UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon called the new missile tests a "provocative action."

The development delivers a blow to political transition talks the United States and Russia plan to lead

Congress has decided it's waited long enough and is ramping up a new round of sanctions.

The House Oversight chairman demanded that the retired ambassador submit to a formal deposition.

The Energy department approved a proposal to send 1.4 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas overseas. 

Russia has sent Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces advanced anti-ship cruise missiles, the New York Times reported, in the latest sign Moscow will continue to help Assad’s regime militarily.

Russia had previously provided the anti-ship cruise missiles, Yakhonts, to the Syrians, but the latest shipment includes advanced radar technology, according to the Times, which cited unnamed American officials.

“It’s a real ship killer,” Nick Brown, editor in chief of IHS Jane’s International Defense Review, told the Times.

The president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association called for a "bipartisan" select committee.

More than two-thirds of Americans – 69 percent – believe the issues raised by the congressional hearings on Benghazi, Libya, “involve serious matters that deserve to be investigated,” according to a Gallup poll released Friday.

The poll suggests a sharp partisan divide between those who take the issues that Republican lawmakers are raising about last year's terrorist attack on the U.S. mission seriously and those who think they're politically motivated. While 86 percent of self-identified Republicans said it's important to probe the Obama administration's role in the security lapses prior to the attack and its response, only 49 percent of Democrats agreed the story raises serious questions.

The poll of 1,022 adults was conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday, just as the White House began to ramp up its efforts to dismiss the Republican focus on Benghazi. President Obama called the issue a “sideshow” on Monday, and the White House released 100 pages of internal documents showing the development of talking points late Wednesday.

President Obama on Thursday asked the Senate to approve his hand-picked choice to lead Asia policy at the State Department.

Danny Russel, a special assistant to the president and the senior Asia hand on the National Security Council, was picked despite Secretary of State John Kerry's reported preference for someone from outside the White House. The nomination is the first signal that vacancies at the top levels of the State Department – including the Near East, Europe, Africa and Diplomatic Security bureaus – may finally begin to be filled three and a half months after Kerry arrived at State.

Russel replaces Kurt Campbell, who resigned in February. Joseph Yun has been serving as acting assistant secretary since then.

Russel served as the National Security Council's point man on Japan and the two Koreas from 2009 to 2011. Before that, he was director of the Office of Japanese Affairs at the Department of State and also served as U.S. consul general in Osaka-Kobe and deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassies in the Netherlands and Cyprus.

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