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Obama Set to Name New Labor Secretary

March 18, 2013 Thomas Perez, a civil rights lawyer in the Obama Justice Department, is about to be nominated to be the new Secretary of Labor, setting the stage for some key battles that the president expects to fight in his second term. President Obama is planning to announce the appointment on Monday, ...

Obama Says Iran Is a Year Away from a Nuke

March 15, 2013 As part of a mini press-tour to set up his first presidential trip to Israel next week, Barack Obama told an Israeli television station that Iran is at least a year away from developing a nuclear weapon. In an interview with Channel 2 News, Obama tried to reassure Israelis that ...

North Korea Shuts Off Its Emergency Hotline to Seoul

March 11, 2013 After last week's threat to call off their armistice with South Korea, officials disconnected the hotline built to avert disaster. Because the two countries are officially not speaking to each other—they have no embassies or diplomatic relations—the only formal communication line between Pyongyang and Seoul is a Red Cross telephone ...

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U.S. Captures Bin Laden's Son-In-Law and Will Put Him on Trial

March 7, 2013 U.S. officials have announced that a former spokesperson for al Qaeda—who also happens to be a son-in-law of Osama bin Laden—has been captured overseas and has been brought to America to stand trial. According to the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, the CIA found Abu Ghaith in Ankara, Turkey, and tipped off ...

North Korea Is Now Threatening a Preemptive Nuclear Attack

March 7, 2013 While the U.N. Security Council has voted for harsh new sanctions against North Korea, that nation's military has found a way to take its fighting words to yet another hyperbolic level. In a press statement complaining about both the sanctions and ongoing military exercises by the U.S. and South Korea, ...

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FAA to Close Air Traffic Control Towers Due to Sequester

March 6, 2013 Following through on President Obama's biggest sequester doomsday scenarios, the Federal Aviation Administration has announced it will shut down 173 air traffic control towers due to forced budget cuts. The towers will be at small and medium-sized airports that don't necessarily need their own towers, and will only affect "contract ...

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Congress Gets Its Drone Memos, and Obama Gets His CIA Director

March 5, 2013 The Senate Intelligence Committee voted in favor of John Brennan's nomination to be CIA director, 12-3, after it was announced that the committee finally got more access to the White House's legal memos about drone attacks. The Obama administration has so far resisted all calls to share their confidential legal ...

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The Sequestration Is Here ... Now What?

March 1, 2013 Welcome to Sequester Day! How will you celebrate and/or mourn? And what is your government doing to put a stop to it? The short answer, so far, is nothing. Congress already went home for the weekend, and the White House isn't scrambling to craft a rescue package. There's still time ...

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U.S. Steps Up Support for the Syrian Rebels, but Still Won't Arm Them

February 28, 2013 New Secretary of State John Kerry met with leaders of the Syria opposition Thursday and pledged the United States to increased assistance for the rebels—but only the "nonlethal" kind. For the first time, the Americans will formally provide supplies and aid directly to the Syrian rebel fighters, offering $60 million ...

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The Senate Finally Confirms Chuck Hagel

February 26, 2013 Chuck Hagel has been confirmed as secretary of Defense, by a vote of 58 to 41. Read more at The Atlantic Wire.