CAIRO (Reuters) – Hundreds of people chanted anti-U.S. and anti-Islamist slogans outside Hillary Clinton’s hotel on Saturday as the U.S. secretary of state urged Egypt’s military and Muslim Brotherhood to complete a transition to full democratic rule.

Clinton met Egypt’s newly-elected Islamist President Mohamed Mursi on Saturday and was to see military chief Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi on Sunday, two of the central players in the power struggle playing out in the country.

CAIRO (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will urge Egypt’s civilian and military leaders to work together to complete a full transition to democratic rule, senior U.S. officials said on Saturday.

Clinton arrived in Cairo to meet Egypt’s newly-elected Islamist President Mohamed Mursi on Saturday and military chief Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi on Sunday, two of the central players in the power struggle playing out in the country.

SIEM REAP, Cambodia (Reuters) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday urged Myanmar’s president to stick with economic and political reforms as his resource-rich country emerges from nearly half a century of military rule.

“We want you to keep going. We’re very committed,” Clinton said as she met Thein Sein, a former junta general chosen by parliament last year to lead a quasi-civilian government.

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) – The United States and China signalled a willingness on Thursday to work together on “sensitive issues” in a move to cool tensions between rival claimants to the potentially oil-rich and increasingly militarised South China Sea.

Long-simmering tensions in the waters have entered a more contentious chapter this year as the six parties who claim the territory search deeper into the disputed waters for energy supplies while building up their navies and defence alliances.

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday urged rival claimants to the South China Sea not to resort to threats and intimidation in the potentially oil-rich waters, an indirect reference to China at the start of a regional meeting.

Clinton said the United States wanted talks involving all parties to resolve the dispute, a stance likely to upset China, which has sought a bilateral approach to addressing rival claims to the waters, a potential military flashpoint.

VIENTIANE, July 11 (Reuters) – The United States on
Wednesday eased sanctions to allow its companies to invest in
and provide financial services to Myanmar but will require them
to make detailed disclosures about their dealings, the White
House said.

The unusual reporting requirement aims to promote greater
transparency in the country – among the world’s most corrupt
according to watchdog Transparency International – as it emerges
from nearly half century of military rule.

VIENTIANE (Reuters) – Hillary Clinton confronted a painful legacy of the Vietnam War on Wednesday when she met a man who lost his eyesight and both hands to a cluster bomb as she made the first visit to Laos by a U.S. secretary of state in nearly six decades.

The United States dropped more bombs on the Southeast Asian nation than it did on Germany and Japan combined in World War Two in a futile effort to destroy North Vietnamese supply lines to the South along the Ho Chi Minh trail.

VIENTIANE (Reuters) – The United States plans to ease sanctions this week to allow its companies to invest in and provide financial services to Myanmar but will require them to make detailed disclosures about their dealings, sources briefed on the matter said on Wednesday.

The unusual reporting requirement aims to promote greater transparency in the country — among the world’s most corrupt according to watchdog Transparency International — as it emerges from nearly half a century of authoritarian military rule.

HANOI (Reuters) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized Vietnam’s human rights record on Tuesday, especially its restriction of free speech online, and her aides said there were limits to better ties until it improved.

During a brief visit to Vietnam, a one-party state that is dominated by the Communist Party, Clinton also rejected the idea that economic growth should be given priority over democratic freedoms, arguing that the two “go hand in hand”.

ULAN BATOR (Reuters) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday held up Mongolia’s sometimes messy politics as a democratic model for Asia, and implicitly criticized political restrictions in China.

Recalling her 1995 visit as first lady, Clinton said the resource-rich nation sandwiched between Russia and China had held a string of successful parliamentary elections in the 22 years since independence from the Soviet Union.