The US is considering resuming food aid to the country it regards as a rogue state amid fear that many North Koreans face starvation after a harsh winter.

More than 250,000 people joined a mass protest in Cairo's main square today in the largest protest yet in a week of unrelenting demands for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to leave after nearly 30 years in power.

FACING high unemployment and lukewarm public approval, President Barack Obama can take heart from history: At the same point in his presidency 28 years ago, Ronald Reagan was saddled with an approval rating much lower than Obama’s is now. And the unemployment rate then was a full percentage point higher.

Two rebel groups clashed with Southern Sudan’s military ahead of the region’s independence referendum, resulting in at least nine deaths, and a top security chief said today that he suspected the groups were trying to depress voter turnout.

IN his final words before emergency heart surgery, Richard Holbrooke, the influential US diplomat who died on Monday following complications, urged an end to America’s nine-year old Afghanistan conflict.

Islamist terrorists may exploit the chaos and misery caused by the floods in Pakistan to gain new recruits, the country’s president said today.

The US will increase its aid to flood-ravaged Pakistan to $150m (€117.1m), Senator John Kerry said today, stressing that Washington does not want Islamist extremism to increase on the back of the crisis.

OPERATIVES in Afghanistan and Pakistan who have worked for the US against the Taliban or al-Qaida may be at risk following the disclosure of thousands of once-secret US military documents, former and current officials said.

BRITISH Foreign Secretary William Hague told the US there was “no evidence” to support claims the release of the Lockerbie bomber was linked to BP oil deals.

Osama bin Laden was unquestionably within reach of US troops in the mountains of Tora Bora when American military leaders made the crucial and costly decision not to pursue the terrorist leader with massive force, a Senate report said.

PRESIDENT Hamid Karzai’s leadership is weak, his government corrupt and nearly a third of the votes he won in the August election were thrown out as fakes.

THE world remembers Senator Edward Kennedy for his passionate liberalism, legislative skill and stewardship of a political dynasty.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair told the US Congress there was no workable alternative to a two-state solution to the long and bloody conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

FAR-RIGHT politician Avigdor Lieberman endorsed Benjamin Netanyahu for Israeli prime minister yesterday, all but guaranteeing that the US-educated hawk will be the country’s next leader.

Senator Edward Kennedy, who has brain cancer, was taken by ambulance to a hospital near his Massachusetts vacation home after complaining of feeling ill but returned home a few hours later.

IT IS politics but like nothing witnessed before.

US Democrat Barack Obama quickly took off the gloves and was again battering John McCain as little different from President George Bush as the race for the White House intensified.

Senator Edward Kennedy was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumour in what could be the grim final chapter in a life marked by exhilarating triumph and shattering tragedy.

Senator Edward Kennedy was taken to hospital in the US today after suffering a seizure at his home, his spokeswoman said.

Democrat Barack Obama lashed out today at rival for the party’s presidential nomination Hillary Clinton, mocking her sudden vocal support for gun rights and saying he understands the concerns of working class people.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton compared herself to under-dog boxer Rocky Balboa today as she continued to insist she will be staying in the close race for her party’s nomination.

Senator John Kerry, whose 2004 US presidential campaign was torpedoed by critics of his Vietnam War record, has accepted a Texas oilman’s offer to pay $1m (€683,000) to anyone who can disprove even a single claim of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

US PRESIDENT George W Bush headed west yesterday to stump for Republican candidates insisting that the Republicans will maintain control of both the Senate and House in next week’s elections.

The US Defence Department confirmed today that 2,500 US troops have died in the Iraq war since it began more than three years ago, even as President George Bush hopes a recent spate of good news will reverse the war's widespread unpopularity at home.

US President George Bush, freshly home from a visit to Iraq, acknowledged today that violence in Iraq would never be completely eliminated.

GOVERNMENT ministers will be among the Irish witnesses asked to attend the European Parliament’s hearing into CIA rendition flights.

Former US Presidential candidate John Kerry is to become the latest senior American politician to deliver at lecture at one of the North’s universities.

The US Senate today narrowly blocked a Republican plan to tap into the nation’s largest untapped reservoir of oil beneath the frozen tundra of an Alaska wildlife refuge.

Senator John Kerry’s public profile and prosecutorial past didn’t spare him from performing that most mundane of American civic responsibilities – jury duty.

US Vice President Dick Cheney is adding his voice to the chorus of Republican criticism of Democrats who have accused the Bush administration of manipulating intelligence to justify war against Iraq.

US President George Bush, in the most forceful defence yet of his Iraq war policy, accused critics yesterday of trying to rewrite history and charged that they’re undercutting America’s forces on the front lines.

Rocker Bruce Springsteen is refusing to commit to taking part in 2008's US presidential race, following his disappointment at the outcome of the most recent election.

Movie veteran Robert Redford never contemplated leaving America if George Bush was reelected in November, because he believes in standing up and not shying away from his political beliefs.

Troy beauty Diane Kruger has reportedly struck up a romance with Gwyneth Paltrow's ex-boyfriend and ketchup heir Chris Heinz.

IN Geneva, they read patriotic poetry. In Vienna, they drowned their sorrows and plotted their revenge. In London, they staged a candlelight protest outside the US Embassy.

US Secretary of State nominee Condoleezza Rice told senators today that a US exit strategy from Iraq is “directly proportional” to Iraq’s ability to defend itself against terrorists after this month’s elections.

President George Bush says he now sees that tough talk can have an “unintended consequence".

Outspoken superstar Barbra Streisand has defended celebrities' rights to speak out about politics, insisting there have always been strong links between Hollywood and Washington DC.

I DON’T know what’s more confusing — the American electoral system or the controversy over whether or not Cian O’Connor’s horse, Waterford Crystal, was drugged.

Gunmen kidnapped a Lebanese-American businessman – the second US citizen seized this week in Baghdad – and militants released a tape showing the beheading of an Iraqi officer as a warning to those who deal with “the infidel” Americans.

His second term secured, President George Bush is reaching out and asking the 55 million people who voted to oust him from office to get behind the ambitious agenda he’s laid out for the next four years.

DEMOCRATIC Senator John Kerry conceded defeat in a hard-fought US presidential election yesterday saying he had offered President George Bush congratulations on his victory but that the nation needed healing.

THE tide began turning late on Tuesday evening. Earlier, the portents were not good for President George W Bush’s re-election campaign.