Soe Than WIN/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Declaring a “new chapter in the relationship between the United States and Burma,” President Obama announced Thursday he is rewarding democratic progress by nominating the first U.S. ambassador to Burma in 22 years.

The U.S. will also ease its ban on new investment in Burma, Obama announced.

After her meeting with the foreign minister of Burma, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters that while the U.S. is suspending sanctions, it is not lifting them altogether. “We will be keeping relevant laws on the books as an insurance policy, but our goal and our commitment is to move as rapidly as we can to expand business and investment opportunities.”

Clinton stressed that the emphasis will be in responsible investment, and that U.S. companies will be held to “best practice” standards implementing transparency and worker’s rights. However, in a follow-up conference call senior administration officials admitted that the standards are still being hashed out and they will not be legally enforceable by U.S. law.

Human rights groups have complained that it’s still too early to ease sanctions on Burma, and that the U.S. should have worked out standards of conduct before opening up Burma for American business.

Here is the president's full statement:

Today marks the beginning of a new chapter in the relationship between the United States and Burma. Since I announced a new U.S. opening to Burma in November, President Thein Sein, Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma have made significant progress along the path to democracy.  The United States has pledged to respond to positive developments in Burma and to clearly demonstrate America's commitment to the future of an extraordinary country, a courageous people, and universal values. That is what we are doing.

Today, I am nominating our first U.S. Ambassador to Burma in 22 years, Derek Mitchell, whose work has been instrumental in bringing about this new phase in our bilateral relationship. We also are announcing that the United States will ease its bans on the exportation of financial services and new investment in Burma.  Opening up greater economic engagement between our two countries is critical to supporting reformers in government and civil society, facilitating broad-based economic development, and bringing Burma out of isolation and into the international community.

Of course, there is far more to be done. The United States remains concerned about Burma’s closed political system, its treatment of minorities and detention of political prisoners, and its relationship with North Korea. We will work to establish a framework for responsible investment from the United States that encourages transparency and oversight, and helps ensure that those who abuse human rights, engage in corruption, interfere with the peace process, or obstruct the reform process do not benefit from increased engagement with the United States.  We will also continue to press for those who commit serious violations of human rights to be held accountable. We are also maintaining our current authorities to help ensure further reform and to retain the ability to reinstate selected sanctions if there is backsliding.

Americans for decades have stood with the Burmese people in their struggle to realize the full promise of their extraordinary country. In recent months, we have been inspired by the economic and political reforms that have taken place, Secretary Clinton’s historic trip to Naypyidaw and Rangoon, the parliamentary elections, and the sight of Aung San Suu Kyi being sworn into office after years of struggle. As an iron fist has unclenched in Burma, we have extended our hand, and are entering a new phase in our engagement on behalf of a more democratic and prosperous future for the Burmese people.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

iStockPhoto/Thinkstock(JERUSALEM) -- The United States is militarily ready to carry out a strike on Iran to stop it from obtaining a nuclear weapon if international pressure fails, American ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro said to an Israeli audience this week. The Obama administration has repeatedly insisted that "all options are on the table" to deal with an Iranian nuclear threat, but Shapiro's comments went a step further in discussing the military's preparations for the possibility.

"It would be preferable to solve this diplomatically and through the use of pressure, than to use military force," Shapiro told representatives of Israel's Bar Association on Tuesday.

"But that doesn't mean that option isn't fully available. Not just available, it's ready. The necessary planning has been done to ensure that it's ready," he said.

The comments come just days before nuclear talks are due to take place in Baghdad between Iran and the so-called P 5 1 countries: the U.S., United Kingdom, France, Russia, China and Germany.

An embassy spokesman in Tel Aviv declined to elaborate on the comments, which aired on Israeli radio and television.

"We believe that there is some time, not an unlimited amount of time -- in practice, this is a brief window in which we can still use diplomacy to achieve our goals," Shapiro also said, according to Makor Rishon newspaper, which published some of Shapiro's remarks.

"At a certain stage we are going to have to decide whether diplomacy isn't going to work," he added. "We want to give it every chance of succeeding."

Shapiro pointed to President Barack Obama's increase of troop levels in Afghanistan and his order to kill Osama bin Laden in Pakistan last year as examples of Obama's readiness to use force.

Israel and the United States agree that Iran is working towards a nuclear bomb, but hasn't yet entered the "breakout" phase of development. Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak often warns of a "zone of immunity" he believes is rapidly approaching, after which Iran could not be prevented from developing a nuclear weapon.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last month that Iran is "feverishly working to develop atomic weapons to achieve" the destruction of Israel. He and others in the country's civilian and military leadership have long warned that Israel would resort to a military strike against Iran if it becomes clear diplomatic pressure and sanctions aren't working. The result has been harsh international sanctions against Iran's financial and oil industries that are having a devastating impact on Iran's economy.

But despite some indications that Iran could make concessions in next week's talks, there is no evidence that the pressure has had an effect on its nuclear program. Israel says the international talks are evidence of Iran's stalling tactics and says that unless Iran stops enriching altogether, ships in enriched uranium out of the country and shuts down its underground enrichment facility near the city of Qom, the diplomatic measures and sanctions have failed.

Iran has long insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes -- that it enriches to 3.5 percent for power and to 20 percent for medical isotopes at the Tehran Research Reactor. But analysts say going from 20 percent to weapons-grade 90 percent enrichment is a relatively simple process.

Israel's leadership calls Iran an existential threat, but a large majority of Israelis are against a strike if it's carried out by Israel alone. Most analysts agree that an Israeli strike could not end Iran's nuclear program, only set it back. And some argue an attack would cement Iran's determination to develop a nuclear weapon, which could start an arms race in the region.

The biggest critic of Israel's threats of a strike has been Meir Dagan, the former head of Israel's foreign security service, Mossad. He has argued that Iran is not an existential threat and that its leadership is rational. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Thursday, he and other former international intelligence and military officials argued that more comprehensive "total sanctions" can get Iran to change course.

"It's common sense that before undertaking military action against a country, we should first try to dissuade it from its current course by applying decisive economic pressure," they write. "Doing so will show the regime that the world is serious and committed, willing to do whatever it takes to stop Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons."

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Khalid Mohammed-Pool/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- A protest of Iraq war veterans at the NATO summit being held in Chicago this weekend is intended to send a strong message to Washington and the European alliance.

Some members of the Iraq Veterans Against the War plan to return their medals to NATO generals on Sunday, claiming they were given their honors for bravery or suffering for "a war based on lies and failed policies."

The group said on its blog the Global War on Terror "has killed hundreds of thousands, stripped the humanity of all involved, and drained our communities of trillions of dollars, diverting funds from schools, clinics, libraries, and other public goods."

Following the rally, the vets are expected to march to the convention center to give back their medals.  If they are unable to meet with the NATO generals, they said they would throw their medals at the building.

About 30 to 50 veterans are expected to participate in the protest.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images(DAMASCUS, Syria) -- With information being everything these days, Syria's embattled leader says his government is losing the propaganda war to the West.

With no sign of the violence ending after 14 months despite a United Nations-crafted ceasefire agreement in place, President Bashar al-Assad told the Russian state TV channel Rossiya 24 in an interview that he blamed the West for releasing "a large amount of false information."

According to al-Assad, Western nations have sympathized with his political opponents and "outplayed us... at the very beginning of the crisis -- invented stories."

Al-Assad ordered a crackdown in March 2011 against rebels seeking his ouster, alleging they were terrorists being driven by foreign agitators.  An estimated 9,000 to 11,000 people have died during the fighting although a true death toll is impossible to verify because of a news blackout set up by the Syrian government.

The president said the West was guilty of spreading "lies, or rumors, or false accusations -- call them what you will -- all these are soap bubbles, they have a short life."

However, al-Assad said, "The main thing is to win in real life," predicting his supporters would ultimately prevail.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Comstock/Thinkstock(KABUL, Afghanistan) -- An output of 5,000 barrels of oil a day doesn't sound like much but it could be the beginning of a bonanza for Afghanistan, one of the poorest nations in the world.

Afghan Mining Ministry spokesman Jawad Omar announced on Wednesday that oil production is expected to start by October with the assistance of China's National Petroleum Corporation.

It would mark the first time Afghanistan has drilled for oil in its history.  The plan is to start with 5,000 barrels and work up to 45,000 barrels daily.

The initial drilling will take part in the "Afghan-Tajik" zone of northern Afghanistan, one of the areas that is relatively unscathed by war and where major oil deposits lie.

An estimated 87 million barrels of oil exist underground in that particular zone alone.  Tapping it would help Afghanistan rely less on the crude it imports from Iran and Central Asia and add to its revenues.

Six oil deposits have been found so far in Afghanistan in the northern, western and southern parts of the country.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Stockbyte/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- It’s not the one you might expect. Expedia’s summer travel survey posed the question on nude sunbathing to 8,600 people around the world and found that only two percent of Americans were likely to shed their clothing on the beach -- no big surprise there. The Brits also came in at two percent, as did New Zealanders and Argentineans.  Only the Japanese were less likely than Americans to sunbathe nude.

Germans, on the other hand, were far more likely to take it all off.  At 15 percent, they’re the most likely of all the 21 nations surveyed to bare it all.

The French, although still in the top quarter, were far more modest than one might guess, given the tradition of topless sunbathing on the Riveria. But only five percent said they took it all off on the beach.

Here are the tallies:

• Germany: 15 percent
• India: 8 percent
• Spain: 8 percent
• France: 5 percent
• Italy: 5 percent
• Sweden: 6 percent
• Denmark: 6 percent
• Australia: 5 percent
• Canada: 5 percent
• Singapore: 5 percent
• Mexico: 6 percent
• Netherlands: 6 percent
• Brazil: 5 percent
• Ireland: 4 percent
• South Korea: 4 percent
• Norway: 3 percent
• Argentina: 2 percent
• New Zealand: 2 percent
• United States: 2 percent
• United Kingdom: 2 percent
• Japan: 1 percent

The survey also found that Americans spend 40 percent of their allotted vacation days at the beach. Turns out we’d rather be at the beach (26 percent) than doing pretty much anything else, including visiting family (22 percent.

And what about those naked Germans? Turns out their love of the beach surpasses that of any other country. They must have a tricks for keeping sand out of places it doesn’t belong.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Official White House Photo by Pete Souza(WASHINGTON) -- President Obama has signed an executive order authorizing sanctions against anyone who threatens to undermine the political transition in Yemen.

"This Executive Order will allow the United States to take action against those who seek to undermine Yemen’s transition and the Yemeni peoples’ clear desire for change," the White House said in a statement released by the Press Secretary on Wednesday. "The President took this step because he believes that the legitimate aspirations of the Yemeni people, along with the urgent humanitarian and security challenges, cannot be addressed if political progress stalls."

The order gives the Treasury Department the authority to freeze the U.S.-based assets of those who “threaten the peace, security and stability of Yemen,” the White House said.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(ATHENS, Greece) -- Ten days after the general election held on May 6, Greek President Karolos Papoulias has decided to quit trying to cobble together a coalition government as no combination of parties with the required minimum of 151 MPs in the 300-seat Greek Parliament could be found.  The president has announced that another general election should take place Sunday, June 10 or June 17.

This is bad news for the European Union and United States, since Greece will be without political leadership for a month, and private markets have long lost patience with the unending crisis. 

Greece, a NATO member and long-time U.S. ally, could even be pushed out of the European Union and its financial Eurozone.  That could trigger a crash in the markets in Spain, where the economy is five times bigger than Greece’s. 

The economic recovery of all of Europe is jeopardized, and, as President Obama has repeated on numerous occasions, the U.S. economy needs a strong Europe -- the number one buyer of American exports.

At 2 p.m. Tuesday, Papoulias had organized a meeting in the presidential palace in Athens, with leaders of almost all the major Greek political parties.  Only the leaders of the Communist and Neo-Fascist parties were left out.  Two hours later, the politicians came out without a word for journalists.

Fifteen minutes later came a communique from the presidency, announcing the calling of new elections.  From this point, the constitution explicitly sets the course.  The senior judge in the highest rank temporarily assumes the office of prime minister.

The meeting called for May 16 at the presidency is intended solely for the appointment of three ministers to handle the transitional electoral process.

The bone of contention remains the famous “memorandum” of fiscal and structural reforms that the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and European Union have imposed on Greece in exchange for some 240 billion euros worth of subsidized loans, to be released in installments, depending on progress made.

The socialist PASOK and conservative ND parties, who had accepted the terms of this memorandum at the beginning of the year, reiterated that the country should stick to them; all other parties campaigned to reject it, and they still refuse the terms. 

The problem is that the last election dealt huge losses to both PASOK and ND, leaving them with only 149 seats in total.  The two parties alternately ruled Greece since the fall of a military regime in 1974.

Saying that Greece must honor its signature to avoid exclusion from the euro area, PASOK and ND have already begun negotiations to form a front that can win the required majority in Parliament.  The various small liberal parties, who accept global capitalism and who believe that no country can live beyond the wealth it produces are being targeted.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio