WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senator Bernie Sanders said on Sunday he will not vote to reconfirm Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve, in a preview of the rough treatment Bernanke may get this week on Capitol Hill. The central bank chief will testify on Thursday before the Senate Banking Committee at a hearing on his nomination to a second four-year term. The session could be difficult, with the Fed under fire from across the political spectrum. The open opposition of Sanders, an... Read Full Story
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The world is losing patience with Iran's behavior over its nuclear program and Tehran will be responsible for the consequences if it fails to meet its obligations, the White House said on Friday. Robert Gibbs, President Barack Obama's chief spokesman, said a vote by the U.N. nuclear watchdog to rebuke Iran illustrated the "resolve and unity" of the international community over Iran's nuclear program. The International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors voted 25... Read Full Story
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia and the United States are unlikely to sign a new START Treaty to curb strategic nuclear weapons by the December 5 deadline and talks will continue, Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed source as saying. The report is the first signal that negotiators will be unable to bridge the differences between Moscow and Washington on the detailed terms of the new pact by the deadline set by the presidents of both countries in July. Both sides say efforts to agree cuts in... Read Full Story
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will unveil his new strategy for the war in Afghanistan in an address to Americans on December 1, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said on Wednesday. Gibbs said Obama would deliver the address from West Point military academy on December 1 at 8 p.m. (0100 GMT December 2). U.S. officials have said Obama may say he is sending around 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan as part of a broader strategy to arrest a deteriorating security situation there... Read Full Story
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration, facing criticism its economic stimulus plans are failing to halt layoffs, on Tuesday said hiring prompted by the spending would accelerate next year. About half of the $787 billion in stimulus spending has been disbursed or committed, but has so far created or saved only about 1 million of a targeted 3.5 million jobs, said Jared Bernstein, economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden. Bernstein told a news briefing at the U.S. Treasury many... Read Full Story
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. negotiators working to conclude a new strategic arms treaty with Russia are discussing ways to continue nuclear weapons monitoring until the new accord can be ratified, a State Department spokesman said on Monday. U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed in July to work on a new treaty that would cut their deployed strategic nuclear arsenals to between 1,500 and 1,675 warheads. The current Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty between... Read Full Story
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama hosts Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday for talks considered critical to showing Washington's commitment to New Delhi in a region where its rivals, China and Pakistan, are U.S. priorities. Obama's challenge will be to ease the emerging Asian power's concerns that it is slipping down his foreign policy agenda, dominated recently by efforts to craft a new war plan in Afghanistan and curb Iran's nuclear ambitions. India hopes for a... Read Full Story
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has no plans to join a global treaty banning landmines because a policy review found the United States could not meet its security commitments without the weapons, the State Department said on Tuesday. "This administration undertook a policy review and we decided that our land mine policy remains in effect," spokesman Ian Kelly told a briefing five days ahead of a review conference in Cartegena, Colombia, on the 10-year-old Mine Ban Treaty. "We... Read Full Story
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. acceptance of a treaty banning landmines is "long, long overdue" and President Barack Obama should use a 10-year review this weekend to announce plans to join the accord, anti-landmines campaigners said on Monday. The treaty, which went into force on March 1, 1999, bans the use, stockpiling, production or transfer of antipersonnel mines. It has been endorsed by 156 countries, but several powers -- including the United States, Russia, China and India -- have not... Read Full Story
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress edged closer on Wednesday to creating new government powers to break up giant financial firms, which Europe is already doing, while a U.S. derivatives market crackdown got more complicated. More than a year since the collapse of Lehman Brothers and massive government bailouts of firms such as American International Group, the Congress is slowly working its way through more than a dozen financial regulation reform proposals from the Obama... Read Full Story
