Helene Cooper The New York Times

As Republicans on the campaign trail ramped up their support for Israel in a possible military strike on Iran, President Obama used a speech before a pro-Israel lobbying group on Sunday to warn against the "loose talk of war" that could serve to speed Iran toward a nuclear weapon.

American officials who have assessed the likely Iranian responses to any attack by Israel on its nuclear program believe that Iran would retaliate by launching missiles on Israel and terrorist-style attacks on United States civilian and military personnel overseas.

The White House has decided that President Obama will not offer formal condolences - at least for now - to Pakistan for the deaths of two dozen soldiers in NATO airstrikes last week, overruling State Department officials who argued for such a show of remorse to help salvage America's relationship with Pakistan, administration officials said.

When you're the single, attractive secretary of state for the United States, you're bound to pick up groupies in all corners of the international diplomatic scene. But for Condoleezza Rice, who has been linked with diplomats from Rome (the Italian foreign minister, Massimo D'Alema) to London (Foreign Minister Jack Straw of Britain) to Pictou, Nova...

President Obama and Congressional leaders of both parties said late Sunday that they had agreed to a framework for a budget deal that would cut trillions of dollars in federal spending over the next decade and clear the way for an increase in the government's borrowing limit.

Pakistani officials say the Obama administration has demanded the identities of some of their top intelligence operatives as the United States tries to determine whether any of them had contact with Osama bin Laden or his agents in the years before the raid that led to his death early Monday morning in Pakistan.The officials provided new details of...

Pakistani officials say the Obama administration has demanded the identities of some of their top intelligence operatives as the United States tries to determine whether any of them had contact with Osama bin Laden or his agents in the years before the raid that led to his death early Monday morning in Pakistan. The officials provided new details o...

To release or not to release?That question is bedeviling the Obama administration, as White House officials try to determine whether the burning desire among Americans to see an actual photo of Osama Bin Laden's body outweighs the potential harm that releasing such a photo might cause, by further inflaming Bin Laden's disciples around the world.A p...

For years, the agonizing search for Osama bin Laden kept coming up empty. Then last July, Pakistanis working for the Central Intelligence Agency drove up behind a white Suzuki navigating the bustling streets near Peshawar, Pakistan, and wrote down the car's license plate.The man in the car was bin Laden's most trusted courier, and over the next mon...

Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the most devastating attack on American soil in modern times and the most hunted man in the world, was killed in a firefight with United States forces in Pakistan on Sunday, President Obama announced. (Watch: Obama announces Osama's death | Full Text) In a dramatic late-night appearance in the East Room of the Whi...

Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the most devastating attack on American soil in modern times and the most hunted man in the world, was killed in a firefight with United States forces in Pakistan on Sunday, President Obama announced.In a dramatic late-night appearance in the East Room of the White House, Mr. Obama declared that "justice has been ...

President Obama defended the American-led military assault in Libya on Monday, saying it was in the national interest of the United States to stop a potential massacre that would have "stained the conscience of the world."In his first major address since ordering American airstrikes on the forces and artillery of Col. Moammar el-Gaddafi nine days a...

All the deliberations over what military action to take against Col. Muammar el-Gaddafi of Libya have failed to answer the most fundamental question: Is it merely to protect the Libyan population from the government, or is it intended to fulfill President Obama's objective declared two weeks ago that Colonel Gaddafi "must leave"? "We are not going ...

In a Paris hotel room on Monday night, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton found herself juggling the inconsistencies of American foreign policy in a turbulent Middle East. She criticized the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates for sending troops to quash protests in Bahrain even as she pressed him to send planes to intervene in Liby...

The United States closed its embassy in Tripoli on Friday and imposed unilateral sanctions against Libya, including the freezing of billions in government assets, as the Obama administration made its most aggressive move against Col. Muammar el-Gaddafi since his security forces opened fire on protesters. Just minutes after a charter flight left Tri...

As Republicans on the campaign trail ramped up their support for Israel in a possible military strike on Iran, President Obama used a speech before a pro-Israel lobbying group on Sunday to warn against the "loose talk of war" that could serve to speed Iran toward a nuclear weapon.

American officials who have assessed the likely Iranian responses to any attack by Israel on its nuclear program believe that Iran would retaliate by launching missiles on Israel and terrorist-style attacks on United States civilian and military personnel overseas.

The White House has decided that President Obama will not offer formal condolences - at least for now - to Pakistan for the deaths of two dozen soldiers in NATO airstrikes last week, overruling State Department officials who argued for such a show of remorse to help salvage America's relationship with Pakistan, administration officials said.

When you're the single, attractive secretary of state for the United States, you're bound to pick up groupies in all corners of the international diplomatic scene. But for Condoleezza Rice, who has been linked with diplomats from Rome (the Italian foreign minister, Massimo D'Alema) to London (Foreign Minister Jack Straw of Britain) to Pictou, Nova...

President Obama and Congressional leaders of both parties said late Sunday that they had agreed to a framework for a budget deal that would cut trillions of dollars in federal spending over the next decade and clear the way for an increase in the government's borrowing limit.

Pakistani officials say the Obama administration has demanded the identities of some of their top intelligence operatives as the United States tries to determine whether any of them had contact with Osama bin Laden or his agents in the years before the raid that led to his death early Monday morning in Pakistan.The officials provided new details of...

Pakistani officials say the Obama administration has demanded the identities of some of their top intelligence operatives as the United States tries to determine whether any of them had contact with Osama bin Laden or his agents in the years before the raid that led to his death early Monday morning in Pakistan. The officials provided new details o...

To release or not to release?That question is bedeviling the Obama administration, as White House officials try to determine whether the burning desire among Americans to see an actual photo of Osama Bin Laden's body outweighs the potential harm that releasing such a photo might cause, by further inflaming Bin Laden's disciples around the world.A p...

For years, the agonizing search for Osama bin Laden kept coming up empty. Then last July, Pakistanis working for the Central Intelligence Agency drove up behind a white Suzuki navigating the bustling streets near Peshawar, Pakistan, and wrote down the car's license plate.The man in the car was bin Laden's most trusted courier, and over the next mon...

Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the most devastating attack on American soil in modern times and the most hunted man in the world, was killed in a firefight with United States forces in Pakistan on Sunday, President Obama announced. (Watch: Obama announces Osama's death | Full Text) In a dramatic late-night appearance in the East Room of the Whi...

Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the most devastating attack on American soil in modern times and the most hunted man in the world, was killed in a firefight with United States forces in Pakistan on Sunday, President Obama announced.In a dramatic late-night appearance in the East Room of the White House, Mr. Obama declared that "justice has been ...

President Obama defended the American-led military assault in Libya on Monday, saying it was in the national interest of the United States to stop a potential massacre that would have "stained the conscience of the world."In his first major address since ordering American airstrikes on the forces and artillery of Col. Moammar el-Gaddafi nine days a...

All the deliberations over what military action to take against Col. Muammar el-Gaddafi of Libya have failed to answer the most fundamental question: Is it merely to protect the Libyan population from the government, or is it intended to fulfill President Obama's objective declared two weeks ago that Colonel Gaddafi "must leave"? "We are not going ...

In a Paris hotel room on Monday night, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton found herself juggling the inconsistencies of American foreign policy in a turbulent Middle East. She criticized the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates for sending troops to quash protests in Bahrain even as she pressed him to send planes to intervene in Liby...

The United States closed its embassy in Tripoli on Friday and imposed unilateral sanctions against Libya, including the freezing of billions in government assets, as the Obama administration made its most aggressive move against Col. Muammar el-Gaddafi since his security forces opened fire on protesters. Just minutes after a charter flight left Tri...