President Barack Obama renewed his push for U.S. immigration reform on Thursday, reaching out to Hispanic voters despite minimal chances that Congress will pass such legislation this year. In a broad speech that did not break new policy ground, Obama, a Democrat, called for Republican support to pass a law that addresses the 11 million [...]

The US treasury announced that it was blacklisting another of Iran’s state-controlled banks as well as more of its Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the US claims plays a key role in Iran’s missile programs. The actions are the first set of US measures to implement new United Nations Security Council sanctions on Iran approved last [...]

BP has resumed its high-risk “top kill” operation to stem the oil and gas leak from the ruptured Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico, signalling that the operation could continue for two more days. Engineers last night began a second round of the procedure, pumping thick mud at high speed into the well, which [...]

In a broad redefinition of U.S. strategic priorities, President Obama has said that the United States must revitalize its own economic, moral and innovative strength if it is to continue to lead the world. Just as it did following World War II, the United States today must also shape a new international order and system [...]

US President Barack Obama today vowed to create a new international order that can meet the current challenges, including terrorism, nuclear proliferation and climate change. Obama said the US must work to “shape an international order” that can meet the challenges of the generation. “The international order we seek is one that can resolve the [...]

Turkey declared yesterday that it had been “encouraged” by Barack Obama, the US president, to pursue dialogue with Iran that resulted in Monday’s unexpected nuclear fuel exchange accord. The deal potentially represents a remarkable breakthrough in the long-running deadlock over Tehran’s nuclear programme that has generated rising tensions in the region and beyond. But Washington [...]

President Obama will name Solicitor General Elena Kagan to fill the opening on the U.S. Supreme Court, a source familiar with the decision said late Sunday. Kagan, 50, taught alongside Obama at the University of Chicago Law School in the 1990s before going on to serve as the dean of the Harvard Law School. An [...]

Writer, Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel has challenged the Obama administration’s treatment of Israel, but had kinder things to say today after his lunch with the president. “There were moments of tension,” Wiesel said of the Obama-Israel relationship. “The tension I think is gone.” Last month, Wiesel signed a newspaper ad criticizing the [...]

President Barack Obama challenged University of Michigan graduates to rise above the rancor that has infected politics, broaden their horizons, contribute to their country and help preserve American democracy. “At a moment when our challenges seem so big and our politics seem so small, how will you keep our democracy alive and vibrant?” he asked [...]

Speaking at Miss Height’s funeral service at Washington National Cathedral, Mr Obama said she changed the United States for the better, praising her for contributing to civil rights advances, sometimes at personal risk. The president said she “deserves a place” in history books and America’s memory. “She never cared about who got the credit,” the [...]