WASHINGTON, Oct 16 (Reuters) – In the months before the
deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya, U.S. and allied intelligence
agencies warned the White House and State Department repeatedly
that the region was becoming an increasingly dangerous vortex
for jihadist groups loosely linked or sympathetic to al Qaeda,
according to U.S. officials.

Despite those warning s , and bold public displays by Islamist
militants around Benghazi, embassies in the region were advised
to project a sense of calm and normalcy in the run-up to the
anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented a show of unity on Friday on preventing a nuclear-armed Iran, seeking to tone down the acrimony between the two leaders that has become an issue in the final stretch of the U.S. presidential race.

Obama, widely seen as having snubbed Netanyahu by not meeting face to face with him during his U.S. visit, spoke instead by phone to the Israeli prime minister amid signs of movement toward a truce in their war of words over how to confront Tehran.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought on Friday to ease tensions over how to deal with Iran’s nuclear program, presenting a show of solidarity on the ultimate goal of preventing Tehran from acquiring an atomic bomb.

Obama, widely seen as having snubbed Netanyahu by not meeting face to face with him on his U.S. visit, spoke instead by phone to the Israeli leader amid signs of movement toward a truce in their war of words over how to confront Tehran.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi met President Barack Obama at the White House and received the highest congressional award on Wednesday.

Suu Kyi, making a coast-to-coast U.S. tour, held private talks with Obama in the Oval Office after being feted by lawmakers in the ornate U.S. Capitol, where she was presented with the Congressional Gold Medal for her long fight for democracy in a country ruled by army generals since 1962.

WASHINGTON, Sept 19 (Reuters) – Myanmar opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi met President Barack Obama at the White House
and received the highest congressional award on Wednesday.

Suu Kyi, making a coast-to-coast U.S. tour, held private
talks with Obama in the Oval Office after being feted by
lawmakers in the ornate U.S. Capitol, where she was presented
with the Congressional Gold Medal for her long fight for
democracy in a country ruled by army generals since 1962.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will meet privately with Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday at the White House, a U.S. official said.

The talks, the first between the two Nobel Peace laureates, follows Suu Kyi’s expression of support on Tuesday for an easing of U.S. sanctions on her country even as she warned that Myanmar’s reforms had cleared only the “first hurdle.”

WASHINGTON, Sept 19 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will
meet privately with Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi
on Wednesday at the White House, a U.S. official said.

The talks, the first between the two Nobel Peace laureates,
follows Suu Kyi’s expression of support on Tuesday for an easing
of U.S. sanctions on her country even as she warned that
Myanmar’s reforms had cleared only the “first hurdle.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – An eruption of violent unrest across the Middle East is confronting President Barack Obama with the most serious challenge yet to his efforts to keep the Arab Spring from morphing into a new wave of anti-Americanism – and he has few good options to prevent it.

Less than two months before the U.S. presidential election, a spate of attacks on embassies in Libya, Egypt and Yemen poses a huge dilemma for a U.S. leader who took office promising a “new beginning” with the Muslim world but has struggled to manage the transformation that has swept away many of the region’s long-ruling dictators.

WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Sunday that Iran would reach the brink of being able to build a nuclear bomb in just six or seven months, adding urgency to his demand that President Barack Obama set a “red line” for Tehran amid the worst U.S.-Israeli rift in decades.

Taking to the airwaves to make his case directly to the American public, Netanyahu said that by mid-2013 Iran would have 90 percent of the material it needed for an atomic weapon. He again pressed the United States to spell out limits that Tehran must not cross if it is to avoid military action – something Obama has refused to do.

WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Sunday that Iran was just six to seven months away from being able to build a nuclear bomb, adding urgency to his demand that President Barack Obama set a clear “red line” for Tehran in what could deepen the worst U.S.-Israeli rift in decades.

Taking to the television airwaves to make his case directly to the American public, Netanyahu said that by mid-2013, Iran would be 90 percent of the way toward enough enriched uranium for a bomb. He urged the United States to spell out limits that Tehran must not cross if it is to avoid military action – something Obama has refused to do.