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Clinton Stumps for International Criminal Court
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, speaking at a town hall meeting at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, on August 6, said it was "a great regret but it is a fact" that the United States is not a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
New NATO Chief Outlines Priorities
Speaking to reporters at his first public appearance since assuming his new position as NATO's secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen outlined his priorities on August 3 for reporters. Rasmussen, a former prime minister of Denmark, told reporters that NATO troops would help prevent Afghanistan from "becoming again a grand central station of international terrorism."
U.S. Gives $200 Million to Palestinian Authority
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced on July 24 that the United States has given $200 million to help the operations of the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority (PA).
Senators Ask Administration to Reassess Honduras Stance
Breaking the silence masking an almost unanimous consensus among U.S. government leaders in support of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, a group of U.S. senators have made public statements asking the Obama administration to look at both sides of the power struggle between Zelaya and newly appointed President Roberto Micheletti.
Obama Meets With Pakistan’s Zardari and Afghanistan’s Karzai
President Barack Obama met with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai on May 6, in what has been described as an attempt by the U.S. president to forge greater cooperation amongst America’s allies in the war against al-Qaeda terrorists.
Obama Promises to Push for Arms Treaty
Speaking to reporters while standing alongside Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon in Mexico City on April 16, President Barack Obama said he would push the U.S. Senate to ratify a treaty called the Inter-American Convention against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Other Related Materials. The convention, known by Spanish acronym CIFTA, was by inter-American countries including the United States in 1997 and then submitted the following year to the U.S. Senate for ratification. Like all treaties, it would require a two-thirds majority (67 votes) in the upper house to secure ratification.
Obama to Lift Some Cuban Restrictions
The White House announced on April 13 that the Obama administration will ease U.S. restrictions on dealings with Cuba, including allowing unlimited travel and money transfers by Cuban Americans to family in Cuba. The news had been leaked earlier in the day by a senior administration official, who told news agencies such as the Associated Press and AFP on condition of anonymity, "Restrictions on the families will be lifted." A formal announcement was made at the White House in the afternoon, during presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs' daily briefing with reporters.
U.S. to Push for UN Global-warming Accord
Todd Stern, the Obama administration's special envoy for climate change, told representatives of 175 nations in Bonn, Germany, on March 29, that global warming "requires a global response" and that rapidly developing economies like China "must join together" with industrialized nations to solve the problem.
Holbrooke on U.S. Plans for Afghanistan
Following a series of informal discussions held in Brussels over the preceding weekend, U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke met with NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and the 26 NATO ambassadors at the Brussels Forum on March 23. The prime focus of the talks was NATO's strategy for Afghanistan. Holbrooke gave participants a preview of U.S. plans for continuing the ongoing military operation there.
UN Official Wants to Prosecute Bush, Rumsfeld for Torture
The UN's "Special Rapporteur on Torture," Manfred Nowak, in a message recorded on January 20 for broadcast that evening on Germany's ZDF television, urged the United States to bring charges against former President George W. Bush and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for torture and bad treatment of prisoners held at the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay. "Judicially speaking, the United States has a clear obligation" to bring proceedings against Bush and Rumsfeld, said Nowak.