On Nov. 6, 2003, then President George W. Bush gave a major foreign policy address in which he called for the spread of democracy across the Middle East, an appeal that seems to be resonating in this year of Arab Spring revolts. Yet less than three years after leaving office, Bush's name isn't associated with the uprisings from Cairo to Tripoli, and he gets little credit for having inspire...

Iran has formally complained to the U.S. over claims the Iranian government was involved in an alleged plot to kill Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States, a U.S. official said Sunday.The official said the U.S. received a diplomatic note on Friday expressing displeasure with the charges that were leveled earlier this month. Iran has already denied the allegations. The official said the not...

The Obama administration accused Iranian government agents Tuesday of plotting to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in the United States and immediately used the thwarted plot to ratchet up sanctions and recruit international allies to try to further isolate Tehran.Two men, including a member of Iran's special foreign actions unit known as the Quds Force, were charged in New York federal court with...

Looking to set himself apart from his better-known rivals, Republican presidential contender Jon Huntsman is dismissing their approaches to foreign policy as ill-defined and overly ambitious.Huntsman, a veteran diplomat and former Utah governor struggling to win over voters in the GOP nominating contests, looked to paint himself as uniquely qualified to address foreign policy questions that, so fa...

President Obama on Monday proposed bailing out the U.S. Postal Service, urging that it be allowed to cut mail delivery to five days a week and raise the price of postage. He also proposed allowing the service to get a $6.9 billion refund from an over funded pension fund. “Bold action is needed,” Obama said. “The administration recognizes the enormous value of the U.S. Postal ...

An envoy of Moammar Gadhafi told Greece's prime minister Sunday that the Libyan leader was seeking a way out of his country's crisis two weeks after his government's attacks to put down a rebellion drew international airstrikes, Greek officials said.Abdul-Ati al-Obeidi, a former Libyan prime minister who has served as a Gadhafi envoy during the crisis, will travel next to Turkey and Malta in a sig...

Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa says Libya is declaring an immediate cease-fire and stopping all military operations.Friday's decision comes after the U.N. voted to authorized a no-fly zone and "all necessary measures" to protect the Libyan people, including airstrikes.Koussa says the cease-fire "will take the country back to safety" and ensure security for all Libyans.But he also criticized the au...

International pressure on Moammar Gadhafi to end his crackdown on opponents escalated Monday as his loyalists fought rebels holding a city near the capital and his warplanes bombed an ammunition depot in the east.The U.S. moved naval and air forces closer to Libya and said all options were open, including the use of warplanes to patrol the North African nation’s skies.France said it would f...

Few U.S. diplomats had the breadth, depth or length of service of Richard Holbrooke, who wrote part of the Pentagon Papers, was the architect of the 1995 Bosnia peace accords and served as President Barack Obama's special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan.Holbrooke's unexpected death Monday at 69, following surgery for a tear in his aorta, marked the end of a storied career. He served through defi...

Hundreds of thousands of State Department documents leaked Sunday revealed a hidden world of backstage international diplomacy, divulging candid comments from world leaders and detailing occasional U.S. pressure tactics aimed at hot spots in Afghanistan, Iran and North Korea.The classified diplomatic cables released by online whistle-blower WikiLeaks and reported on by news organizations in the Un...

As dawn broke over this dusty border town, hundreds of people waded across the knee-deep Masak River into the Dominican Republic — carrying bundles of live chickens and sacks of clothing — as they dodged border guards waving them back onto the crowded international bridge.It’s a chaotic scene that plays out every Monday and Friday as the two nations open their borders to exchange...

Saudi Arabia's central bank holds more than twice the amount of gold previously estimated, a shift that analysts said reflected more of an accounting adjustment than an indication the oil rich nation was veering away from its conservative reserve policy.A June report by the World Gold Council, an industry group that tracks gold bullion holdings by nations the world over, showed the Saudi Arabian M...

Turkey's Foreign Ministry says at least 2 people have been killed and more than 30 wounded in an Israeli raid on an aid ship in the Mediterranean.The ministry condemned Monday's raid on the ship carrying pro-Palestinian activists, called it unacceptable and demanded an "urgent explanation" from Israel. It says Israel violated international laws and will suffer consequences.

A law enforcement official says the man accused of driving a bomb-laden SUV into Times Square was arrested on board a flight set to leave a New York airport for Dubai.The official familiar with the investigation tells The Associated Press that Faisal Shahzad (FY'-sul shah-ZAHD') was taken into custody aboard the flight at Kennedy International Airport. The official spoke on condition of anonymity ...

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Goldman Sachs & Co. and one of its executives with fraud today in a risky offshore deal backed by subprime mortgages that cost investors more than a $1 billion.The SEC also contends that Goldman allowed a client, Wall Street hedge fund Paulson & Co., to help select the securities. Paulson in turn bought insurance against the deal and when the securiti...