Barack Obama, the US President has shelved plans for controversial bases in Poland and the Czech Republic in a major overhaul of missile defence in Europe.
Obama said his decision to shelve the missile defence plan was not dictated by Russian opposition. He expressed hopes that his new missile defence plan for Europe will make Russia “less paranoid”.
While president Obama says Washington is still focused on Iran’s threat, his opponents say the decision was a victory for Russia.
We ask what are the likely implications of Obama’s move on the US Russian relations and the rest of the world?
Inside Story presenter Maryam Nemazee discusses with Georgi Gotev, a senior editor of Euactiv, Alexander Pikaev, a military specialist at the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Donald Jensen, Center for Transatlantic Relations, a former US inspector of Soviet Weaponary.
Jamaica may be on the very of losing its battle against the AIDS epidemic because of deeply entrenched anti-gay attitudes and laws.
Correspondent Lisa Biagiotti, producer Micah Fink and director of photographer Gabrielle Weiss report from the front lines of Jamaicas battle against HIV and AIDS, a war waged in the shadows.
Oil prices bounced back above $71 on Tuesday as the dollar fell to its lowest level against the euro in more than a year.
Benchmark crude for October delivery rose $1.68 to $71.39 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $2.33 to settle at $69.71 on Monday.
With the October contract expiring Tuesday, traders focused on the November contract, which added $1.67 a barrel at $71.60.
The euro hit $1.4821 Tuesday, its highest level since August 2008.
Crude is priced in dollars so it becomes cheaper when the dollar falls. Some investors also use commodities such as oil and gold as a hedge against inflation and dollar weakness. The weaker dollar also pushed prices higher for gasoline, heating oil, gold and other commodities.
“If the dollar continues to get pummeled like this it will be a threat to the economic recovery,” PFGBest analyst Phil Flynn said, warning of higher energy and food costs.
U.S. President Barack Obama brought together the Israeli and Palestinian leaders in New York on Tuesday.
The meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas did not produce a breakthrough, but it was a moment deep in symbolism — the beginning, perhaps, of a new and more productive phase in the struggle for peace in the Middle East.
For his part, Obama had a strong message for the leaders after meeting with them individually: Get moving again on a comprehensive peace agreement.
After the meeting, Netanyahu said there was general agreement that the peace process has to be resumed as soon as possible with no preconditions.
Ghassan Shabaneh, an assistant professor of international studies at Marymount Manhattan College, joins Daljit Dhaliwal to discuss the significance of the meeting for the peace process.
President Obama inserted himself directly into the stalled Middle East peace negotiations on Tuesday, exhorting Israeli and Palestinian officials to make haste in formally relaunching peace talks and calling it “absolutely critical” that the two sides move quickly toward a comprehensive peace accord.
“It is past time to stop talking about starting negotiations, and time to move forward,” Mr. Obama said. His strong comments came just after he met separately with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, but before he went into a three-way meeting intended to further drive home that message.
“Permanent status negotiations must begin, and begin soon,” Mr. Obama said, referring to the entrenched final status issues which have bedeviled peace negotiators since 1979: the status of Jerusalem, the borders of a future Palestinian state, the dismantling of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the fate of Palestinian refugees who fled or were forced to leave their homes.
“So my message to these two is clear,” Mr. Obama said, standing with Mr. Abbas and Mr. Netanyahu. “Despite all the obstacles, all the history, all the mistrust, we have to find a way forward.”
The meetings came on the outskirts of the United Nations General Assembly opening, which is ongoing in New York this week. Administration officials were hoping that they would be able to announce a formal start to peace talks as one tangible accomplishment to come out of the meetings.
But those hopes dimmed last week after Mr. Obama’s special representative to the region, George J. Mitchell, returned to Washington after a fruitless week of shuttle diplomacy which yielded little by way of an agreement on freezing the construction of Jewish settlements and amid fresh signs of differences on the basis for peace negotiations.
The failure of Mr. Mitchell to nail down an agreement with Israel on freezing settlements, which the administration views as vital for successful talks, came coupled with the administration’s failure, so far, to secure much support from the Arab world for Mr. Obama’s endeavors on the Middle East peace front. The White House would like Arab leaders to make diplomatic gestures toward Israel, which they believe would give Mr. Netanyahu the political cover he needs at home to make concessions to the Palestinians.
None of that, so far, has been forthcoming.
Mr. Obama said Tuesday that he has asked Israeli and Palestinian negotiators to return to Washington next week to go back to the drawing table to try to hammer out a deal that will at least get the talks to the starting gate.
He said that he has asked Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to report back to him by October on progress, and he called it “absolutely critical” that the two sides get peace talks restarted.
People in Haiti are worried that, in the middle of the current hurricane season, history may repeat itself.
Hundreds of people died in mudslides and floods after last years powerful storms. Haiti’s story is just one example of the devastating effects of global warming, particularly in impoverished nations.