KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's parliament approved on Saturday a strategic pact between Kabul and Washington, clearing the way for a U.S. presence in the country for at least a decade after most foreign combat troops leave in 2014. "This was done for the interest of Afghanistan," … More »Afghan parliament approves U.S.-Afghan security pact
SpaceX on Friday became the first commercial outfit to send its own cargo capsule to the … More »SpaceX's Dragon makes historic space …
The Obama administration on Friday rejected calls from Congress to brand China a currency … More »US says China's yuan undervalued, not …
The Obama administration on Friday rejected calls from Congress to brand China a currency manipulator, but said its "significantly undervalued" currency was a key brake on global growth. More »US says China's yuan undervalued, not manipulated
ROME (Reuters) - One of the young women who attended Silvio Berlusconi's "bunga bunga" parties told a court on Friday that she dressed up as a burlesque version of U.S. President Barack Obama to entertain the former Italian prime minister. In testimony … More »Berlusconi party girl says masqueraded as Obama
(Reuters) - A new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is expected to show that Iran has installed more uranium enrichment centrifuges at its Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant - but that they are not yet being used to refine uranium. Here … More »Factbox - Iran's Fordow plant
The world's first private supply ship flew tantalisingly close to the International Space Station, successfully performing a critical test in advance of the actual docking. More »Ship buzzes space station in test
President Barack Obama urged Congress on Thursday to extend tax credits for clean energy companies the White House says are responsible for some 37,000 jobs. More »Obama calls for Congress to enact 'green' tax credits
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. admiral who oversaw the operation to kill Osama bin Laden denied on Thursday that he or his staff helped advise Hollywood film makers shooting a movie about last year's secret raid to kill the al Qaeda leader. A conservative … More »Bin Laden film got no Special Ops help - U.S. admiral
PARIS (Reuters) - U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said on Wednesday that he expects to leave office at the end of President Barack Obama's first term, and also expressed enthusiasm about the potential for a trade agreement between the United States … More »USTR Kirk plans to go in January, upbeat on EU-US trade
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Marriage has been a hotly discussed topic since President Barack Obama voiced his support for same-sex unions, but author Nell Freudenberger looks at the institution from a different perspective in "The Newlyweds." In her latest novel … More »Author explores cross-cultural marriage in "The Newlyweds"
(Reuters) - A new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is expected to show that Iran has installed more uranium enrichment centrifuges at its Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant - but that they are not yet being used to refine uranium. Here … More »Factbox - Iran's Fordow plant
Defence and intelligence officials in the US have been accused of jeopardising national security by working too closely with the makers of a film about the death of Osama bin Laden. More »US Agencies 'Too Cosy' With Osama Filmmakers
Two senior US officials made a secret visit to North Korea last month in an apparent attempt to persuade it to cancel an upcoming long-range rocket launch, according to a South Korean report. More »US officials 'flew to N. Korea' before rocket launch
Two senior US officials made a secret visit to North Korea last month in an apparent attempt to persuade it to cancel an upcoming long-range rocket launch, according to a South Korean report. More »US officials 'flew to N.Korea' before rocket launch
Fidel Castro's niece hailed Barack Obama's support for gay marriage and the loosening of US-Cuba travel restrictions, saying: "I would vote for President Obama." More »'I would vote for President Obama': Castro's niece
MOSCOW (Reuters) - He's had cheeseburgers with U.S. President Barack Obama, palled around with ex-Hollywood movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger and gushed with praise on a visit to Silicon Valley. On Wednesday, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev encountered … More »Medvedev cosies up to U.S. cowboys - in Russia
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia tested a new long-range missile on Wednesday that should improve its ability to penetrate missile defence systems, the military said, in Moscow's latest warning to Washington over deployment of a missile shield in Europe. The … More »Russia tests new missile, in warning over U.S. shield
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will require "significant firepower" in Afghanistan in 2013-14, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces there said, but decisions about further U.S. troop reductions will only be made after this fall at the earliest. … More »U.S. general says Afghanistan will need "combat power"
Wedding bells will ring this summer for Marvel Comics' first openly gay superhero, Northstar, and his longtime boyfriend. More »Gay Wedding For Marvel Comic Book Superhero
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The United States hopes Pakistan will soon agree to re-open supply routes to NATO troops in Afghanistan, a U.S. official said on Wednesday, after a Senate panel threatened to cut aid to Islamabad over the standoff. Pakistan closed … More »U.S. hopes for breakthrough in Pakistan NATO supply route talks
Republican Mitt Romney won primary votes in the southern states of Alabama and Kentucky, bringing him within arm's reach of scoring the delegates needed for his party's formal White House nomination. More »Romney sweeps primaries in Arkansas, Kentucky
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A prostitution scandal in Colombia involving U.S. Secret Service employees did not result in any security breach and was not behaviour that reflected the high ethical standards of the agency, the director of the agency said. Secret … More »U.S. Secret Service chief - no security breach from scandal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration arranged for two Hollywood filmmakers to get special access to government officials involved in the commando operation that killed Osama bin Laden, according to a conservative legal group that posted internal … More »White House said to give inside access for bin Laden film
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Musical legend Bob Dylan, novelist Toni Morrison and former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright are among 13 people who will be awarded the country's highest civilian honour, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, by President … More »Dylan, Albright to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - An unmanned rocket owned by privately held Space Exploration Technologies blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Tuesday on the first commercial flight to the International Space Station. The 178-foot … More »SpaceX rocket lifts off for space station trial run
FORT MEADE, Maryland (Reuters) - The National Security Agency is trying to expand U.S. cyber expertise needed for secret intelligence operations against adversaries on computer networks through a new cyber-ops program at selected universities. The cyber-ops … More »Exclusive - U.S. spy agency seeks cyber-ops curriculum
Yemen's army chief vowed Tuesday no let-up in an offensive against Al-Qaeda after a suicide bomber killed 96 soldiers in a massive attack in central Sanaa and two other would-be attackers were arrested. More »Yemen, US vow to crush Qaeda after troops massacred
KABUL (Reuters) - People in Afghanistan were surprisingly optimistic on Tuesday about NATO's plan to pull combat troops out of their war-ravaged nation by the end of 2014, but warned Western leaders to stick to aid and security promises. A Chicago summit … More »Afghans back Chicago deal, warn West to keep promises
(Reuters) - Tensions are rising in Ghana ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections due in December. Here is a look at the West African country since its independence: March 6, 1957 - The former British colony of Gold Coast becomes the first country … More »Timeline - Ghana bids to stay model African democracy
CANNES, France (Reuters) - Brad Pitt's latest movie paints a bleak picture of the broken American dream, blending a violent but comic gangster story with overt criticism of politicians' failure to address the economic crisis. "Killing Them Softly" takes … More »Brad Pitt mob movie portrays broken American dream
SANAA (Reuters) - Yemeni soldiers marched in a National Day parade on Tuesday, watched from behind a bullet-proof glass shield by the president, in a show of defiance one day after a bomber killed more than 90 troops in an attack on the ceremony's rehearsal. … More »Sombre Yemen parade takes place after huge bomb attack
David Cameron broke off at the end of the Nato summit in Chicago to go sightseeing, Barack Obama has joked. More »Chillaxed Cameron broke off from Nato meeting to go sightseeing
The US Senate approved new sanctions against Iran aimed at convincing the Islamic Republic to suspend its uranium enrichment, which western powers say is a cover for developing nuclear weapons. More »US Senate approves sanctions against Iran
Forty-three Catholic dioceses, universities and other organizations have filed 12 suits across several US states challenging a federal requirement that their health plans cover birth control. More »US Catholics file suits over birth control requirement
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A prostitution scandal in Colombia involving U.S. Secret Service and military personnel ahead of a presidential visit has spawned a separate investigation into the behaviour of Drug Enforcement Administration agents in Cartagena, … More »Colombia prostitution scandal sparks investigation of U.S. DEA staff
CHICAGO (Reuters) - NATO set an "irreversible" course out of Afghanistan on Monday but President Barack Obama admitted the Western alliance's plan to end the deeply unpopular war in 2014 was fraught with peril. A landmark NATO summit in Chicago endorsed … More »NATO endorses strategy to end Afghan war but risks remain
NATO leaders mapped a path out of the unpopular war in Afghanistan, backing plans to hand Afghans the combat lead from mid-2013 while vowing to stand by them as they seize their own destiny. More »NATO traces path out of Afghanistan
SANAA (Reuters) - A suicide bomber in army uniform killed more than 90 soldiers in the heart of the Yemeni capital on Monday and an al Qaeda affiliate threatened more attacks if a U.S.-backed campaign against militants in the front-line state did not … More »Suicide bomber kills 90 in Yemen, al Qaeda vows more attacks
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Veteran U.S. diplomat Ryan Crocker is expected to step down soon from his post as President Barack Obama's envoy to Afghanistan, departing the U.S. mission in Kabul as the United States negotiates a host of challenges on its course … More »Exclusive - U.S. envoy to Afghanistan to step down shortly
CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama urged Europe on Monday to strengthen its defences against financial market turmoil and recapitalize its banks as part of a four-pronged strategy for tackling the euro zone crisis. European leaders have shown … More »Obama sketches four-pronged strategy for Europe, sees EU consensus
CHICAGO (Reuters) - NATO set an "irreversible" course out of Afghanistan on Monday but President Barack Obama admitted the Western alliance's plan to end the deeply unpopular war in 2014 was fraught with peril. A landmark NATO summit in Chicago endorsed … More »NATO sets "irreversible" but risky course to end Afghan war
Yemen vowed to fight "terrorism" regardless of the sacrifices as Al-Qaeda claimed it was behind a bombing on Monday that saw a soldier blow himself up in the middle of an army battalion, killing 96 troops. More »Yemen vows to fight as Qaeda bomber kills 96 troops