Rebel News - Independent News and Analysis

The US Department of State has adopted new efforts to bring diplomacy into the digital age by using widely available technologies to reach out to non-state actors.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promoted an attempt called “the 21st Century Statecraft” which encourages using such tech-based tools as social networking websites on the internet.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates says that Washington is done with the Iraq war although the premise of war remains invalid for Americans.

Gates, who made a surprise visit to Iraq early on Wednesday, told reporters at the US Camp Ramadi that the war in Iraq was over, but its outcome was "cloudy."

Barack Obama, the US president, has met with Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, in the first of a series of meetings aimed at restarting direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

The two leaders gave brief public statements after the meeting on Wednesday. Both condemned the murder of four Israelis near Hebron on Tuesday night, which Obama called a "senseless slaughter".

Two months before the US midterm elections, a new opinion poll shows President Barack Obama's Democratic Party grappling with waning support.

According to the Gallup's national poll released on Monday, 51 percent of registered voters said they would vote for the Republicans while only 41 percent said they would vote for the Democrats.

The number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. has dropped for the first time in 20 years as substantially fewer undocumented workers from Mexico, Latin America and elsewhere are crossing the border in search of jobs, an independent research group says.

The analysis by the Pew Hispanic Center suggests the nation's economic downturn and increased border enforcement have reduced the number of illegal immigrants, who make up roughly 4 percent of the U.S. population.

A list compiled by a US newspaper shows that wealthy congressional members have become richer, while most Americans struggle with the country's recession-hit economy.

According to the list published by The Hill, the collective wealth of the 50 richest members of the Congress was about USD 1.4 billion in 2009, showing a growth of more than 85 million dollars.

Residents in the US state of Lousiana are fighting for their right to defend themselves. Police confiscated their guns after hurricane Katrina struck five years ago. It was an attempt to keep order amid the looting and violence which followed. But as Priya Sridhar has been finding out, many in the state are still angry over what THEY believe was a violation of the constitution.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski was booted from office in the Republican primary Tuesday by a little-known conservative lawyer in arguably the biggest political upset of the year.

Joe Miller, backed by Sarah Palin and the Tea Party Express, became the latest newcomer to the national political stage to take down an incumbent in 2010 amid deep dissatisfaction with the Washington establishment.

Obama administration geared up for a bold bid to relaunch direct Palestinian-Israeli peace talks and clinch a peace deal within a year as Middle East leaders gathered in Washington.

Arriving here after an attack killed four Israelis near a Jewish settlement in the Palestinian West Bank, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressed Israel's security demands but pledged to keep the talks on track after a 20-month hiatus.

The US Department of Homeland Security has said people should not jump to conclusions after two Yemenis were arrested by Dutch police after arriving in Amsterdam on a flight from Chicago.

Authroities in Washington on Tuesday said that the matter may have been a misunderstanding.