Eliot Engel

U.S. lawmakers passed bills on Nov. 15 renewing sanctions on Iran for 10 years and imposing new sanctions on Syria, underscoring their determination to play a strong role in Middle East policy no matter who occupies the White House. 

Many Albanians in the US and at home have been enthusiastically backing Hillary Clinton's bid for the nomination as the Democratic Party's presidential candidate.

The former director of the National Albanian-American Council, lobbyist Avni Mustafaj, told BIRN that Albanians in US believe the Clintons remain highly sympathetic to Albanian issues.

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova has been presented with a Special Award of Simon Wiesenthal Center, the international Jewish human rights organization, in recognition of her leadership and longstanding commitment to promoting peace and dialogue.

The U.S. has decided to sell Turkey $70 million worth of "smart bombs," a key item in a set of crucial weapon systems that Washington had been refusing to send to Ankara. 

Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer announced on August 6 he would vote against the Iran nuclear deal, in a blow to President Barack Obama's efforts to sell the measure.

After optimistic reports of a way out of the political crisis in Macedonia, fresh crisis talks planned for Friday have been cancelled.

The United States has shelved the handover of two leftover frigates to Turkey, as Congress excluded Turkey from a bill seeking permission to transfer vessels to foreign countries, citing Mediterranean tensions.

Turkey has strongly criticized a U.S. House committee bill that directs the State Department to monitor the return of property confiscated from Christians in Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

The U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs has adopted a bill on monitoring the return of property confiscated from Christians in Turkey and Northern Cyprus.

The Committee will put a bill before the House to provide annual assessments on the status of, and U.S. efforts to return, property such as churches to the former Christian owners.