Sudan is still an important outside influence on South Sudan, so lifting sanctions paves the way for a more constructive peace process in South Sudan
US Secretary of State John Kerry has sought to reassure sceptics in the US Congress who worry that Iran might not follow through on its obligations.
After freezing financial aid to Kigali, Washington has indicted it is ready to lift sanctions against Rwanda if it severs ties with rebel group M23.
A drone attack on Somalia’s al-Shabab has left a top suicide bomb-maker for the rebel group dead, say government officials.
In a meeting with the US secretary of state, France has demanded an explanation of the latest revelations about a controversial US spying programme.
In the US there is a sense of submission to a political system that is held hostage by private interests and corporate lobbying, writes Gavin Silber.
Washington says it has stopped shipments of major military hardware and halted $260-million in cash aid to Egypt’s military leaders.
A failed raid in Somalia and anger at the capture of an al-Qaeda leader in Libya has focused on the US’s problems in its fight against militants.
As meetings take place to prevent the US government from closing down, a House Republican leader has hinted that his party could offer a new plan.
It might seem like asking for trouble, but Iowa is not the only US state to allow blind people to carry guns.
France is mobilised and ready to launch military action over the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime, says President Francois Hollande.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has said that Syria is holding thousands of tonnes of unmixed "binary components".
An expected US-led strike on Syria has not only put government forces on alert, it has also alarmed Islamist rebels – who worry they too are targets.
Britain will not join any military action against Syria after a stunning parliamentary defeat of a government motion on the issue.
SA has criticised "the possibility of a military intervention" in Syria by the West, calling on all sides to negotiate a better solution.
Russia is sending two warships to the eastern Mediterranean, and has denied the deployment is linked to events in Syria.
While a few diplomatic missions reopened on Sunday, others stayed shut for the Muslim holidays following Ramadan.
The US told China its decision not to hand over Edward Snowden after he fled to Hong Kong had undermined relations between the two states.
After pleas from Islamic leaders, the US says it will respect Ramadan by trying to force-feed detainees observing the fast only at night.
Unmanned US aircraft fired four missiles at a house in north-west Pakistan, killing 16 suspected militants, says Pakistani intelligence officials.
Ecuador has dropped out of a trade pact with the US, claiming it had become an instrument of "blackmail" as it considers asylum for Edward Snowden.
US authorities have filed espionage charges against rogue intelligence technician Edward Snowden and have asked Hong Kong to detain him.
Executive chairperson of Google Eric Schmidt has described China as "the most egregious" example of a nation attempting to control the internet.
The United States on Thursday released photographs of what it said was a Syrian nuclear reactor built with North Korean help, in an effort to pressure Pyongyang to fully disclose its nuclear activities. Israel destroyed the reactor in a September 6 air strike that was initially shrouded in secrecy.
Former United States president Jimmy Carter met Gaza-based leaders of Islamist Hamas in Cairo on Thursday, defying US and Israeli criticism that saw him barred from visiting the Palestinian territory. Nobel Peace Prize-winner Carter is considered to be the architect of the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Tuesday embraced one of Tony Blair’s most controversial legacies when he cast himself as the leader best placed to bring Europe and the United States together after the bitter divisions over Iraq. As he prepared to fly to the US, Brown lavished praise on US leaders across the spectrum.
One of the world’s leading climate scientists warns on Monday that the European Union and its international partners must urgently rethink targets for cutting carbon dioxide in the atmosphere because of fears they have grossly underestimated the scale of the problem.
The first formal talks in the long process of drawing up a replacement for the Kyoto climate change pact opened in Thailand on Monday with appeals to a common human purpose to defeat global warming. ”The world is waiting for a solution that is long-term and economically viable,” said United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.
United States Vice-President Dick Cheney, an architect of the US-led invasion of Iraq, made an unannounced visit to Baghdad on Monday to assess the success of a troop build-up five years after the war began. Cheney arrived as Republican candidate John McCain, who will be the Republican choice in November’s presidential election, was meeting Iraqi leaders.
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/ 24 January 2008
The United States and other countries must not demonise sovereign wealth funds as they come to the aid of troubled United States banks, some of the world’s biggest state-run investors said on Thursday. A top US official denied the United States feared government-run investment funds, many of them based in Asia, the Gulf and Russia.
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/ 23 January 2008
He has been accused of bullying the neighbours, turning off Europe’s gas supply and — as one diplomat appalled by Russia’s treatment of the British Council put it — ”punching a librarian”. But now Putin, apparently fed up with Russia’s poor image abroad, has decided to do something about it: he has sent for his old judo master.
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/ 18 January 2008
Bobby Fischer, who died on January 17 aged 64, was a high school dropout who may have been the greatest chess player of all time, but ended his life in eccentric seclusion. The United States-born player had lived for the last two years in Iceland after serving eight months behind bars in Japan.