US News Headlines: AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Barack Obama's White House drive picked up pace Friday with more superdelegates rallying to his side, as former rival John Edwards all but endorsed his campaign.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Unable to pressure Syria or Iran into halting Hezbollah's offensive in Lebanon against US-backed leader Fuad Siniora, the United States has opted for "remote-control" diplomacy using its allies.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US trade deficit shrank more than expected in March to 58.2 billion dollars, as imports fell sharply and as the weak dollar continued to underpin exports, a government survey showed Friday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States has evidence that groups linked to Syria are "playing a much more active role in fanning the flames" in Lebanon, a senior US official charged Friday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - With the Democratic presidential nomination tantalizingly within his grasp, Barack Obama has begun to burnish his image as his party's standard-bearer in the quest to wrest the White House back from the Republicans.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Several US senators asked President George W. Bush on Friday to visit Tibet when he travels to China for the Olympics to back Washington's push for human rights in the Himalayan territory.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Friday said Washington would provide support to Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora battling a deadly offensive by Hezbollah fighters.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US State Department voiced confidence Friday in how Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora's government and army were dealing with an offensive by Hezbollah fighters.

CRAWFORD, Texas (AFP) - The White House on Friday welcomed news from cyclone-ravaged Myanmar that it would accept US emergency aid and said one US military cargo carrying supplies would reach the country on Monday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - An army general who led the Guantanamo detention center at a time when alleged mishandling of Korans sparked Muslim riots has been withdrawn as the US military's proposed top representative in Pakistan, a military spokeswoman said Friday.

BAGHDAD (AFP) - The US military denied on Friday that Al-Qaeda in Iraq chief Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, who carries a US bounty of five million dollars, had been captured by security forces.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Hillary Clinton's White House quest, now on life support, was anchored on a lifetime of political experience, but she found her message trumped by Barack Obama's soaring call for hope and change.

TOKYO (AFP) - US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte on Friday urged Myanmar's ruling junta to let in foreign aid workers amid a mounting death toll and the spread of disease following Cyclone Nargis.

TOKYO (AFP) - The United States is still awaiting a complete report from North Korea on its nuclear activities, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said Friday, after the communist state handed over documents.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - An advisor to a US general helping revamp Palestinian security forces has made several trips to Gaza, even though Washington considers the Hamas rulers of the territory terrorists, Palestinian officials said on Friday.

NEW YORK (AFP) - US intelligence officials believe seized computer files showing strong ties between Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and Colombian rebels are authentic, The Wall Street Journal reported.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice insists aid to cyclone-ravaged Myanmar has nothing to do with politics but critics and some Asian diplomats wonder whether Washington is mixing the two.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States warned China Thursday that it risked "technological isolation" for developing unique technical standards of its own that also are shutting out foreign competition.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - White House hopefuls on Thursday hailed their ties to Israel and vowed to stand by the Jewish state as the key US ally celebrated its 60th anniversary.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary Condoleezza Rice will visit Sweden and Iceland from May 28 to May 30, during which she will attend a UN conference on Iraq in the Swedish capital Stockholm, it was announced Thursday.

CRAWFORD, Texas (AFP) - The White House said Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's legal woes were an internal matter that will not affect US President George W. Bush's Middle East trip next week.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States on Thursday ruled out sending a US envoy to Tehran to present a new offer from the big powers to persuade Iran to halt uranium enrichment.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday dismissed Russia's order to expel two US military attaches as "just the usual tit for tat" in response to Washington's expulsion of a Russian spy.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Leading advocates in the fight against cancer Thursday urged lawmakers to overhaul the US health care system to put all Americans on an equal footing when it comes to the country's biggest killer disease.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Hillary Clinton's campaign predicted Thursday a rapid end to the Democratic White House race next month as the press read the last rites to her quest to be the first woman president.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A US envoy was due to leave North Korea Friday with documents about its plutonium program amid efforts to give it a clean bill of health on nuclear disarmament, a top US official said.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama said Thursday he could declare victory over Hillary Clinton on May 20, when Kentucky and Oregon may put him over the top in terms of elected delegates.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States said Thursday it was mulling dropping food and aid into cyclone-ravaged parts of Myanmar and did not rule out doing so without approval from the country's military rulers.

CRAWFORD, Texas (AFP) - The United States on Thursday demanded that Lebanon's Hezbollah Shiite militant group "stop their disruptive activities" as fierce gunbattles raged in Beirut.