MADRID, Spain – One of Europe‘s foremost voices on the Middle East said Tuesday the “road map” for peace between Israel and the Palestinians is doomed, and that a major new initiative is needed to resolve the conflict. Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told a parliamentary panel that Europe …

WASHINGTON – The U.S. is pledging “immediate support” of South Korea as part of a “firm” commitment to defend its ally under America’s nuclear umbrella, stronger language than in last year’s version of their long-standing policy statement. Noting North Korea’s nuclear test Oct. 9, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and …

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, making an election-season visit to Iraq, said Thursday she will tell its leaders they have limited time to settle political differences spurring sectarian and insurgent violence. “They don’t have time for endless debate of these issues,” Rice said during a news conference …

NEW YORK – Kevin Federline, aka K-Fed and Mr. Britney Spears, says he shrugs off his naysayers. “If you want to hate me, cool, hate me,” Federline, 28, says in an interview posted Thursday on People magazine’s Web site. “You know why? Because all it’s going to do is help …

WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gently prodded South Korea on Wednesday to show a strong commitment to international sanctions imposed against North Korea for its nuclear test this month. Rice said the U.S. has no wish to tell Seoul how it should coexist with its neighbor and noted …

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – A bomb exploded in a crowded market in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Friday, killing at least six people and wounding more than 40, police said. The explosion occurred in the city’s downtown district about 10 minutes before iftar, the time for breaking the daily …

ROCKVILLE, Md. – Convicted Washington-area sniper Lee Boyd Malvo is seeking a broad plea agreement in which he would plead guilty to other 2002 sniper shootings that authorities have linked him to, defense attorneys and Maryland prosecutors said Tuesday. The deal, announced as Malvo formally pleaded guilty to six Maryland …

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department approved AT&T’s (T) buyout of BellSouth Corp. (BLS) on Wednesday, clearing a major hurdle for reuniting two modernized parts of the old Ma Bell phone monopoly that the government broke up in 1984. The decision leaves the Federal Communications Commission as the final hurdle for …

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Preparations are on schedule for NASA’s first night-time space shuttle launch in four years, managers said Wednesday. The space agency plans to launch Discovery at 9:36 p.m. on Dec. 7. It will be the third launch of the year and the fourth since the Columbia disaster …

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Suspected Shiite militiamen dressed as Interior Ministry commandos stormed a Higher Education Ministry office Tuesday and kidnapped dozens of people after clearing the area under the guise of providing security for what they claimed would be a visit by the U.S. ambassador. Witnesses and authorities said the …