A federally-appointed panel recommended greater disclosure and monitoring of the environmental effects of extracting natural gas from shale formations, marking the Obama administration’s first broad assessment of the controversial practice known as fracking.

A coast-to-coast shale gas boom has raised concerns about the risks to underground water supplies from hydraulic fracturing, which involves mixing sand, water and chemicals and injecting them into shale formations at high pressure to unlock the gas. Environmental groups, local residents and …

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Mr Karzai said he would abide by the constitution’s demand that he step down when his second five-year term concludes in 2014 – just as Nato hands over security responsibilities to the Afghan state.

He had begun the search for a successor, he added.

A statement from the presidential palace said he had announced his intentions to a gathering of MPs in response to “rumours”.

Opposition leaders have long accused Mr Karzai of a plot to either rewrite …

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A dense cloud of brown dust billowed up as a pair of CH-53 Super Stallions landed in a cornfield next to Patrol Base Jaker. U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry stepped out of the swirl wearing a dress shirt, but no body armor or helmet in a move meant to impress upon a U.S. network TV crew the improved safety in Helmand province’s Nawa district. The ambassador took a turn around the bazaar, trailed by two dozen …

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British officials anticipating more riots Tuesday night sharply increased police presence in London and elsewhere to try to control the country’s worst uprising in years.

About 16,000 officers, roughly triple the number on duty in London a day earlier, were being deployed to try to accomplish what some observers described as “reclaiming the streets.”

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Syrian protesters answered President Bashar Assad’s bid to crush a popular uprising by military force with defiance Friday, braving gunfire and tanks to turn out by the tens of thousands around the capital and across the country.

It was the first major day of demonstrations since an offensive in the city of Hama began six days earlier. They signaled the failure so far of Assad’s use of the military to try to regain full control of …

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The judicial screws are tightening on Rupert Murdoch’s empire in America as the US justice department prepares to subpoena News Corporation in its investigation into whether the company broke anti-bribery and hacking laws on both sides of the Atlantic.

The news that subpoenas are being drawn up, reported by News Corp’s flagship newspaper the Wall Street Journal, comes a week after attorney general Eric Holder said he was launching a preliminary investigation into the media group …

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Republicans on Wednesday greeted coolly President Obama’s challenge that they deal immediately with raising the debt ceiling and related issues, with one key GOP senator urging Democrats to give up their Fourth of July break to work on the issue.

At his news conference, Obama called on Congress to pass a variety of economic measures — free trade as well as patent reform. But he reserved his most direct language for the stalemate over raising …

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A decision expected today from the U.S. Sentencing Commission could potentially free thousands of inmates convicted of crack felonies, if the commission decides to apply retroactively Congress’ 2010 reform of drug sentencing laws.

The Fair Sentencing Act, signed into law in August 2010, was an effort to reduce the huge disparity in punishment of those convicted with cocaine possession or use versus those caught with crack. The law gets rid of so-called “mandatory minimums” and knocks …

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The U.S. has decided to formally resume contact with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood group – which does not recognize Israel – in a move that could further alienate some Jewish voters already skeptical of President Barack Obama, it was reported.

One senior U.S. official said the Brotherhood’s rise in political prominence after the forced departure of former President Hosni Mubarak earlier this year makes the American contact necessary.

“The political landscape in Egypt has changed, and is changing… …

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Mark Halperin has been suspended indefinitely by MSNBC for calling President Obama a “dick” live on air.

The suspension came just hours after Halperin, a top editor for Time and a regular on “Morning Joe,” profusely apologized for the remark, which came during Thursday’s “Morning Joe” broadcast.

MSNBC’s statement read:

Mark Halperin’s comments this morning were completely inappropriate and unacceptable. We apologize to the President, The White House and all of our viewers. We …

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