The US Special Envoy is meeting politicians in the North today over the stalemate which is threatening to collapse devolved government.

Barack Obama would consider whether a special US envoy to the North was still necessary if elected president, a statement from the Democratic candidate said today.

New Taoiseach Brian Cowen will today hold official talks with British prime minister Gordon Brown in Belfast.

The next president of the United States will maintain his or her country’s strong links with Stormont, Martin McGuinness predicted today.

The Government has pledged over €1m for a new fund encouraging community projects tackling sectarianism in the North.

A senior Irish Government minister today welcomed the United States’ Government’s dramatic u-turn on a roadmap for dealing with climate change.

In a sudden dramatic reversal, the United States accepted developed nations’ proposed changes today to a document launching talks for a new global warming pact by 2009, clearing the way for its adoption.

Campaigners tonight urged countries to name and shame the US for its “blatant attempts to derail” the negotiations for an international deal on climate change.

The US Ambassadors to London and Dublin were in the North today leading a business delegation on a two-day fact finding missing.

Disinfectant measures at ports and airports in the North to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease have ended, it emerged today.

The United States government tonight welcomed the deal which will see Sinn Féin and the DUP share power in the North from May 8.

The US government's new special envoy to the North is meeting the Taoiseach and the Minister for Foreign Affairs in Dundalk this morning.

The US insisted it was committed to protecting the environment, finally giving an official response to questions raised by a British report that warned global warming could devastate the world economy.

Delegates from around the world worked into the final hours of a UN climate conference to produce a plan for deeper cuts after 2012 in greenhouse-gas emissions, buoyed by a last-minute message of support from former US President Bill Clinton.

Syria remained silent about the downfall of its puppet government in Lebanon today after Prime Minister Omar Karami was brought down by people power dubbed The Cedar Revolution.

A United Nations conference ended today with a vague plan for informal new talks on how to slow global warming, but without a US commitment to multilateral negotiations on next steps, including emissions controls.