MIDEAST: Bush-Sharon Deal a ‘Roadmap to War’, Says Peace Group

President George W. Bush's closest international ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, arrived in Washington on Friday arguing he can still make sense of the "roadmap" to peace between Israelis and Palestinians. But U.S. peace groups say all traces of that route were lost in a Bush deal with Israeli leader Ariel Sharon earlier this week.

POLITICS-U.N.: U.S., France Blocking Haiti Probe

The United States and France have intimidated Caribbean countries into delaying an official request for a probe into the murky circumstances under which Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted from power in February, according to diplomatic sources here.

IRAQ-U.S.: One, Two, Many Messes

While the United States does not look quite yet like the ''pitiful, helpless giant'' that tortured Richard Nixon's imagination during the Vietnam War, the past week's events seem to have moved it very much in that direction.

IRAQ: Neo-Cons See Iran Behind Shiite Uprising

Neo-conservatives close to the administration of President George W Bush are pushing for retribution against Iran for, they say, sponsoring this week's Shiite uprising in Iraq led by radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

POLITICS: Violence Threatens to Unravel U.N. Plans for Iraq

Growing military attacks on foreign civilians and the violent uprising against the U.S. military occupation are threatening to unravel a U.N. plan for nation-wide elections in Iraq and to jeopardise a proposed role for the world body in stabilising the country.

IRAQ: Shiite Uprising Signals Double Trouble for U.S. – Experts

With U.S. Marines effectively locking down the defiant city of Fallujah in the rebellious ''Sunni Triangle'', other U.S. military forces in Iraq opened a new front Monday to quash an apparent uprising by a Shiite militia in Baghdad and the south, in what some experts warn could be a major turning point in the year-old occupation.

HAITI-U.S.: Powell to Visit Latest Occupation

Fresh from visiting U.S.-occupied Iraq and Afghanistan, Secretary of State Colin Powell will set down in Port-au-Prince on Monday to check out the Bush administration's latest charge, Haiti, where Washington helped oust the democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, less than two months ago.

IRAQ-U.S.: Fallujah Punctures Washington’s Optimism

April Fools' Day is traditionally one of good-natured mischief, but not this year. Indeed, U.S. President George W. Bush's trademark smirk, which normally fits the day's spirit almost to a T, was nowhere to be seen Thursday.

BRAZIL: Documents Shed New Light on U.S. Support for 1964 Coup

A newly declassified audiotape and documents released here Wednesday 40 years after the 1964 coup that installed military rule in Brazil show that then U.S. President Lyndon Johnson was directly involved in the decision to back the coup forces, if necessary.

POLITICS: Nations, NGOs Resist US-UK Arms Resolution

The United States and Britain are facing strong resistance over their attempt to hastily rush through the Security Council a proposed resolution aimed at preventing terrorists and other ''non-state actors'' from trafficking in and acquiring weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

POLITICS-U.S.: Clarke, Watergate Echoes Prompt Rare Bush Reversal

Tuesday's White House decision to permit National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to testify publicly under oath before the so-called 9/11 Commission marks an unusual reversal by an administration that has fiercely resisted taking any moves that suggests it is capable of making mistakes.

POLITICS: U.N.’s Credibility At Breaking Point, Say Experts

The United Nations' continued engagement in Iraq - largely under U.S. pressure - is not only testing the credibility of the world body but also taking a toll on its Secretariat staff in New York.

IRAQ: War Launched to Protect Israel – Bush Adviser

Iraq under Saddam Hussein did not pose a threat to the United States but it did to Israel, which is one reason why Washington invaded the Arab country, according to a speech made by a member of a top-level White House intelligence group.

ENVIRONMENT: U.S. Seizes Opening for Ozone-Depleting Substance

The hole in the ozone layer risks looming larger after the world community agreed Friday to permit the United States and 10 other northern countries to continue using a pesticide that was supposed to be off-limits from 2005.

/UPDATE*/POLITICS: U.S. Blocks U.N. Rebuke of Israel for Assassination

The United States used its political muscle Tuesday to thwart an unequivocal condemnation of Israel for the targeted assassination of a wheel-chair bound Palestinian described as the spiritual leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas.

POLITICS: U.S. Blocks U.N. Rebuke of Israel for Assassination

The United States used its political muscle Tuesday to thwart an unequivocal condemnation of Israel for the targeted assassination of a wheel-chair bound Palestinian described as the spiritual leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas.

U.S.-EUROPE: Rift Over Iraq Belies Much Deeper Strains

The growing gap between the United States and its European allies over the Iraq war - most recently highlighted by last weekend's Spanish elections - belies deeper strains that date to the end of the Cold War, according to a report released Friday by the influential Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).

POLITICS: U.S. Moves To Seize More Iraqi Assets

The United States is moving to freeze millions of dollars in accounts held by relatives of Saddam Hussein and other senior officials in his fallen regime, months after Washington seized billions of dollars in frozen Iraqi assets overseas.

POLITICS: For U.S. Hawks, Madrid 2004 = Munich 1938

For neo-conservative and other right-wing U.S. hawks, Madrid has suddenly become Munich in 1938 and Spain's Prime Minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.

ENVIRONMENT: Prepare for the Worst, Says Next Host of Climate Change Meet

In the past five international conferences on climate change, hopes have focused on attempts to get the United States and Russia to agree to cut emissions of greenhouse gases. But the wait has been in vain, and the global meetings flopped, one after another.

POLITICS: Gap Grows Between U.S., World Public Opinion

Mistrust of the United States, particularly U.S. President George W. Bush, has grown steadily in western Europe over the past 10 months while anti-American sentiment in the Arab world remains pervasive, says a major new public-opinion poll of nine countries.