Reuters 57 mins ago GENEVA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Saturday strongly endorsed a new international plan for a political transition in Syria , saying it would send a clear message to President Bashar al-Assad that he must step down. "Assad will still have to go," Clinton told a news conference after international mediator Kofi Annan announced that major powers including Russia and the United States had reached a deal that calls for a transitional unity government to take power in Syria. "What we have done here is to strip away the fiction that he and those with blood on their hands can stay in power," Clinton said. (Reporting by Andrew Quinn) Most Popular Pelosi-Boehner photo: lots of buzz Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal refuses to implement Obamacare despite Supreme Court ruling U.S. "Genius" visa attracts entrepreneurs and Playmates Michelle Obama cites Jesus as model for citizenship Excel Shortcuts You Probably Didnt Know ...

Associated Press 8 mins ago NEW YORK (AP) Mitt Romney 's campaign has launched a new attack ad against President Barack Obama that uses Hillary Rodham Clinton 's words against the president. The Romney ad is running in Ohio and several other battleground states . It's a response to a commercial run by the Obama campaign suggesting that the Republican presidential hopeful's longtime private equity firm has sent jobs overseas The Romney ad calls the allegations false and says Obama used unfounded attacks on Clinton when the two vied for the Democratic nomination in 2008. The ad includes a clip of Clinton saying "Shame on you, Barack Obama," after direct mail pieces his campaign sent out in Ohio suggested that she supported the North American Free Trade Agreement. Clinton now serves as Obama's secretary of state. Most Popular Excel Shortcuts You Probably Didnt Know John Roberts saves Obamacare: How does George W. Bush feel right now? Could the Republican...

AFP 1 hr 6 mins ago US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will press Russia on Friday in a bid to save a crucial weekend meeting on the Syria crisis that has been threatened by objections from Moscow . Clinton will meet her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov just one day after he angrily dismissed suggestions that Moscow backed a transition plan which Western powers said was on the agenda for Saturday's talks in Geneva. Peace envoy Kofi Annan 's proposal would hand power to an interim Syrian team without those "whose continued presence and participation would undermine the credibility of the transition and jeopardise stability and reconciliation". The wording appears to imply -- without saying so directly -- that Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad would have to relinquish his grip on the presidency for the idea to succeed. Russia has recently cooled toward Assad while still providing its old ally with weapons and insisting that only the Syrians themselves can find a ...

Sigourney Weaver can see it coming a mile away. Isnt her Political Animals character, Elaine Barrish, a dead ringer for Hillary Clinton? For starters, the main character on Political Animals a six-hour miniseries premiering July 15 on USA is Elaine Barrish, a former Democratic First Lady who, after failing to win her partys presidential nomination, divorces her horndog, Southern-twanged ex-president-husband Bud Hammond (Ciaran Hinds) and becomes Secretary of State for the new President, Paul Garcetti (Adrian Pasdar), who she ferociously battled in the primaries. David Giesbrecht/USA Network KINDA SORTA: Signourney Weaver plays the secretary of state in USA series Political Animals. Save for the divorced part and the fact that Elaine has two sons (one whos gay) instead of a daughter its the Clintons writ large. Its not based on [Hillary], Weaver says, somewhat emphatically, when asked. I would say [Elaine] is inspired by a lot of families who have been in the White House . . . bu...

When she lost the Presidential election to Barack Obama in 2008 Hillary Clinton told her staffers that not in a million years would she consider the Secretary of State job, now three-and-a-half years later she has become the most traveled Secretary of State in US history. Clinton this week visited Latvia, her 100th nation while serving in her international role. Clinton has now visited 4 more countries than her husbands former secretary of state Madeleine Albright who from 1997 to 2001 traveled to 96 countries. In comparison Condoleezza Rice visited 85 countries in four years while working for former President George W. Bush. Clinton embraced her new role very early on, visiting Asia less than a month after President Obama because the POTUS. During her first year as the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton managed to visit 42 countries. In some cases Clinton traveled to various countries to receive rewards or give a speech, however she always plans time to meet with world leaders to ens...

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton walks with a bouquet of flowers she received after arriving in Riga, Latvia, Thursday, June 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari, Pool) RIGA, Latvia -- Hillary Rodham Clinton made and marked history on Thursday, setting a new frequent-flier record for American secretaries of state by touching down in her 100th country and commemorating the strong stand one of her predecessors took against Soviet expansion. The globe-trotting Clinton hit the century mark when she stepped off her Air Force Boeing 757 plane in the Latvian capital of Riga. No previous secretary of state has visited more than 96 countries while in office, according to the State Department. The previous record-holder was Madeleine Albright, who served as secretary of state during President Bill Clinton's second term in office. In her three and a half years as secretary, Clinton has so far logged 7...

RIGA, Latvia U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has set a new frequent-flier record, touching down in her 100th country as America's top diplomat. The globetrotting Clinton hit the century mark when her plane touched down in the capital of Latvia on Thursday. No previous secretary of state had visited more than 96 countries while in office, according to the State Department. In her three and a half years as secretary, Clinton has logged 70 trips abroad to countries from Afghanistan to Zambia. She has spent 337 days on the road, including more than 1,750 hours, or more than 73 days, on her Air Force 757, the department said.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and her Russian counterpart agreed Wednesday to attend an emergency meeting on Syria this weekend following personal appeals by U.N. envoy Kofi Annan to consider new proposals for a Syrian political transition. Final agreement by Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov came after Russia dropped its insistence that Iran be invited to the Annan-convened gathering of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, along with Turkey and Arab League officials, according to a senior Obama administration official. In New York, U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said Annan would brief Iran after the meeting. Irans U.N. ambassador, Mohammad Khazaee, told reporters, If some powers that be do not want to benefit from [Irans] influence and constructive role, thats their problem. Clinton had expressed doubts about the prospect of convening what Annan christened an action group and said she would not attend if Iran was there. After Iran was...

Jun 27, 2012 2:16pm Email Smaller Font Text Larger Text | Print Image credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton touches down in Latvia Thursday, she will hit a milestone, having traveled to a staggering 100 countries in less than four years. Clinton will become the most-traveled secretary of state in U.S. history. The previous record holder was Madeleine Albright, who visited 96 countries when she was the nations top diplomat from 1997 to 2001. Clintons predecessor, Condoleezza Rice, visited 85 countries in four years. Rice talked to Fox News Greta Van Susteren Tuesday night about how living out of a suitcase is a requirement of the job. The frequent visits demonstrate that the secretary of state has to travel widely because the inbox for the world is really the American secretary of states inbox, Rice said. That is really what those numbers show. You have to get out there and represent the United States. Besides Lativias being the 100th count...

Jessica Dimmock/VII, for The New York Times Head of State Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at a senior staff meeting in Washington. On May 3, the day after an artful deal to end the diplomatic crisis over Chen Guangcheng, Chinas now-famous dissident, unraveled spectacularly, Hillary Rodham Clinton followed a scrum of Chinese ministers around an exhibition of clean cookstoves. These are safer, portable alternatives to the crude stoves used by hundreds of millions of women in the developing world at grave risk to themselves, their children and the planet. Not long after becoming secretary of state in 2009, Clinton took up the cookstove cause, one of what she describes as smart power issues though skeptical veterans of American foreign policy tend to deride them as soft more than smart. Jessica Dimmock/VII, for The New York Times Clinton with Laura Bush at the U.S.-Afghan Womens Council 10th-anniver! sary lun cheon at the State Department. In September 2010, Clinton announced the c...

A former aide to Hillary Clinton sparks a passionate debate over an age-old question: Can women fulfill their professional ambitions and raise a happy family? Anne-Marie Slaughter , a former aide to Hillary Clinton, looks back on her 18 months at the State Department in the current issue of The Atlantic ,and comes to a contentious conclusion: Women definitely can't have it all. Slaughter describes the agony of trying make the best of her "foreign-policy dream job" in Washington, D.C., while commuting every weekend to her home in Princeton , N.J., where her rebellious teenage son appeared to be spiraling out of control. Slaughter lays the blame for her conundrum squarely at the door of feminism, saying the movement misled women into believing that they could have a high-powered career and a family. Slaughter's manifesto quickly became the most-read article in the history of The Atlantic 's website, and has sparked lengthy responses across the internet. While...

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has deplored the omission of women's reproductive rights in the final statement of the UN summit on sustainable development. In her address to the Rio+20 summit on how to usher in a green economy, Clinton stressed that 'women are essential drivers of sustainable development.' 'I applaud the bold call to action issued here in Rio by UN women and likewise the Rio+20 outcome document devotes a strong section to expanding opportunities for women,' she said. She voiced satisfaction that the document, expected to be adopted at the end of the summit later Friday, 'endorses sexual and reproductive health and universal access to family planning.' But she made clear that 'to reach our goals on sustainable development, we also have to ensure women's reproductive rights.' Reproductive rights include a woman's right to decide the number, timing and spacing of children, the right to voluntarily marry and establish a fa...

This content requires the Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled. Get Flash President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton helped their longtime friend Marjorie Margolies Mezvinsky celebrate her 70th birthday Saturday night in Ventnor, NJ. Of course MMM, a former television journalist, who actually turned 70 Thursday, is also the mother in law of Chelsea Clinton who attended the party along with her husband Mark Mezvinsky . The party took place at the palatial estate of real estate developer Michael Karp , at a home formerly owned by casino mogul Steve Wynn . Both Clintons strolled the boardwalk for a bit and posed for pictures with one family thrilled to meet the powerful pair.

by Noah Rothman | 9:11 am, June 25th, 2012 New York Post columnist and supporter of President Barack Obama in 2008, Michael Goodwin , told Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade on Monday that he believes Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is already in the process of transitioning from Cabinet Secretary to vice president. RELATED: Hillary Clinton Spices Up Swearing-In Ceremony In Purple Cat-Eye Sunglasses Goodwin said that last week was a conspicuously high-profile week for the Secretary and it is part of her transition to replacing Vice President Joe Biden on President Barack Obam as ticket in November. The President is in trouble, said Goodwin. This is going to be a very tough election right now. Things are not getting better they are actually getting worse. He says that Clinton is the most obviously way to buoy Obamas reelection chances. Kilmeade backed up Goodwins assertion by showing a USA Today /Gallup poll from early May which put Clintons favorability rating at 66 p...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's journey is the only first lady to become a U.S. Senator and then the nation's top diplomat. She's had to develop diplomacy skills, after nearly three decades engaged in rough and tumble politics. Clinton is featured in the latest issue of Foreign Policy magazine. Susan Glasser, the magazine's editor in chief, who wrote the story, offers her insight.

25-Jun-12, 2:41 AM | Agence France-Presse OTHER WORLD STORIES 'Brave' ousts 'Madagascar' from top of box office Clinton condemns Syria for shooting down Turkish jet Rising sea level puts US Atlantic coast at risk: report Arab world welcomes Morsi election in Egypt Croatian police on the hunt for book-loving thief InterAksyon.com The online news portal of TV5 WASHINGTON -- US Secretary of Stat! e Hillar y Clinton condemned Syria on Sunday for the "brazen and unacceptable" shooting down of a Turkish fighter jet and vowed to work with Ankara on a suitable response. "It is yet another reflection of the Syrian authorities' callous disregard for international norms, human life, and peace and security," Clinton said in a written statement. Clinton said she spoke with Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu on Saturday to convey "grave concern" about the downing of a Turkish F-4 fighter jet by Syrian forces. "I also told him that our...

By Howard LaFranchi | Christian Science Monitor 6 hrs ago The United Nations global summit on sustainable development concluded in Rio de Janeiro Friday with only modest and nonbinding goals, and in the eyes of some critics it even took a giant step backwards by eliminating from its final document any reference to women s reproductive rights of the kind that has figured in similar summits statements for the past two decades. The Rio+20 summit so named because it took place 20 years after the landmark Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit of 1992 underwhelmed leaders and private-sector participants alike for its lack of bold initiatives and landmark treaties, such as the biodiversity and greenhouse-gas initiatives that came out of the first Rio summit. But Rio+20 nevertheless generated controversy over the successful campaign by the Vatican and developing countries to eliminate any reference to reproductive rights from the summits final text. Rio+20: 5 key takeaways The document still advo...