The U.S. relationship with Azerbaijan is a crucial one at the moment... But recent months have indeed seen "serious issues" surface in the bilateral relationship—so serious that the relationship has sunk to an all-time low. The primary cause of the rift is a development between Azerbaijan’s neighbors: the Turkey-Armenia reconciliation process.

Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN), the ranking Republican member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations has done something remarkable: issued an honest appraisal of America's public diplomacy broadcasting.

It has now been a year since the historic Iranian presidential election and its volcanic aftermath. Some in Iran, proud of the highest turnout (85%) in Iranian election history, consider the day (June 12) a time for glory, while others, in the defeated Reformist camp, consider it a memorial day for those who lost their lives in the violence.

Alec Ross, Secretary Clinton's Senior Advisor for Innovation, said the new policy is designed to promote access to global education and culture by permitting certain telecommunications equipment and services to flow to those countries. Export of those equipment and services had previously been blocked by U.S. sanctions.

WASHINGTON -- A recent “pivot” of U.S. sanctions policy toward Iran, Sudan and Cuba was discussed in detail this morning by a senior State Department official.

Alec Ross, Secretary Clinton's Senior Advisor for Innovation, said the new policy is designed to promote access to global education and culture by permitting certain telecommunications equipment and services to flow to those countries. Export of those equipment and services had previously been blocked by U.S. sanctions.

The US House of Representatives has passed a bill to recognise Nanjing City of China as a "Model for International Cooperation" in order to award the city's active involvement in cooperation with the United States in education, innovation and entrepreneurship, and this was the first Chinese city to win such an award, Li Jiansheng, executive chairman of the US-China Partnership Committee said.

As everyone knows, BP is enveloped in a massive environmental and PR disaster, which is doing serious damage to its reputation, not only in the US but across the world. But by relentlessly kicking the firm while it’s down, in what appears to be increasingly brutal and vindictive fashion, the Obama White House is generating significant animosity in a nation that is traditionally pro-American.