North Korea’s missile tests and menacing rhetoric have disappointed U.S. expectations that young leader Kim Jong-un would be different than his father but Washington still hopes to persuade Pyongyang to change course, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday.

“With a new young leader we all expected something different,” Clinton said in a town hall-style session put together by the State Department and broadcast worldwide. “We expected him to focus on improving the lives of the North Korea people, not just the elite, but everyone.

“Instead he has engaged in very provocative rhetoric and behavior,” she said of Kim, who took over his impoverished, isolated Northeast Asian nation when his father, Kim Jong-il, died in December 2011.

READ ON: U.S. still seeks change from North Korea

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday angrily defended her handling of the September 11 attack on the U.S. mission in the Libyan city of Benghazi and denied any effort to mislead people. The attack by armed militants that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans threatens to stain Clinton’s legacy as secretary of state. It also may dent any hopes that Clinton, who mounted an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2008, may run for the White House again in 2016. By turns emotional and fierce, Clinton choked up as she spoke of comforting the victims’ families and grew angry when a Republican senator accused the Obama administration of misleading the country over whether the Benghazi incident stemmed from a protest. “With all due respect, the fact is that we had four dead Americans,” Clinton shot back as she testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, an appearance delayed more than a month because of her ill health. “Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they’d go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make?” she said, making chopping motions with her hands for emphasis. READ ON: Clinton angrily defends handling of Benghazi attackLIVE COVERAGE: Clinton testifies before House committee 
Pop-upView Separately

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday angrily defended her handling of the September 11 attack on the U.S. mission in the Libyan city of Benghazi and denied any effort to mislead people.

The attack by armed militants that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans threatens to stain Clinton’s legacy as secretary of state. It also may dent any hopes that Clinton, who mounted an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2008, may run for the White House again in 2016.

By turns emotional and fierce, Clinton choked up as she spoke of comforting the victims’ families and grew angry when a Republican senator accused the Obama administration of misleading the country over whether the Benghazi incident stemmed from a protest.

“With all due respect, the fact is that we had four dead Americans,” Clinton shot back as she testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, an appearance delayed more than a month because of her ill health.

“Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they’d go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make?” she said, making chopping motions with her hands for emphasis.

READ ON: Clinton angrily defends handling of Benghazi attack
LIVE COVERAGE: Clinton testifies before House committee 

Posting something on Facebook is not in and of itself evidence. I think it just underscores how fluid the reporting was at the time and continued for some time to be.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, responding on Wednesday to a report by Reuters and other outlets that emails sent two hours after the Benghazi consulate attack by State Department officials noted that a militant group had claimed responsibility for the attack on Facebook. [Read more…]
Doodles are scribbled onto the first page of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s speech during a Security Council meeting to discuss Peace and Security in the Middle East during the 67th United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. Headquarters in New York, September 26, 2012. [REUTERS/Lucas Jackson] PHOTOS: Reuters photography from around the world
Pop-upView Separately

Doodles are scribbled onto the first page of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s speech during a Security Council meeting to discuss Peace and Security in the Middle East during the 67th United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. Headquarters in New York, September 26, 2012. [REUTERS/Lucas Jackson]

PHOTOS: Reuters photography from around the world

U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton walk back into the Oval Office after Obama delivered remarks following the death of the U.S. Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, and others, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, September 12, 2012. [REUTERS/Jason Reed]
Pop-upView Separately

U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton walk back into the Oval Office after Obama delivered remarks following the death of the U.S. Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, and others, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, September 12, 2012. [REUTERS/Jason Reed]

U.S. praise for Myanmar grows by the day, but Secretary of State Hillary Clinton still cannot bring herself to use the name of the country in the presence of officials from the former Burma. It appears Clinton did not wish to offend Myanmar’s government and its diplomats in Phnom Penh by referring to the country by the name officially used in Washington, Burma - two short syllables that rile the former generals who now lead its nascent democracy. The dilemma dates back to 1989, a year after thousands were killed in the suppression of a popular uprising, when the army changed the name to Myanmar, a name the United States never accepted because it would have conferred legitimacy on the former generals. Many of those generals swapped their military fatigues for civilian clothes in a rigged 2010 election that cleared the way for a surprisingly reformist parliament that took office last year, ending 49 years of unbroken military rule. READ ON: Clinton lauds change in a country with no name
Pop-upView Separately

U.S. praise for Myanmar grows by the day, but Secretary of State Hillary Clinton still cannot bring herself to use the name of the country in the presence of officials from the former Burma.

It appears Clinton did not wish to offend Myanmar’s government and its diplomats in Phnom Penh by referring to the country by the name officially used in Washington, Burma - two short syllables that rile the former generals who now lead its nascent democracy.

The dilemma dates back to 1989, a year after thousands were killed in the suppression of a popular uprising, when the army changed the name to Myanmar, a name the United States never accepted because it would have conferred legitimacy on the former generals.

Many of those generals swapped their military fatigues for civilian clothes in a rigged 2010 election that cleared the way for a surprisingly reformist parliament that took office last year, ending 49 years of unbroken military rule.

reuterspolitics:

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dances with members of her delegation in the Cafe Havana salsa bar, during a break from the Americas Summit in Cartagena April 15, 2012. [REUTERS/Raul Palacios-Colprensa]

READ MORE: Clinton dances after midnight at Cafe Havana

reuterspolitics: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton checks her PDA upon her departure in a military C-17 plane from Malta bound for Tripoli, Libya October 18, 2011. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque The blog entry behind the photo made famous by “Texts from Hillary.”
Pop-upView Separately

reuterspolitics:

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton checks her PDA upon her departure in a military C-17 plane from Malta bound for Tripoli, Libya October 18, 2011. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

The blog entry behind the photo made famous by “Texts from Hillary.”

The United States said on Wednesday it appears to be on track to sign a strategic partnership agreement with Afghanistan charting their future relations during or before a late May NATO summit. U.S. and Afghan officials have been trying to negotiate an accord for a long-term U.S. presence in Afghanistan beyond a 2014 deadline for most NATO combat forces to withdraw, allowing advisers and possibly some special forces to stay on. The two countries earlier signed a deal on the transfer of a major U.S.-run prison to Afghan authority, leaving military raids on Afghan homes conducted at night as the final sticking point for reaching a deal. Read more: Clinton - U.S. on track for Afghan deal by NATO summit
Pop-upView Separately

The United States said on Wednesday it appears to be on track to sign a strategic partnership agreement with Afghanistan charting their future relations during or before a late May NATO summit.

U.S. and Afghan officials have been trying to negotiate an accord for a long-term U.S. presence in Afghanistan beyond a 2014 deadline for most NATO combat forces to withdraw, allowing advisers and possibly some special forces to stay on.

The two countries earlier signed a deal on the transfer of a major U.S.-run prison to Afghan authority, leaving military raids on Afghan homes conducted at night as the final sticking point for reaching a deal.

Read more: Clinton - U.S. on track for Afghan deal by NATO summit