President Barack Obama expressed hope Thursday that talks underway between high-level Russian and U.S. envoys lead to a workable plan to strip Syria of its chemical weapons.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov were to meet in Geneva to discuss Moscow's proposal to destroy Bashar Assad's banned poison gas arsenal.

President Barack Obama called for the full implementation of plans to station U.S. troops in Australia as he congratulated incoming prime minister Tony Abbott, the White House said Thursday.
Obama late Wednesday telephoned Abbott, whose conservative Liberal Party swept back to power Saturday after six years, as well as outgoing Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, a close ally of the U.S. leader.

President Michel Suleiman, who is traveling to New York this month, is expected to meet with his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama to discuss the Syrian crisis, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Thursday.
The daily said that the issue was discussed by Suleiman and Secretary of State John Kerry during a telephone conversation they held on Wednesday.

U.S. warships in the Mediterranean remain ready to "strike hard" against the Syrian regime if ordered by President Barack Obama, the Navy's top civilian said on Wednesday.
Even as Washington put off possible military action against Damascus to pursue a last-ditch diplomatic solution, comments from Navy Secretary Ray Mabus provided a reminder that American destroyers equipped with cruise missiles are still in place in the eastern Mediterranean with no orders to leave.

The United States has begun funneling weapons and technical equipment to rebel fighters in Syria, the Washington Post reported late Wednesday.
Citing U.S. and Syrian sources, the U.S. daily wrote that the CIA had begun delivering shipments of lethal aid in the past fortnight.

Russia on Thursday warned of a potential "man-made catastrophe" if North Korea restarts an aging plutonium reactor to boost its stockpile of nuclear weapons, after U.S. experts spotted steam rising from the Yongbyon facility.
The reactor, which was completed in 1986, is outdated and North Korea could suffer a major disaster if it is restarted, a Russian diplomatic source told the Interfax news agency.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday mourned the lives lost 12 years ago in the September 11, 2001 attacks, saying "our hearts still ache" for the nearly 3,000 people killed.
Against the backdrop of possible U.S. military action against Syria, Obama marked the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks first at the White House, and then at a solemn Pentagon ceremony attended by families of 9/11 victims and senior officers.

Israel's President Shimon Peres warned Wednesday that the United States would pursue military action against Syria should its regime fail to destroy its chemical weapons in line with a Russian proposal.
"If Syria is honest and will take real steps to remove and destroy the chemical weapons in its territory, the U.S. will not attack," Peres said in a statement.

France on Wednesday joined the United States in putting threatened military action against Syria on hold as the world waited for Bashar Assad's regime to act on its pledge to give up its chemical weapons.
President Barack Obama on Tuesday asked U.S. lawmakers to delay a vote on whether to authorize strikes against Syria to allow Russian-led attempts to broker a handover of Syria's arsenal time to bear fruit.

President Barack Obama used a nationally televised address Tuesday night to make his case for military action against Syria, even as he recognized that diplomatic steps could render attacks unnecessary. He told war-weary Americans that the use of chemical weapons poses a threat to U.S. security and that America, with modest effort, "can stop children from being gassed to death."
Citing the new diplomatic efforts, Obama said he had asked congressional leaders to postpone a vote on legislation he has been seeking to authorize the use of military force against Syria — a vote he was in danger of losing. But he also said he has ordered the U.S. military to remain prepared to carry out attacks if needed.
