It is very likely flight MH370 had its communications “deliberately disabled” before it went missing, but there has been no confirmation the plane was hijacked, Malaysian PM Najib Razak said at a press conference. “There is a high degree of certainty” that the communications systems of flight MH370 were disabled by someone on board the plane, Razak said. Citing evidence from satellite images... 

Obama has spent recent weeks reviewing a series of recommendations made by a White House review panel. President Obama will unveil his proposed reforms to the nation’s surveillance programs in a speech next Friday, Jan. 17, the White House announced. “He will be remaking remarks to discuss the outcomes of the work that has been done in the review process,” White House press secretary... 

The White House warns that a fresh effort by some US senators to impose new sanctions against Iran will send the signal that Washington negotiates in bad faith. “If we pass sanctions now, even with a deferred trigger which has been discussed, the Iranians, and likely our international partners, will see us as having negotiated in bad faith,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Tuesday. Key... 

US Secretary of State John Kerry has warned Congress that any new sanctions against Iran will be viewed as “bad faith” and can “destroy the ability to” reach an agreement. “Our hope is now that no new sanctions would be put in place for the simple reason that if they are, it could be viewed as bad faith by the people we’re negotiating with, [and] it could destroy the ability to be able... 

A global conflict between the US, Russia, and China is likely in the coming months should the world powers fail to reach a nuclear deal with Iran, an American analyst says. “If the talks fail, if the agreements being pursued are not successfully carried forward and implemented, then there would be enormous international pressure to drive towards a conflict with Iran before [US President Barack]... 

A new document by American whistleblower Edward Snowden reveals that the United States has monitored the telephone conversations of 35 world leaders. The Guardian reported on Thursday that officials from the White House, the US Department of Defense, and the State Department gave the world leaders’ numbers to the National Security Agency. One unnamed American official handed over 200 numbers, including... 

White House spokesman Jay Carney White House spokesman Jay Carney has talked about the possibility of a meeting between US President Barack Obama and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in New York next week. “It’s possible, but it has always been possible,” Carney said at a press conference on Thursday. “The extended hand has been there from the moment the president was sworn... 

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has postponed a state visit to Washington in response to the US spying on her communications with top aides. Rousseff is demanding a full public apology from President Obama. Barack Obama spoke with Rousseff on Monday in an attempt to persuade her into following through with the trip, the Brazilian president’s office said, according to AP. Brazil’s TV Globo... 

The United States is sending a fifth warship towards Syria, defense officials said Thursday, upping the ante as a showdown between the US and President Bashar al-Assad’s regime remains all but declared. A 505-foot-long guided missile destroyer, the USS Stout, has been sent to the Mediterranean Sea to assist the four US warships already deployed to await potential orders to strike Syria amid an international... 

The White House says President Barack Obama may approve using military force against the Syrian government. On Friday, White House press secretary Jay Carney said the administration has a number of options with regards to handling reports that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has used chemical weapons, and those include using military force among other possibilities. Fielding a question from the media...