Author: Steven R. Hurst
-
Obama: 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan by summer
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is dispatching 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, accelerating a risky and expensive war buildup, even as he assures Americans that U.S. forces will begin coming home in July 2011. The first new Marines will join the fight by Christmas. Obama was to unveil his plans in a long-anticipated, high-profile speech…
-
Analysis: Furor over speech typifies polarization
WASHINGTON — The furor over President Barack Obama’s start-of-school speech to the nation’s students — challenging them to work hard, earn good grades and stay in school — typifies the country’s widening rift over politics and social issues. It’s certainly an unwelcome distraction as the president prepares to address both houses of Congress and the…
-
Analysis: Furor over Obama speech typifies polarization
WASHINGTON — The furor over President Barack Obama’s start-of-school speech to the nation’s students — challenging them to work hard, earn good grades and stay in school — typifies the country’s widening rift over politics and social issues. It’s certainly an unwelcome distraction as the president prepares to address both houses of Congress and the…
-
CIA report: ‘Inhumane’ tactics used on detainees
WASHINGTON — CIA interrogators threatened to kill the children of one detainee at the height of the Bush administration’s war on terror and implied that another’s mother would be sexually assaulted, newly declassified documents revealed Monday as the U.S. government launched a criminal investigation into the spy agency’s “unauthorized, improvised, inhumane” practices. At the same…
-
Mixed results for Obama’s first Moscow summit
MOSCOW — For two days, President Barack Obama pressed the reset button with Russia.The results: He ended up getting the expected agreement on deep cuts in nuclear arsenals, but he is leaving Moscow with few assurances of Kremlin help in solving other issues key to his foreign policy agenda.He is also leaving behind a spark…
-
Obama, Medvedev: Large nuclear cuts on horizon
MOSCOW – Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev confidently committed to a year-end deal to slash nuclear stockpiles by about a third on Monday, but the U.S. leader failed to crack stubborn Kremlin objections to America’s missile defense plans – a major stumbling block to such an agreement.Both men renewed pledges to pull U.S.-Russian relations…
-
Obama initiative seeks fix to finance regulations
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama unveils a plan Wednesday that aims to clamp down on freewheeling financial institutions and protect Americans who take loans to buy homes or use credit cards. The revamping of the regulatory structure for the U.S. financial industry has been designed to prevent a repeat of the crisis that began in…
-
Obama in political box over closing Guantanamo
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama finds himself in a political box – at home and abroad – on closing the Guantanamo Bay prison, and will be trying Thursday to use a major address on national security to work out of the tight spot. Obama takes on the explosive topic a day after the Senate, at…
-
Celebration over, Obama gets to work today
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama plunged on his first day in office into the task of governing a nation he vows to change, calling together U.S. economic and military leaders today to address America’s daunting challenges.A day after claiming his place in history as the first black U.S. president, he is faced with pulling the…
-
Obama asks Bush to seek release of remaining $350B
WASHINGTON – The White House today said President George W. Bush – acting on a request from President-elect Barack Obama – would ask Congress to release $350 billion more to prop up the troubled U.S. financial system, the remaining money left in the huge bailout fund put in place last year.Congress may vote on the…