Apr 20 Carter presses Gulf nations to do more in Iraq By Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Defense Secretary Ash Carter pressed reluctant defense ministers from six Gulf nations Wednesday to provide more economic and political support to Iraq now to help the war-torn nation in its fight against the Islamic State Group. Continue reading
Apr 20 Obama meets with King Salman at start of Saudi Arabia visit By Kathleen Hennessey and Adam Schreck, Associated Press RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — President Barack Obama opened a brief trip to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday with a one-on-one meeting with King Salman in Riyadh. The visit for a Persian Gulf summit comes against the backdrop of increasingly strained U.S. Continue reading
Apr 19 Ryan won't back bill allowing 9/11 victims sue Saudi Arabia By Andrew Taylor, Associated Press WASHINGTON -- House Speaker Paul Ryan is reserving judgment on bipartisan legislation to allow the families of Sept. 11 victims to sue the government of Saudi Arabia for any role that elements of Saudi regime may have played in the… Continue reading
Apr 18 Obama's first farewell tour starts with damage control By Kathleen Hennessey, Associated Press WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama sets out this week on his first in a series of international farewell tours, a sometimes wistful tradition for presidents in legacy mode. But in a reminder of this president's uneven ties to allies, Obama's… Continue reading
Feb 27 Saudi court sentences man to 10 years, 2,000 lashes for atheist tweets By Daniel Costa-Roberts A court in Saudi Arabia has handed down a guilty verdict in the case of a professed atheist accused of posting hundreds of tweets denying God's existence and criticizing religion. His sentence: a decade in prison, a fine and a… Continue reading
Feb 15 Watch 3:24 News Wrap: Saudi Arabia launches its largest war games ever By PBS News Hour In our news wrap Monday, Saudi Arabia launched war games involving 20 mostly Arab and African countries amid a fight against Shiite rebels in Yemen and a pledge to help fight the Islamic State. Also, Pope Francis condemned centuries of… Continue watching
Feb 08 U.S. faces shortcomings in global, anti-ISIS coalition By Robert Burns, Associated Press WASHINGTON — To doubters of its strategy for defeating the Islamic State, the Obama administration likes to tout its coalition of 66 nations and claim strength in numbers. But a year and a half into the war, some administration officials… Continue reading
Jan 13 Obama, Putin agree on a tougher response to North Korea By Josh Lederman, Associated Press WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin joined Wednesday in calling for a tough global response to North Korea's recent nuclear test, even as they remained at odds over Ukraine and Syrian President Bashar Assad. Continue reading
Jan 07 Watch 5:06 News Wrap: Truck bomb kills dozens in Libya By PBS News Hour In our news wrap Thursday, at least 47 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in Libya by a truck bomb targeting a police training center with hundreds of recruits. Also, dozens of Saudi airstrikes hit targets in Yemen's… Continue watching