while potentially strengthening the influence of its biggest nemesis, Iran.
Some suggest U.S. look at Israeli airport screening
WASHINGTON — Amid the uproar that airport screenings have become too intrusive, some Americans are now asking why the United States cannot do it like the Israelis.
Obama says passing health bill is more important than politics
PHILADELPHIA—President Barack Obama challenged wavering members of his party on Monday not to give in to political fears about supporting health care legislation, asserting that the urgency of getting a bill through Congress should trump any concern about the consequences for Democrats in November.
Obama Faults Intelligence Agencies In Failure ‘To Connect Those Dots’
President Barack Obama said Tuesday that the government had sufficient information to uncover the terror plot to bring down a commercial jetliner on Christmas Day, but that intelligence officials had “failed to connect those dots.”
Obama Presses Afghan Leader on Corruption
President Barack Obama on Monday admonished President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan that he must take on what U.S. officials have said he avoided during his first term: the rampant corruption and drug trade that has fueled the resurgence of the Taliban.
Afghan Leader Is Said to Accept Runoff Election
Under international pressure, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan appears set to concede as early as Tuesday that he fell short of a first-round victory in the nation’s disputed presidential election, but the path to ensuring that the country has credible leadership remains uncertain, U.S. and European officials said Monday.
Obama Makes Case As Stimulus Bill Clears Hurdle
President Barack Obama took his case for his $800 billion economic recovery package to the American people on Monday, as the Senate cleared the way for passage of the bill and the White House prepared for its next major hurdle: selling Congress and the public on a fresh plan to bail out the nation’s banks.
World Leaders Start to Press Obama on Policies
The Russians want him to hold off installation of a missile defense shield in Poland. The Europeans want him to renounce the idea of “regime change” for Iran, while the Israelis want to be sure he does not give Iran a pass when it comes to nuclear weapons.
North Korea Opens Documents On Its Nuclear Programs
North Korea has turned over to the United States 18,000 pages of documents related to its plutonium program dating from 1990, in an effort to resolve remaining differences in a pending agreement meant to begin the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, Bush administration officials said Thursday.
Bush’s Claims About Iran Are Met With Skeptical Response
Three weeks after promising it would show proof of Iranian meddling in Iraq, the Bush administration has laid out its evidence — and received in return a healthy dose of skepticism.
Talks Between Israeli and Palestinian Leaders Show Little Promise of Peace
An American-sponsored meeting between Israeli and Palestinian leaders meant to start a new peace initiative after six years ended Monday with little more concrete than a promise to meet again.
Bush Signals New Approach With Letter to North Korea
President Bush, directly engaging the man he publicly called a “tyrant,” wrote a letter to North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-il, in which he held out the prospect of normalized relations with the United States if North Korea fully discloses its nuclear programs and dismantles its nuclear reactor, administration officials said Thursday.
Israelis and Palestinians Try to Plan Peace Talks as Bush Outlines Speech
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators made progress on Monday toward completing a joint statement for the planned Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Md., and President Bush appeared ready to paper over remaining differences between the two sides with his planned speech on Tuesday.
Israeli and Palestinian Officials Say They Hope for Accord Soon
Israeli and Palestinian officials hope to reach a comprehensive peace agreement before the end of President Bush’s term, Israeli, Palestinian and American officials said Monday.
Bush Says U.S. Will Not Invade Iran Despite Recent Sanctions
In announcing new sanctions against an elite unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, Bush administration officials took pains Thursday to offer assurances on that at least for now, the United States is not going to war with Iran.
Ahmadinejad Sparks Protests, Debate Over Columbia Speech
He said there were no homosexuals in Iran — not one — and that the Nazi slaughter of 6 million Jews should not be treated as fact, but theory, and therefore open to debate and more research.
Officials Say Israeli Raid Was Result Of Nuclear Aid to Syria From N. Korea
The Sept. 6 attack by Israeli warplanes inside Syria struck what Israeli intelligence believes was a nuclear-related facility that North Korea was helping to equip, according to current and former American and Israeli officials.
US May Leave Gaza to Hamas, Supporting Fatah in West Bank
Bush administration officials said Thursday that they had been discussing the idea of largely acquiescing in the takeover of Gaza by the militant Islamic group Hamas and trying instead to help the Fatah party of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, retain its stronghold in the West Bank.
House Republicans Lobby Bush To Act Against Sudan Violence
In the latest attempt to exert pressure on Sudan over the killing in the Darfur region, a group of conservative-to-moderate Republicans in Congress demanded Thursday that President Bush impose sanctions against the government for its failure to rein in the violence.