The Obama administration is relaxing certain U.S. sanctions on the war-torn country of Sudan, the Treasury Department announced on Monday.

The new regulations provide exemptions for academic travel or non-profit work and noncommercial research in the country. It represents a shift in policy since President Clinton first installed sanctions on Sudan in 1997. Every president thereafter has renewed or strengthened them, including President Obama.

North Korea has been threatening to test launch a missile for more than a week.

Spokesman Jay Carney congratulated the "peaceful and orderly" vote but declined to recognize Hugo Chávez's successor until a recount.

National Security Adviser Tom Donilon is busily laying the groundwork for what could be a contentious round of bilateral talks between Washington and Russia later this year. 

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) announced Monday that the U.S. House delegation to the funeral of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher would be let by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.).

“Margaret Thatcher was one of the greatest champions freedom has ever known, and her funeral gives Americans and friends around the world an opportunity to pay final respects,” Boehner said in a statement. “I’m pleased that Congressman Blackburn will lead a House delegation to Baroness Thatcher’s funeral to communicate our prayers and condolences to her family and the British people.”

Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and George Holding (R-N.C.) will also attend on behalf of the House of Representatives. 

Syria has dismissed a British report asserting that the use of chemical weapons has been confirmed for the first time in the two-year-old conflict.

British officials told The Times that they have conclusive proof that “some kind of chemical weapon” was used after a soil sample from an area close to Damascus was smuggled out of the country. President Obama has said that the use of such of weapons would constitute a “red line” that would prompt a tough U.S. response.

“The testing of Syrian soil, if not performed by an official and international organization and done without the consent of the Syrian government, has no political or legal value,” Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said Monday, according to Al Arabiya. He called the report unfounded.

Former Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.), the former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will be knighted Tuesday in recognition of his leadership on foreign affairs and his efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. 

Lugar will become an honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire during a ceremony Tuesday at the British Embassy, the Lugar Center announced Monday. The 36-year senator launched the bipartisan nonprofit organization that focuses on non-proliferation, food security and foreign-aid reform earlier this month.

Long considered the Republican foreign-policy dean on Capitol Hill, Lugar is best remembered for co-authoring the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program that helped secure and eliminate 7,600 nuclear warheads in the former Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War. He also led U.S. efforts to bring new members into the NATO alliance and has long worked closely with the British.

Lugar was defeated in last year's Senate Republican primary by Tea Party-backed State Treasurer Richard Mourdock, who lost in  turn to former Rep. Joe Donnelly in the general election. He joins a handful of Americans – including presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush – who have received the honor.

Kerry on Monday urged China to press Pyongyang to "meet the obligations" needed to restart talks.

Secretary of State John Kerry will stop in Chicago as he returns from a trip to Asia to meet with parents of a U.S. diplomat who was killed in Afghanistan earlier this month.

Anne Smedinghoff, aged 25, was killed on April 6 as she carried out a goodwill mission in Zaul province in Afghanistan, delivering books to a school. Her convoy was struck by a suicide bomber, killing her and wounding four others.