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/ 1 November 2007

Rice tries to close gap in Israeli-Palestinian talks

United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meets Israeli and Palestinian leaders this weekend to craft a joint document ahead of a peace conference but she has intentionally set expectations low. US officials expect Rice’s visit will result in a document filled with principles to kick off negotiations on a Palestinian state.

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/ 27 October 2007

Putin: US risks new Cuban missile crisis

Vladimir Putin stirred ghosts of the Cold War on Friday by comparing the Pentagon’s plan to site elements of its missile shield in Europe to the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 when the United States and the Soviet Union went to the brink of nuclear war. The Kremlin’s challenge to the US president in 1962 triggered the worst confrontation of the Cold War.

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/ 25 October 2007

US slaps new sanctions on Iran’s military

Ratcheting up the pressure on Tehran, the United States on Thursday designated Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps a proliferater of weapons of mass destruction and its elite Qods force a supporter of terrorism. In total, Washington slapped sanctions on more than 20 Iranian companies, major banks and individuals as well as the Defence Ministry.

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/ 23 October 2007

TV show host boots out 9/11 conspiracy theorists

It’s the conundrum that faces all television personalities broadcasting live: how to deal with hecklers trying to disrupt the show. Do you try to reason with them? Or do you do what the American talk show host Bill Maher did — jump into the audience, threaten the hecklers with an ”ass kicking” and scream ”Get the fuck out of my building!”

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/ 13 October 2007

Gore vindicated by Nobel victory

For years, former United States vice-president Al Gore and a host of climate scientists were belittled and, worst of all, ignored for their message about how dire global warming is. On Friday, they were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their warnings about what Gore calls ”a planetary emergency”.

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/ 18 September 2007

Rice apologises for US security firm shootings

The United States Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, apologised to the Iraqi government on Monday in an attempt to prevent the expulsion of all employees of the security firm Blackwater USA. The ministry of interior on Monday took the decision to expel Blackwater after eight Iraqi civilians were killed and 13 wounded in Baghdad.

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/ 16 September 2007

Alan Greenspan criticises Bush in new book

Former Federal Reserve chairperson Alan Greenspan, in a memoir to be released on Monday, criticised President George Bush and congressional Republicans for abandoning fiscal discipline and for putting politics ahead of sound economics. In his book, Greenspan said he was surprised Bush was unwilling to temper his campaign promises with fiscal reality once elected.

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/ 14 September 2007

Analysts: US pull-out will hasten Iraq demise

The killing of one of his key Iraqi allies on the day he announced a troop pull-out from Iraq came as a stark reminder to United States President George Bush of just how precarious the situation still is in Iraq. Political analysts believe the country will unravel even further, hastened by Bush’s decision to withdraw 21 500 combat troops by next July.

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/ 11 September 2007

Surge is a failure, Democrats tell Petraeus

Anti-war Senate Democrats bluntly told Iraq commander General David Petraeus on Tuesday his troop surge strategy was an abject failure in its prime objective — forcing a political settlement. Several senior Senate Republicans also questioned the administration’s approach as the general endured a grilling on a second day of high-stakes testimony to Congress.

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/ 11 September 2007

US trade deficit declines slightly

The United States trade deficit declined slightly in July as record exports of farm goods, autos and other products offset a big jump in foreign oil prices. The deficit with China hit the second-highest level yet, reflecting strong demand for Chinese-made goods despite a string of high-profile recalls.

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/ 31 August 2007

Bush, Bernanke to launch twin subprime assault

United States President George Bush will outline reforms on Friday to help struggling subprime mortgage borrowers and his central bank chief will deliver a speech which will be pored over for hints of a looming rate cut. Federal Reserve chairperson Ben Bernanke speaks on ”Housing and Monetary Policy” at around 2pm GMT.

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/ 29 August 2007

Bush stokes war of words with Iran

United States President George Bush on Tuesday ramped up the war of words between the US and Iran, accusing Tehran of threatening to place the Middle East under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust and revealing that he had authorised US military commanders in Iraq to ”confront Tehran’s murderous activities”.

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/ 28 August 2007

New blow to Bush as Gonzales resigns

United States President George Bush finally lost his battle to hang on to the Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, on Monday after months of unremitting congressional pressure over a series of scandals that included the firing of nine state prosecutors, wire tapping and torture. Bush blamed the Democrats, accusing them of dragging a decent and talented man through the mud.