BARACK OBAMA

President Barack Obama urged Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Wednesday not to let the chance for peace slip away as he opened a U.S.-sponsored summit to relaunch direct talks shadowed by Middle East violence.

U.S. President Barack Obama urged Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Wednesday not to let the chance for peace slip away as he opened a Washington summit shadowed by Middle East violence.

U.S. President Barack Obama vowed on Wednesday that a deadly Hamas attack in the West Bank is not going to stop us in the quest for Middle East peace as he opened a Washington summit to relaunch face-to-face Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

President Barack Obama is pushing Iraq's democracy out of the nest before it can fly and abandoning Iraqis while they are still at war, many Iraqis said on Wednesday after the end of U.S. combat operations.

U.S. President Barack Obama urged Israel and the Palestinians on Wednesday ...

Departing White House economist Christina Romer said on Wednesday the United States needs to find the political will for more action to boost the economy and not let high deficits get in the way of creating jobs.

U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates told U.S. soldiers on Wednesday they were in the final phase of engagement in Iraq after ending combat missions, and history would judge if the invasion had been worth it.

Israel's defence minister said on Wednesday the Jewish state would be willing to hand over parts of Jerusalem in peace talks with the Palestinians to be launched by U.S. President Barack Obama.

U.S. President Barack Obama was poised on Wednesday to launch a new U.S. push for Middle East peace even as a flare-up of Hamas violence and a deadlock over Israeli settlements loomed as potential deal-breakers.

The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas claimed responsibility for killing four Jewish settlers in the West Bank in an attack that blighted a Middle East peace summit before it even began in Washington Wednesday.

President Barack Obama declared an end to the seven-year U.S. combat mission in Iraq on Tuesday and told war-weary Americans his central responsibility now is to restore the sagging U.S. economy.

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty directed state agencies on Tuesday to decline all discretionary participation in federal healthcare reform, throwing up roadblocks to President Barack Obama's goal of providing health insurance to all Americans.

Iraq celebrated its sovereignty as the U.S. military formally ended combat operations on Tuesday, despite political deadlock and persistent violence, and warned other countries not to interfere as U.S. troops depart.

China pressed regional powers on Tuesday to restart talks on ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions, and Seoul offered aid to its destitute neighbour despite a new round of U.S. sanctions against Pyongyang.

Iraq celebrated its sovereignty as the U.S. military formally ended combat operations on Tuesday, despite political deadlock and persistent violence, and warned other countries not to interfere as U.S. troops depart.

The top shares closed up on Tuesday, as miners gained on firmer U.S. economic data which eased investor anxiety on the global economic recovery, while ARM Holdings jumped on renewed takeover talk.

The Obama administration on Tuesday appealed a ruling that blocked federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research, asking the judge who issued the injunction to put it on hold pending the appeal.

The withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan from next July will begin with a general thinning out of forces rather than any large-scale drawdown, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces said on Tuesday.

Iraq's prime minister said the end of U.S. combat operations on Tuesday restored Iraq's sovereignty and meant it stood as an equal to the United States, despite political deadlock and persistent violence.

Britain's top shares were lower by midday on Tuesday, as U.K. economic data added to uncertainty surrounding the global recovery, with risk-sensitive banks and commodity stocks leading the fallers.

The FTSE 100 dropped sharply early on Tuesday, led by falls in risk sensitive assets such as banks and commodity stocks as fears intensified over the sustainability of the global recovery.