News stories by Jim Lobe*, page 2

Given the likely persistence of political pressure to reduce the yawning federal deficit, the United States — whether under President Barack Obama or his presumed Republican challenger, Mitt Romney — must be more selective in its foreign aid programme, according to a new report released here Tuesday by two influential think tanks.

Citing growing violence and polarisation along sectarian lines, human rights groups and independent experts here are urging Washington to exert more pressure on the government of Bahrain to free political prisoners and launch a serious dialogue with its opposition on major democratic reforms.

The United States should double aid to Central America and focus it more on programmes designed to strengthen the region's criminal justice institutions to help curb the skyrocketing violence in the region, according to a new report published by an influential foreign policy group.

Although economic growth has resumed in much of the world since the 2008 financial crisis, the global unemployment situation remains alarming and could worsen, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

Even as President Barack Obama touts his progress in extracting the U.S. from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, his administration appears to be deepening its covert and military involvement in strife-torn Yemen.

In a major speech commemmorating the Nazi Holocaust, U.S. President Barack Obama Monday announced several steps his administration will take to curb mass atrocities abroad, including in Syria where he is under continuing pressure to intervene with military force.

While Republican politicians and other 'border hawks' call for ever-tougher measures to secure the U.S.-Mexican border against drug trafficking and illegal immigration, a one-year bi-national study released here Thursday suggests that current efforts may be excessive.

Sunday's well-orchestrated - if unsuccessful - attacks by Taliban forces on Kabul and three provincial capitals in eastern Afghanistan could further shake ebbing public confidence in the U.S. and its allies that their strategy for securing Afghanistan is working.

Capping an unprecedented multinational contest for the post, the World Bank's executive board upheld a nearly 70-year tradition Monday by selecting the U.S. candidate, global health expert Jim Yong Kim, to be the Washington-based agency's next president.

The White House Wednesday said it was 'deeply concerned' about growing polarisation between the ruling monarchy and the majority Shi'a community in Bahrain and the welfare of a jailed human rights activist who has been on a hunger strike since early February.