North America

Obama plans to end U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan by 2016

(Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday outlined a plan to withdraw all but 9,800 American troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year and pull out the rest by the end of 2016, ending more than a decade of military engagement triggered by the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. The decision means that Obama will leave office in early 2017 having extricated the country from the longest war in U.S. history. He ended Washington’s […]

California man charged with kidnapping 15 year old a decade ago

(Reuters) — A California man accused of abducting a 15-year-old girl and holding her captive for a decade was charged on Thursday with rape and kidnapping, even as his lawyer suggested the young woman went with him willingly and was treated “like a queen.” Police say the woman, now 25, told detectives she endured a decade of physical and sexual abuse after being abducted by her mother’s live-in boyfriend, Isidro Garcia, from the family’s suburban Santa Ana home in 2004. […]

Special Report: How the U.S. made its Putin problem worse

By David Rohde and Arshad Mohammed WASHINGTON AND NEW YORK Fri Apr 18, 2014 3:00pm EDT (Reuters) – In September 2001, as the U.S. reeled from the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Vladimir Putin supported Washington’s imminent invasion of Afghanistan in ways that would have been inconceivable during the Cold War. He agreed that U.S. planes carrying humanitarian aid could fly through Russian air space. He said the U.S. military […]

U.S. envoy Power urges Myanmar action to stop Rakhine violence

UNITED NATIONS Thu Apr 17, 2014 6:07pm EDT (Reuters) – U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power on Thursday urged the Myanmar government to intervene in Rakhine State to stop violence between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims and ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid. Power’s remarks came after U.N. special adviser on Myanmar Vijay Nambiar briefed the 15-member U.N. Security Council on Thursday on the crisis in the country formerly known as Burma. […]

Obama, Abe to battle negative images at U.S.-Japan summit

By Linda Sieg and David Brunnstrom TOKYO/WASHINGTON Wed Apr 16, 2014 8:28pm EDT (Reuters) – When President Barack Obama meets Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a summit next week, they will be battling negative undercurrents that could undermine their message that Asia’s most important security alliance is firm. Obama, stopping in Tokyo at the start of a four-nation Asian trip, must counter worries in Japan that his commitment to its defense in the face […]

U.S. calls for more investment-friendly Indian government

By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON Wed Apr 16, 2014 8:39pm EDT (Reuters) – The United States on Wednesday urged the Indian government that emerges from ongoing elections to follow economic policies that encourage investment, saying Washington would like to see bilateral trade grow to $500 billion a year. Nisha Biswal, U.S. assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, said future economic growth in South Asia hinged on India as the region’s growth engine. However, […]

Obama looks to salvage Asia ‘pivot’ as allies fret about China

By Matt Spetalnick and Manuel Mogato WASHINGTON/MANILA Wed Apr 16, 2014 1:51pm EDT (Reuters) – When a Philippine government ship evaded a Chinese blockade in disputed waters of the South China Sea last month, a U.S. Navy plane swooped in to witness the dramatic encounter. The flyover was a vivid illustration of the expanding significance of one of Asia’s most strategic regions and underscored a message that senior U.S. officials say President Barack Obama will […]

U.S. businessman convicted in DuPont economic espionage case

By Dan Levine SAN FRANCISCO Wed Mar 5, 2014 3:43pm EST (Reuters) – A U.S. jury on Wednesday convicted a California businessman of stealing DuPont trade secrets to help a state-owned Chinese company develop a white pigment used in a wide range of products. In a San Francisco federal court, jurors found Walter Liew guilty on multiple counts including conspiracy to commit economic espionage and trade secret theft. U.S. prosecutors contended Liew paid former DuPont […]