Daniel DeFraia

Syria Denies Chemical Weapons Attacks, Calls Kerry’s Accusations ‘Categorically False’

Kerry had called the Syrian government’s delayed decision to allow a team of UN inspectors near the site was “too late.”

Daniel DeFraia
By Daniel DeFraia
Hagel

Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Moallem denied on Tuesday that the government carried out chemical weapons attacks, calling US Secretary of State John Kerry's accusations "categorically false." Speaking in Damascus, he said he rejected "utterly and completely" what Kerry had said the previous day. On Monday, Kerry called the alleged use of

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Shoddy Intelligence On Realities In Yemen Hinders US Fight Against Al-Qaida

Interview: “The United States sees Yemen though the prism of Al Qaeda. They don’t see AQAP though the prism of Yemen.”

Daniel DeFraia
By Daniel DeFraia

Reports of an al-Qaida-issued threat that closed 19 U.S. diplomatic posts around the world were followed by a series of rapid fire drone strikes against what the U.S. says are al-Qaida militants in Yemen, including three successive strikes on Thursday. Is Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula — or AQAP — really the terrorist network's most dangerous

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US Lawmakers Claim Embassy Closures Prove Need For NSA Surveillance

At least 19 U.S. diplomatic posts, mostly in the Middle East and North Africa, will remain closed throughout the week.

Daniel DeFraia
By Daniel DeFraia

At least 19 U.S. diplomatic posts, mostly in the Middle East and North Africa, will remain closed throughout the week, the State Department said on Sunday, due to what officials claim is a serious and unspecified terrorist threat to American interests abroad. The news comes as lawmakers on talk shows over the weekend promoted their opinion that

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Unprecedented: 21 US Embassies To Close, Citing Vague ‘Threat’

On Sunday, the State Department will close 21 diplomatic posts around the world.

Daniel DeFraia
By Daniel DeFraia
In this Sept. 13, 2012 file photo, a Libyan man investigates the inside of the U.S. Consulate, after an attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens on the night of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012, in Benghazi, Libya. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon, File)

The U.S. State Department will close 21 embassies and consulates around the Muslim world on Sunday, Aug. 4, citing a "credible threat" of possible Al Qaeda-related attacks in the Middle East, North Africa and elsewhere. The broad and unprecedented measure accompanies a global travel warning, in effect from now until Aug. 31, that suggests

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Alleged 9/11 Plotter Wanted To Design A Vacuum Cleaner — While Being Tortured By CIA

While in a CIA-run secret prison, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed asked to design a vacuum cleaner — likely to keep himself sane.

Daniel DeFraia
By Daniel DeFraia

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged 9/11 mastermind captured in 2003, kept in secret CIA detention facilities and water-boarded 183 times, wanted to design a vacuum cleaner -- likely to keep himself sane. An exclusive Associated Press report claims Mohammed, or KSM, who has a bachelor's in mechanical engineering from North Carolina A&T State

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IMF Criticizes US Budget Sequestration, Again

“The budgetary procedure that is in place in the United States… seems to us absolutely inappropriate,” Christine Lagarde said.

Daniel DeFraia
By Daniel DeFraia
Argentina | IMF protest

International Monetary fund chief Christine Lagarde does not think too highly of the United States' relatively new federal budget. At an economists' conference in France's southern Aix-en-Provence, Lagarde said recent budget cuts, better known as the sequester, were inappropriate and could damage middle and long term growth. "The budgetary

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Russia: Snowden ‘Needs To Choose A Place To Go’

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has said fugitive leaker Edward Snowden will not find asylum on Russian soil.

Daniel DeFraia
By Daniel DeFraia
Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a cup of tea as he meets with Sonya, 8, not pictured, from the city of Pskov in Moscow's Kremlin on Wednesday, May 9, 2012. Sonya undergoes a medical treatment at Federal Scientific Center for Child's Oncology in Moscow. (AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Government Press Service)

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has said fugitive National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden will not find asylum on Russian soil and that he'll have to find a solution on his own. "He needs to choose a place to go," Ryabkov told Reuters on Thursday. "As of this moment, we do not have a formal application from Snowden asking for

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