The American death toll in Afghanistan this year has reached the highest annual rate since the start of the US-led invasion of the country nearly nine years ago. A total of 323 US soldiers have so far been killed in Afghanistan during 2010, compared to 317 in 2009, according to figures published by the independent [...]

US President Barack Obama announces the end of the country’s combat mission in Iraq, repeating his predecessor George W. Bush some seven years ago. “Tonight, I am announcing that the American combat mission in Iraq has ended. Operation Iraqi Freedom is over,” he said on Tuesday. The US led Iraq’s invasion in March 2003 based [...]

The United States plans to strike a 60-billion-dollar arms deal with Saudi Arabia, the largest foreign arms sale by the United States. The deal adds 30 billion dollar worth of Apache and Black Hawk attack helicopters to a package that already included 84 F-15 fighter jets. If finalized, the agreement would be the largest weapons [...]

United States has decided to provide the Israeli occupation with large quantities of fuel for military purposes, which include fuel for war aircrafts and helicopters, along with large quantities of fuel for tanks and militant vehicles as bearers of soldiers and others. According to the Israeli site “Tech Deepak”, the Israeli military estimated the price [...]

A huge rally of US conservatives in Washington has drawn criticism from progressive groups as it has coincided with the anniversary of a civil rights event. At the “Restoring Honor” rally, about 100,000 conservatives and advocates of the Tea Party movement gathered at the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday to, as the organizers of the event [...]

The head of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission says US failure in Afghanistan and Iraq is a sign of decline in Washington’s power. “The United States’ failure to succeed in Iraq and Afghanistan is a sign that it (the US) is falling,” Alaeddin Boroujerdi said on Saturday, adding that Iran’s power, on [...]

A media report says that an Afghan soldier killed two US-led soldiers in a shoot-out when they tried to remove an Afghan woman’s veil by force. An exchange of fire between two Spanish soldiers and an Afghan police trainee left all three killed in northwestern Afghanistan’s Badghis Province on Wednesday. Informed sources told the Pashtun [...]

Amid US and Israel’s threats of an attack, an Iranian lawmaker has warned against the “costly” consequences of even the smallest US mistake. “A small mistake by the United States will inflict a heavy cost upon the region and all parts of the world,” deputy head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of [...]

The top US commander in Iraq says American troops would return to combat operations if the security situation worsens and if the Iraqi military asks. Declining to rule out his country’s return to combat, he said, “If they ask us that they might want us to stay longer, we certainly would consider that,” General Ray [...]

The federal financial regulators in the US have shuttered eight more banks, bringing the number of banks failed this year to 118 amid an ongoing financial crisis. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation on Friday seized eight banks including four California-based banks, a community bank in Chicago, and banks in Florida and Virginia. In California bank [...]

A new poll in the United States shows that a slim majority of Americans believe history will judge the Iraq war as a failure rather than a success. According to results of a Gallup opinion poll released on Friday, 53 percent of Americans surveyed maintain that history will view the US invasion of Iraq and [...]

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said that anti-corruption units should be allowed to operate “free from foreign interference or political influence.” Karzai made the remarks in Kabul on Friday during a meeting with visiting US Senator John Kerry. “The president and I agreed that the work of these entities must be allowed to continue free [...]

A new poll in the United States shows that a majority of US citizens oppose the war in Afghanistan, nearly nine years after US-led NATO and coalition forces attacked the country. Six out of ten US citizens are dissatisfied with Washington’s handling of the Afghan war, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll conducted from August [...]

Palestinian officials say they will accept US calls for the resumption of direct peace talks with Israel if the new plan meets their demands. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday invited Israel and the Palestinians to resume direct peace talks hosted by President Barack Obama in Washington on September 2. The Quartet of [...]

With the United States drawing down troops in Iraq, the State Department plans to double the number of private security contractors it uses to ensure the safety of the huge civilian development effort, officials said on Thursday. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the plan would bring to some 7,000 the total security contractors employed [...]

The number of new jobless claims filed last week in the United States rose unexpectedly to half a million, marking the highest record in nine months. It was the third straight week that first-time jobless claims were on the rise, suggesting that the US private sector may report a net loss of jobs in August [...]

A new opinion poll shows the Israeli regime is losing support among the American public as more US citizens question Tel Aviv’s commitment to peace. The survey presented to Israeli leaders last week was conducted by pollster and strategist Stanley Greenberg and sponsored by America’s pro-Israeli organization, the Israel Project, Ha’aretz reported on Thursday. The [...]

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) says 6.8 million jobs were lost from September to December 2009 and the world’s biggest economy is still facing a tough time. The big job losses overshadowed the 6.6 million jobs created during the same period, the BLS said in a report released on Wednesday. Job losses had [...]

Palestinians in west al-Quds (Jerusalem) protest Israel’s demolition of several renovated Muslim graves at the ancient Mamilla cemetery. The Israeli army is demolishing the graves to build a Museum of Tolerance on the burial ground, the Palestinians complain. The latest demolitions come at a time when Palestinian groups have begun renovating some 300 graves at [...]

A US Treasury Department official has ended his two-day visit to Lebanon, during which he held talks with financial leaders on the UN and US sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program. Stuart Levey, the undersecretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, met Finance Minister Raya al-Hassan, Central Bank Governor Riad Salame, [...]