Ten months into an assignment that has confounded generations of U.S. diplomats, Mitchell said on Wednesday he remained upbeat about bringing Israel and the Palestinians back to peace talks -- thanks in part to his experience resolving another once-intractable crisis, the dispute between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland.

Mitchell, credited with shaping the 1998 Good Friday Accord that ended that long and bloody conflict, said the key was not to lose heart.

"Over a period of five years, I chaired three separate sets of discussions.  The main negotiation lasted for nearly two years.  For most of that time, there was little or no progress, and our effort was branded a failure," Mitchell told a news briefing.

"But then, after two years of saying no, both sides said yes. In a real sense, we had 700 days of failure and one day of success."

Mitchell, a former Senate majority leader, has thus far had little success in shuttle diplomacy aimed at resuming stalled Mideast peace talks, which have seen the two sides still bitterly divided over the issue of Israeli settlement construction on Palestinian lands.

Mitchell said there was no alternative but to push forward.

"If you're serious about peace, you can't take as final the first no, the second no or even the hundredth no.  You can't get discouraged by setbacks and you can't be deterred by criticism.  You have to be patient, persevering and determined," he said.

For more Reuters political news, click here.

Photo Credit:Reuters/Fadi Arouri (Mitchell during a meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah in September)

The flags are out in Washington for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is on what is widely billed as the first official state visit of the Obama administration.

That's all fine for Singh, whose Congress party swept to victory in May elections, giving him a second term as powerful prime minister of the world's most populous democracy.

The problem is, India has also a president -- Pratibha Patil -- who is the first woman to hold that largely ceremonial office and, technically, India's head of state.

So what's with all the D.C. pageantry?

A senior U.S. official said the White House had decided to elevate the status of the visit out of recognition of Singh's friendship and the importance of Indo-U.S. ties, and that everything was set up for full state honors -- with one exception.

Those listening to the artillery barrage that marked Singh's official arrival may have mistaken it for a 21-gun salute, but it wasn't.

It may have been 19 guns, or possibly 17, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

But definitely not 21. Only "real" state visitors get that.

For more Reuters political news, click here.

Photo credit: Reuters/Larry Downing (Obama and Singh at the White House)

Pictures of the U.S. president bowing deeply to Japanese Emperor Akihito during a state visit to Japan have incensed some commentators, who say the U.S. head of state should not lower his head before foreign crowned heads.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly, hit with questions about the bow at a regular news briefing, appeared stumped.

"I saw I'm sure for what it was intended, which is a sign of respect to the emperor. But I don't have anything from the State Department on it," Kelly told a news briefing.

Kelly dismissed reports that some critics have gone so far as to call the bow a sign of treason as "a bit extreme," but said he would check into exactly what sort of protocol briefing the president gets before meeting foreign leaders overseas.

Obama has sparked critical comment with a bow before -- there was some harrumphing after Obama lowered his head before Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah at a G20 meeting in April.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Young (Obama greeted by Japan's Emperor Akihito at Imperial Palace)

(Photo: CHristians pray during an anti-North Korea and pro-U.S. protest in Seoul, 3 Oct 2007/Han Jae-Ho)

The United States sees a mixed picture on world religious freedom, with progress in interfaith dialogue weighed against government repression and sectarian strife in many countries.  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday unveiled the latest State Department report on global religious freedom, which particularly criticized Iran and North Korea among other countries for harsh limits on religious expression.

"It is our hope that the ... report will encourage existing religious freedom movements around the world," Clinton said, adding that all people should have the right to believe or not as they see fit.

The report tagged North Korea, Iran, Myanmar, China, Sudan, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan among the worst offenders, placing them on a watch list put out earlier this year.

Michael Posner, the State Department's top official for democracy and human rights, said President Barack Obama's call this year for a new beginning between the United States and Muslims did not mean sidelining religious liberty. "Religious freedom is a fundamental right, a social good, a source of stability, and a key to international security," Posner said in the introduction to the report.

Posner praised interfaith dialogue efforts promoted by Jordan, Spain and other countries. But religious repression and discrimination remained huge problems worldwide.

Clinton said she opposed efforts promoted by some Islamic countries to establish a global benchmark for what constitutes "defamation of a religion," saying it could be an unacceptable intrusion on free speech rights. "The protection of speech about religion is particularly important since persons of different faith will inevitably hold divergent views on religious questions," she said.

Read our news story here.

Here is our Factbox summarising the main findings.

For the full International Religious Freedom Report, with links to each country section, click here.

For the full text of Clinton's remarks, click here.

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A poll released on Tuesday by the Las Vegas Review-Journal found that half of Nevada voters had an unfavorable view of Reid, while 38 percent had a favorable view, the newspaper said.

Reid won reelection in 2004 to a fourth term with 61 percent of the vote. But his approval ratings have since slipped. He became Senate Democratic leader in 2005, and majority leader in 2007.

"Harry Reid could be in trouble," said Jennifer Duffy, who tracks Senate races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report in Washington.

Duffy said Reid faces the dangers of being a Senate leader while his party controls the White House.

"You have to be in tune with the White House as well as your constituents," Duffy said.

Still, Duffy said, she now rates his race as "likely Democrat." But she noted that's largely because Reid doesn't yet have a Republican opponent.

The statewide poll of 625 Nevadans was conducted by telephone last week by the Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, Inc., for the Nevada newspaper. With Democrats now holding 59 of 100 Senate seats, Reid could lose and his party could still end up retaining control the chamber in next year's election.

Senate leaders are among the most powerful members of Congress and have routinely won their reelection. But in recent years they have faced unhappy constituents. Polls showed Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky in trouble much of last year. He rallied down the stretch, however, and won a fifth term with 53 percent of the vote.

Democrat Tom Daschle of South Dakota was the last Senate leader to be ousted. He was unseated in 2004 as a top target of Republicans who branded him "the chief obstructionist" to then President George W. Bush's conservative agenda.

Reid's campaign manager brushed off the new Nevada poll.

"The primary number Senator Reid is worried about is Nevada's 10.4 percent unemployment rate, and that's why he's focused on fixing the economy and creating jobs in Nevada," Brandon Hall was quoted as saying by the Review-Journal. "Polling numbers move up and down. The only poll that really matters is on Election Day."

REUTERS/Jason Reed      (U.S. Senate Majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada)

Green is on the menu back in Washington, too, where Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will talk about "Greening Diplomacy" at an Earth Day event, but only after she testifies at the House Foreign Affairs Committee about more down-to-earth aspects of U.S. policy around the globe.

Another key player on Obama's environment team -- Energy Secretary Stephen Chu -- will also be on the Hill talking green at a hearing on energy and climate change legislation.

Red will be back in focus at the Economic Club of Washington, DC, however, where Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner delivers a speech about the Obama administration's efforts to fight the global recession.

One Washington-area man evidently came up with his own strategy for fighting the recession. The Washington Post reports that an Alexandria, Virginia,  parking meter repairman has been accused of stealing $170,000 in quarters, nickels and dimes from local parking meters -- a haul that could weigh between 4 and 19 tons depending on which kinds of coins were pocketed.

For more Reuters political news, click here. 

REUTERS/Jason Reed (President Barack Obama planting tree)

REUTERS/Jim Young (A pile of newly minted US $1 coins at the U.S. Mint)

Experts on healthcare, lobbyists and politicians started a final crunch on Tuesday to try and put together a healthcare reform package that will lower costs, help more Americans get insurance, and improve the less-than-optimal care that most patients now get.

Orszag assured Congress that the White House was leaving the details to lawmakers -- but dropped hints about what he would like to see. One example -- a new agency or framework for comparing medical treatments, including drugs, head-to-head.

"For me as patient, I would like my doctor to have better information about what might help a middle-aged, marathon-running male than he currently has," Orszag told a Senate Finance Committe hearing.

"I mean, a great example is prostate cancer. And there are hugely different treatments. And we don't know which ones work better," he added.

Drug makers sponsor most drug trials and they usually compare their new drugs to placebos, not to existing drugs.

Orszag bets that private insurers and Medicare would drop some new and expensive drugs if they could not be shown to work better than older, cheaper treatments.

REUTERS/Yuri Gripas (OMB Director Peter Orszag prepares to testify)

Who gets the billions?

The incoming Obama administration is preparing a major overhaul of the $700 billion financial bailout amid rising complaints in Congress that the payouts are not going to the right people.

The Washington Post reports that Treasury Secretary nominee Timothy Geithner and top Obama economic adviser Larry Summers have been looking at ways to broaden the bailout to include more help for homeowners facing foreclosure as well as to generate loans for municipalities, small businesses and consumers -- and not just the financial giants that helped to create the mess.

Obama, meanwhile, is expected to formally announce his picks for top intelligence posts at a news conference around 10:45 a.m. EST. Obama's choice to head the CIA, former chief of staff in the Clinton White House Leon Panetta, has drawn fire from some security insiders who complain that he lacks experience on intelligence matters.

Obama's choice for labor secretary, California Rep. Hilda Solis, begins her confirmation hearing in the Senate, which may give clues on how unions -- which largely backed Obama in the Nov. 4 election -- will fare in the new administration.

For more Reuters political news, click here.

Photo credit: Reuters/Mark Blinch (crumpled dollar bill)

Click here for more Reuters political news. 

REUTERS/Yuri Gripas (Bush on South Lawn)

As world leaders begin arriving in Washington for this weekend's global financial summit, the U.S. capital is abuzz with talk that President-elect Barack Obama may choose former rival Hillary Clinton to be his new secretary of state.

But morning television shows asked whether Obama could really be considering a woman who once called him naive in matters of foreign policy and whom he accused of inflating her foreign policy credentials.

ABC's Good Morning America show quoted a source close to Obama as saying Clinton's candidacy was "under very serious consideration" and that her "international stature" made her a strong contender. CNN said her appointment would help to "heal the wounds of a bruising primary battle".

CBS reported that "people close to her" said she had not yet been approached, although Clinton did fly to Chicago on Thursday for what her office described as personal business.

The financial crisis is likely to remain sharply in focus on Friday. The Commerce Department issues retail figures for October, and economists surveyed by Reuters are expecting the figures to show that sales fell 2.0 percent after a 1.2 percent decline in September.

The latest Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers, which measures U.S. consumer confidence, is also due to be published. The last survey showed consumer confidence suffering its steepest monthly drop on record in October

Christopher Dodd, the Democratic Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, appeared on several morning TV shows to lambaste the Bush administration for what he called its failure to address the root cause of the financial crisis -- the flood of mortgage foreclosures, which he said numbered 9,128 per day.

Bush is hosting a summit of world leaders in Washington on Saturday, the first in a series, on the worst global economic crisis in 80 years. He will host a dinner for the leaders at the White House on Friday night.

"There is a pressing need for leaders to agree on basic steps to jump-start the sagging world economy, including fiscal stimulus and financial help for developing countries, which are being pummeled as multinational banks and investors cut credit lines and dump assets," the New York Times said in an editorial.

U.S. stock futures were down on Friday, indicating the stock market will surrender some of the hefty gains it made in Thursday's session.

ABC, meanwhile, secured the first interview with William Ayers, a founder of a radical left anti-Vietnam War group who Republican presidential candidate John McCain tried unsuccessfully to tie to Obama during the election campaign.

Ayers, who hosted a meeting at his house in 1995 to introduce Obama to neighbors during Obama's first run for the Illinois Senate, dismissed suggestions that the two were close.

"I know Barack Obama. I know him as well as thousands of other Chicagoans," he said.

REUTERS/Jim Young (Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama at Florida rally); REUTERS/Jim Young (President George W. Bush at New York's JFK Airport)