Americas

Foreign governments are working to shape the debate on immigration reform as momentum builds in Congress.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday called her last days at the State Department "bittersweet" as she prepares to leave office at the end of the week.

House Democrats are demanding the State Department launch an investigation into allegations that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency participated in a drug raid that resulted in the deaths of four black Hondurans last year. 

The letter, spearheaded by Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) and signed by 57 of his colleagues, accuses Honduran military forces of violating the rights of black Hondurans since a military coup in 2009. The letter says the community is a victim, not a perpetrator, of drug violence.

“We request a thorough and credible investigation on the tragic killings of May 11 in Ahuas to determine what exactly occurred and what role, if any, was played by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents,” states the letter, which is addressed to Secretary of State John Kerry, who will be sworn in Friday. “We also call for an immediate investigation into alleged abuses perpetrated by Honduran police and military officials in the country.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said her recent health issues won't "factor in at all" in a decion on whether or not to run for higher office.

Antigua on Monday threatened to ignore U.S. copyrights in retaliation for the U.S. online gaming ban.

Recently disclosed internal e-mails quoted sources saying the decision would be "a political one."

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee's new chairman and one of its new members are off to a rough start.

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) made his case for lifting travel restrictions with Cuba during Sen. John Kerry's (D-Mass.) confirmation hearing by suggesting that the Castro brothers be subjected to spring breakers. After the hearing, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), the son of Cuban immigrants and one of the fiercest defenders of the embargo, accused Flake of making light of torture — a term the Arizona lawmaker did not use.

Speaker John Boehner said President Obama “alone stands in the way of tens of thousands of new jobs.” 

Zbigniew Brzezinski is still riding high on the reputation he earned almost four decades ago. 

President Obama on Wednesday waived a portion of the 1996 Helms-Burton embargo law that would allow lawsuits against Cuban businesses, following in the footsteps of Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush.

The law allows U.S. courts to take up lawsuits against businesses that operate on property the communist government appropriated after coming to power in 1959. Like his predecessors, Obama waived that provision for another six months, citing “national interests.”

“I hereby determine and report to the Congress that suspension, for 6 months beyond February 1, 2013, of the right to bring an action under title III of the Act is necessary to the national interests of the United States and will expedite a transition to democracy in Cuba,” Obama wrote to lawmakers.

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