May 2, 2016 Key US senator ratchets up urgency on UN sex abuse scandal Senator Bob Corker, head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is wading into the highly charged debate about United Nations peacekeepers and sexual abuse with fast-track proposals to push back against a “culture of impunity” that the U.N.’s own experts have said still permeates the far-flung peacekeeper operations.
May 2, 2016 China dissident's wife rejects invite to State Department Relatives of Chinese dissidents were set to meet Wednesday with the No. 2 U.S. diplomat as the Obama administration sought to demonstrate it won't gloss over human rights during this week's state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
May 2, 2016 White House: Obama wants to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees in 2016 The White House says President Barack Obama has told advisers he wants to let 10,000 Syrian refugees into the U.S. in the coming budget year.
May 2, 2016 Malaysia gets better grade on human trafficking, but senators suspect political influence Senators angered by the decision to upgrade Malaysia in the State Department's human trafficking report threatened a subpoena on Thursday unless they receive all communications related to the annual U.S. ranking of countries' efforts to combat modern-day slavery.
May 2, 2016 Iran launches trial for US journalist on ‘absurd’ charges, renewing nuke talk concerns The closed trial for a Washington Post reporter held in Iran on widely challenged espionage charges began Tuesday, drawing condemnation from American journalists and raising new questions about the regime's reliability as a partner in ongoing nuclear talks with the Obama administration.
May 2, 2016 US accuses Syria of new chemical weapons use Three U.S. diplomats stepped up pressure against the Syrian government on Friday by accusing it of continuing to use chemical arms against its opponents in the country's four-year civil war.
May 2, 2016 US senators urge Saudi Arabia to halt ‘barbaric’ flogging of blogger A high-powered group of U.S. senators is demanding that Saudi Arabia cancel the "barbaric punishment" of a blogger sentenced to 1,000 lashes for criticizing the country's clerics, saying the floggings are particularly troubling in the wake of terror attacks driven by "religious intolerance."
April 28, 2016 US to declassify military, intelligence records on Argentina 'Dirty War' President Barack Obama will move to declassify U.S. military and intelligence records related to Argentina's "Dirty War," the White House said Thursday, aiming to bring closure to questions of U.S. involvement in a notorious chapter in Argentina's history.
April 28, 2016 Kerry tells lawmakers Syria cease-fire is no slam dunk U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told lawmakers on Tuesday he isn’t certain the proposed ceasefire in Syria will work but said it is the only option on the table if a political settlement in the war-torn country is the goal.
April 14, 2016 UN sex-abuse scandal: rising congressional outrage, and more revelations Anger and outrage in Washington over sexual abuse by United Nations and other international peacekeepers has reached a new boiling point, with more ugly revelations of assault surfacing even as members of both Houses of Congress pondered ways -- including the withholding of U.S. money -- to do something about it.