White House News

WASHINGTON - Actor Kal Penn has started his new job as a liaison between the White House and Asian communities.

WASHINGTON - Politically and economically, the next three months are critical for Barack Obama's presidency.

MOSCOW - President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a preliminary agreement Monday to reduce the world's two largest nuclear stockpiles by as much as a third, down to the lowest levels of any U.S.-Russia accord, and counter what Obama called "a sense of drift" in the countries' relations.

MOSCOW - President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart agree that there hasn't been as much progress as they'd like to see in the fight against insurgents in Afghanistan.

MOSCOW - President Barack Obama says he wants to host a summit on global nuclear security next year.

WASHINGTON - U.S. officials say Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton plans to meet ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya this week. It would be the highest-level contact the Obama administration has had with Zelaya since he was deposed last week.

WASHINGTON - Robert S. McNamara, the cerebral secretary of defense vilified for his role in escalating the Vietnam War, a disastrous conflict he later denounced as "terribly wrong," died Monday. He was 93.

FORT STEWART, Ga. - It was just another day for the U.S. Army in war-weary northern Iraq: insurgents in Mosul, political turf battles in Kirkuk, an attack on the Bayji oil refinery in Salah ad Din.

WASHINGTON - Former Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara died Monday, according to his wife. He was 93.

WASHINGTON - Report: Former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara has died.

WASHINGTON - They are the biggest of the big — the Citigroups, the Goldman Sachses, the AIGs and other financial behemoths. The Obama administration doesn't want so many around anymore.

MOSCOW - President Barack Obama says he expects to complete a review of the U.S. plan for building missile defense systems in Europe by the end of the summer.

WASHINGTON - The nation's top military officer said Sunday he has advised President Barack Obama to move "in a measured way" in changing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that bans gays from serving openly in the military.

MOSCOW - President Barack Obama says he trusts Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (dih-MEE'-tree med-VYEH'-dyev) to follow through on the agreements the two leaders have announced at their summit in Moscow.

WASHINGTON - Colin Powell says the U.S. took too long to strengthen its forces in Iraq after Baghdad fell early in the war.

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney talked with top White House officials about how to respond to reporters' inquiries into who leaked the identity of a CIA operative, according to a court filing.

MOSCOW - The United States and Russia say they are resuming military cooperation suspended after Russia invaded its smaller neighbor Georgia last year.

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration is moving cautiously on a new pilot program that would both detect and stop cyber attacks against government computers, while trying to ensure citizen privacy protections.