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WASHINGTON – Obama administration special envoy Richard Holbooke was on the American International Group Inc. board of directors in early 2008 when the insurance company locked in the bonuses now stoking national outrage. Holbrooke, a veteran diplomat who is now the administration's point man on Pakistan and Afghanistan, served on the board between 2001 and mid-2008. During that period, AIG undertook the aggressive investment strategies that led to a near-collapse and forced a multibillion-dollar federal bailout. President Barack Obama has insisted his administration was not responsible for AIG's financial woes, and a White House spokesman said Thursday that Holbrooke was...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior administration official says President Barack Obama has chosen retired Air Force Gen. J. Scott Gration to be a special envoy to war-wracked Sudan. Gration is a close personal friend of Obama and has considerable experience on African issues.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy said on Friday that the new administration's push for Israeli-Palestinian peace after the war in the Gaza Strip faced big hurdles and he warned of setbacks ahead. The sombre assessment by former U.S. Senator George Mitchell followed two days of talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders on shoring up a shaky ceasefire that ended Israel's 22-day offensive against Gaza's Hamas Islamist rulers. In the talks, Israel has balked at fully reopening Gaza's border crossings to allow reconstruction. Washington supports Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in his power struggle with Iranian-backed Hamas...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7681556.stm Pro-independence protesters in Taiwan have jostled a Chinese envoy to the ground and attacked his car. The attack on Vice Chairman Zhang Mingqing of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, in the city of Tainan, was shown on television news broadcasts.

JERUSALEM, May 23 (UPI) -- Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair had a close call Thursday when two Israeli jets threatened to shoot down his plane, officials said. Blair, now a special Middle East envoy, was en route to Bethlehem from Egypt when his private jet was spotted entering Israeli airspace. When controllers could get no response from the pilot and fearing a terrorist attack, they scrambled fighter jets to intercept the aircraft, the Times of London reported Friday. The pilot identified himself after the fighter jets got in position to fire and the interceptors peeled off and returned to...

South Africa led efforts to block the dispatch of a UN envoy to Zimbabwe yesterday as the UN Security Council met on the election stand-off for the first time. Diplomats said that South African opposition to a UN mission meant that the next step would probably be a public meeting of the 15-nation Security Council on Zimbabwe under Britain’s presidency in May. Britain and other Western nations have been pushing for a greater UN role in resolving the month-old election crisis, since Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, raised it at a UN summit on Africa this month. The Security Council...

Blair accused of 'stabbing Hillary Clinton in the back' after supporting RepublicansLast updated at 00:56am on 20th January 2008  Former allies: Bill Clinton and Tony Blair   Tony Blair was accused of betrayal last night as he waded into the American Presidential campaign to support George Bush's Republican world view. As the former PM recommended Mr Bush's policies to 400 millionaire bankers in Las Vegas, former ally Bill Clinton was campaigning in Nevada for his wife Hillary, who hopes to be the Democratic candidate for the White House and is an arch Bush critic. In a move liable to...

The Talk Shows Sunday, November 4th, 2007 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Former President George H.W. Bush. MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn. FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., Mark Penn, chief strategist for Sen. Hillary Clinton campaign.THIS WEEK (ABC): Former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C. LATE EDITION (CNN) : Mideast peace envoy and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair; Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., Chris Dodd, D-Conn., Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

At Jerusalem hotel, Blair joins intriguing guest list, including believers, spies, generals The Associated Press Thursday, November 1, 2007 JERUSALEM: Tony Blair is not the first outsider to try changing the Middle East from the elegant corridors and intrigue-steeped courtyards of one Jerusalem hotel on the line dividing Arab and Jew. For a century and a quarter before the former British prime minister set up his offices in a large suite of rooms at the American Colony this summer, the Jerusalem institution has been drawing pilgrims and spies, diplomats, generals and journalists. They have come for redemption, information, or for...

WASHINGTON - Sports, not politics, will be Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, Jr.'s emphasis in his new role as a special envoy for the State Department. "This isn't a political statement for me, necessarily," Ripken said Monday after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice formally announced his appointment. "This is about the kids and planning baseball and using baseball for good reasons." Ripken, who set the Major League record for consecutive games played — 2,632 games in a row, earning him the nickname "Iron Man" — said he was ready for the task, which will take him first to China...

Blair: 'Sense of possibility' in Mideast Quartet envoy says he has come to region 'to listen, learn and reflect' during two days of meetings with Israeli, Palestinian leaders, but adds he already senses a willingness by sides to make progress. Opposition leader Netanyahu warns him against Iran, its branches in Middle East Ronny Sofer and AP Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, making his first public comments as the international community's Mideast peace envoy, urged Israeli and Palestinian leaders Tuesday to take advantage of a new "sense of possibility" in the region. Blair, who arrived in Israel on Monday, said...

A road map for Mr. Blair By SHLOMO AVINERI The appointment of the former British prime minister as the Quartet's representative for the Middle East peace process has already put Tony Blair in the crossfire of regional politics. Many Arab commentators have voiced their dissatisfaction with the appointment of a person identified with President Bush's policies in Iraq; some Israelis have expressed a mild unease, given Blair's insistence on an early cease-fire in last year's Lebanon war; and there are rumblings from Brussels that Blair may take some of the limelight from the EU's Javier Solana. On top of all...

Shortly after the former British prime minister stepped into his new job, he assured Russia and the Europeans that he did not mean to adhere to the US-Israeli boycott of Hamas. One of his first tasks would be to establish ties with Hamas representatives in Gaza and Damascus.Concern was also voiced in Washington over the new British prime minister Gordon Brown’s appointment of David Miliband as foreign secretary. One US official remarked that if Brown, Miliband and Blair and their advisers coordinated Middle East policies, then Washington and Jerusalem had plenty to worry them.

Amid growing criticism that his administration hasn't focused enough on engagement in the Middle East, US President George W. Bush on Wednesday announced that he would appoint an envoy to an organization of Muslim states and endorsed British Prime Minister Tony Blair as the new Quartet representative. Blair was appointed on Wednesday. Bush, speaking at the rededication of the Islamic Center of Washington, said the creation of an American envoy posting to the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference was "an opportunity for Americans to demonstrate to Muslim communities our interest in respectful dialogue and continued friendship." Bush's latest effort...

I am just wondering, but a question to all end times prophecy student, wouldn't it be strange if Blair was to broker a 7 year peace deal?

Tony Blair is to become a Middle East envoy working on behalf of the US, Russia, the UN and the EU. The announcement comes just hours after he stood down as UK prime minister and shortly before he is expected to quit as a Member of Parliament. Earlier, Mr Blair said a "solution" to problems in the Middle East was possible but that this would require "huge intensity and work".

The White House is pushing for British Prime Minister Tony Blair to be made a special envoy to work on forming a Palestinian state in the unstable Middle East after he steps down, reports said Thursday. US newspapers cited unnamed officials as saying that the administration of President George W. Bush was laying the groundwork for Blair to be appointed as an envoy for Palestinian state-building, although Bush's spokeswoman refused to confirm the report Thursday. If Blair accepted the job, he would represent the diplomatic Quartet for the Middle East, comprising the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the...

US 'wants Blair' for Mid-East job Tony Blair steps down as UK prime minister on 27 June Tony Blair has spoken to President Bush and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice about becoming a Middle East envoy, a White House official says.Two senior US administration sources told the BBC that the PM's aides have indicated he is interested in the role. The president would reportedly like him to be an envoy for the quartet of the US, European Union, UN and Russia. The PM's official spokesman said there was lots of speculation over Mr Blair's future, much of it...

Tony Blair’s nomination for the post of international envoy in the Middle East is likely to be confirmed as early as today despite grumbles from Europe and last-minute wrangles over his job description. Sources in London and Washington indicated yesterday that the announcement will be made if agreement is reached between the so-called “Quartet” of powers – America, Europe, Russia and the United Nations – which oversee the Middle East peace process. Mr Blair’s nomination has been pushed by Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, and – to a lesser extent – the White House, in behind-the-scenes negotiations over...

June 26, 2007 Blair set to clinch job as world’s man in the Middle East Tom Baldwin in Washington, Greg Hurst and Philip Webster Tony Blair’s nomination for the post of international envoy in the Middle East is likely to be confirmed as early as today despite grumbles from Europe and last-minute wrangles over his job description. Sources in London and Washington indicated yesterday that the announcement will be made if agreement is reached between the so-called “Quartet” of powers – America, Europe, Russia and the United Nations – which oversee the Middle East peace process. Mr Blair’s nomination has...