Not long after the United States said it will start arming Syrian rebels, Syria's longtime ally Russia fired back by saying the move supports those "who kill their enemies and eat their organs."
The latest dispute sets a riveting backdrop to the Group of Eight summit in Northern Ireland on Monday, where the Syrian civil war will likely top the agenda among eight of the world's most powerful countries.
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama will meet one-on-one to discuss the war that has now killed more than 92,000 people - including thousands of children.
FULL STORY
President Barack Obama vowed Wednesday to hold accountable those at the Internal Revenue Service involved in the targeting of conservative groups applying for federal tax-exempt status, beginning with the resignation of the agency's acting commissioner who was aware of the practice.
In a brief statement delivered to reporters in the East Room of the White House, the president announced that Treasury Secretary Jack Lew had requested - and accepted - the resignation of acting IRS Commissioner Steven T. Miller.
The president said the "misconduct" detailed in the IRS Inspector General's report released Tuesday over the singling out of conservative groups is "inexcusable."
FULL STORY
[Updated at 12:58 p.m. ET] In rare bipartisan accord, normally quarrelsome U.S. lawmakers passed a measure designed to end budget-related air traffic controller furloughs blamed for widespread flight delays.
The House of Representatives approved the legislation, capping a major congressional initiative as delays snarled traffic at airports. The House vote comes a day after unanimous approval by the U.S. Senate.
The measure - which is expected to be signed into law by President Obama - gives the Transportation Department budget planners new flexibility for dealing with forced spending cuts.
FULL STORY
The politics of oil and ecology have put President Obama between a rock and hard place, as he faces a decision on whether or not to permit construction of a new pipeline. The squeeze just got tighter with a new, negative environmental assessment.
The Keystone XL pipeline will give America energy independence, thousands of jobs, important industrial infrastructure and won't cost taxpayers a dime, say proponents. Many of them are Republican lawmakers.
It is dangerous, inherently filthy and must be stopped, say opponents, some of whom are Democrats who helped get the president elected.
FULL STORYWatch CNN.com Live for gavel-to-gavel coverage of the trial of Jodi Arias, who's accused of killing her ex-boyfriend in 2008. The trial is scheduled to resume on Monday, April 8.
Today's programming highlights...
9:15 am ET - Easter prayer breakfast - President Obama and Vice President Biden speak to faith leaders at an Easter prayer breakfast in Washington.
12:45 pm ET - White House briefing - The North Korea crisis and government spending will likely dominate discussion at the White House briefing in Washington.
CNN.com Live is your home for breaking news as it happens.
President Barack Obama's upcoming budget will include proposed changes to Social Security and Medicare plus some new tax increases, changes that are an effort for the president to reach a deficit deal with Republicans, according to senior administration officials.
The budget will include an offer Obama made to House Speaker John Boehner in December, officials said. That proposal included $400 billion in savings to Medicare over 10 years.
"The President's budget to be presented on Wednesday will show how we can invest in the things we need to grow our economy, create jobs and strengthen the middle class while further reducing the deficit in a balanced way," a senior administration official said.
FULL STORYWatch CNN.com Live for gavel-to-gavel coverage of the trial of Jodi Arias, who's accused of killing her ex-boyfriend in 2008. The trial resumes on Tuesday, April 2.
Today's programming highlights...
10:30 am ET - White House Easter Egg Roll - President Obama speaks to thousands of children, their families and others at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll in Washington.
12:15 pm ET - Pentagon welcomes Singapore PM - Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel hosts an honor cordon to welcome Singapore's prime minister to the Pentagon.
CNN.com Live is your home for breaking news as it happens.
Watch CNN.com Live for gavel-to-gavel coverage of the trial of Jodi Arias, who's accused of killing her ex-boyfriend in 2008. The trial resumes on Tuesday, April 2.
Today's programming highlights...
12:00 pm ET - Good Friday at the Vatican - Pope Francis leads his first Good Friday Mass as pontiff at the Vatican. He'll then participate in a "Stations of the Cross" ceremony in Rome at 4:15 pm ET.
3:00 pm ET - Obama talks economy in Miami - President Obama is expected to call for more government spending on infrastructure projects when he speaks in Miami, Florida.
CNN.com Live is your home for breaking news as it happens.
Watch CNN.com Live for gavel-to-gavel coverage of the trial of Jodi Arias, who's accused of killing her ex-boyfriend in 2008.
Today's programming highlights...
11:40 am ET - Obama talks gun violence - President Obama will call on Congress to pass "common sense" measures on gun violence in remarks at the White House.
U.S. President Barack Obama will head to Mexico in May, officials said.
Obama accepted Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto's invitation to visit Wednesday morning, Mexico's foreign ministry said in a statement.
Obama will travel to Mexico during the first week in May to discuss a variety of issues with Pena Nieto, the statement said.
FULL STORYAfter putting himself in the middle of the historic tensions between Israelis and Palestinians this week, U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday wraps up his first trip to Israel since becoming president.
He then moves on to another of America's closest allies in the region - Jordan, a military and intelligence partner, which has been facing trying times.
Obama is devoting his last hours in Israel and the Palestinian territories to cultural endeavors.
FULL STORYU.S. President Barack Obama visited the West Bank on Thursday, stressing the need for direct talks between Israelis and Palestinians for a two-state solution.
"The Palestinian people deserve an end to occupation and the daily indignities that come with it," Obama said at a news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
"Palestinians deserve a future of hope," he said. "Palestinians deserve a state of their own."
President Barack Obama is visiting Israel, Jerusalem and the West Bank for the first time since he became president. He and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a joint news conference Wednesday evening in Jerusalem.
[Update 3:16 p.m.] The news conference has concluded.
[Update 3:15 p.m.] Netanyahu said the United States and Israel have a "common assessment" on Iran's progress in developing a nuclear weapon.
[Update 3:09 p.m.] Obama said that he "purposely did not want to come here and make some big announcement that might not match up to the reality" on the ground regarding the Middle East peace process.
[Update 3:04 p.m.] "I think there is time to resolve this issue diplomatically," Obama said about tension over Iran's nuclear program.
[Update 2:56 p.m.] Obama said that "all options are on the table" regarding Iran's nuclear ambitions, adding that "we will do what is necessary in preventing Iran from getting the world's worst weapons."
Netanyahu said he was "absolutely convinced" that Obama is "determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon."
[Update 2:52 p.m.] Obama said he has ordered an investigation of whether the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its own people, adding he was "deeply skeptical" of any claim the opposition had used them.
"Once we have established the facts, I have made clear that the use of chemical weapons is a game-changer," Obama said, stopping short of saying what he would do if Syria had crossed his "red line" for stronger action.
[Update 2:49 p.m.] Obama said the Syrian government's "use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people would be a serious and tragic mistake," adding that Damascus "will be held for accountable for the use of chemical weapons or their transfer to terrorists."
[Update 2:45 p.m.] Obama said he and Netanyahu discussed extending U.S. assistance for Israel beyond the 2017 deadline of the current agreement between their countries.
[Update 2:42 p.m.] Netanyahu said Wednesday that he hoped the visit by Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry can "help us turn a page in relations" with Palestinians seeking their own state.
[First post 2:38 p.m.] Netanyahu said Wednesday that diplomacy and sanctions have not stopped Iran's efforts to develop a nuclear weapon so far, adding that a peaceful solution also requires a clear and credible threat of military action.
For the first time as president, Barack Obama is visiting Israel as concerns about Iran's nuclear progress percolate.
The trip is part of his sweep across the Middle East, which will include visits to the West Bank and Jordan.
Obama's first stop Wednesday will be a visit to an Iron Dome missile defense launcher in Tel Aviv.
FULL STORYPresident Barack Obama departed Joint Base Andrews Tuesday evening aboard Air Force One for his first visit to Israel and the West Bank since he became president in 2009.
Iran is the top issue as Obama heads to Jerusalem for meetings with Israeli officials, including President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The prime minister has at times voiced concerns Washington has a less urgent view than Israel of Iran's progress toward developing a nuclear warhead. But Netanyahu has welcomed the administration's more muscular language of late that "all options" are on the table and that its policy is to prevent - not contain - a nuclear Iran.
FULL STORY
President Barack Obama on Monday nominated Thomas Perez, the assistant attorney general heading the Justice Department's civil rights division, as labor secretary.
A former federal prosecutor and an official in his home state of Maryland, Perez was sworn in to his current post in October 2009.
CNN's Jessica Yellin reported earlier this month that Obama would name Perez to the Cabinet position.
It's been said that Roman Catholic cardinals are reluctant to ever choose an American pope, because the Vatican would then be too closely tied to Washington. President Barack Obama would beg to differ.
As cardinals participated in a conclave Wednesday to elect a new pope, Obama told ABC's "Good Morning America" that an "American pope would preside just as effectively as a Polish pope or an Italian pope or a Guatemalan pope."
"I don't know if you've checked lately but the Conference of Catholic Bishops here in the U.S. don't seem to be taking orders from me," he said, chuckling, after being asked if an American pope would take orders from the president.
FULL STORY
Barack Obama said on Thursday that he will not engage in any "chest beating" over Iran's nuclear program, but plans to issue a "clear and direct" challenge to Tehran during his upcoming Middle East trip, according to sources familiar with his comments.
Obama said at a White House meeting with Jewish American leaders that he will still work toward a diplomatic resolution with Iran over its nuclear program, but that no options are off the table, including military ones, one of the sources said.
FULL STORY$85 billion in automatic across-the-board spending cuts became law last week, as President Obama and Congress struggle to find a solution to the crisis. Watch CNN.com Live for continuing coverage on this story.
Today's programming highlights...
10:00 am ET - North Korea policy hearing - As North Korea makes new threats amid possible U.N. sanctions over its nuclear ambitions, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee meets to discuss existing U.S. policy toward Pyongyang.
$85 billion in automatic across-the-board cuts became law last week, as President Obama and Congress struggle to find a solution to the crisis. Watch CNN.com Live for continuing coverage on this story.
Today's programming highlights...
9:30 am ET - Justice Department oversight hearing - Attorney General Eric Holder may discuss spending cuts and drones when he testifies at an oversight hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
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