Washington  - North Korea has informed the United States that it no longer wants to receive food shipments as tensions grow over the stalled nuclear negotiations and Pyongyang's plans to launch a rocket next month.

US State Department spokesman Robert Wood said Tuesday North Korea did not provide a reason for cutting off the aid, but added that Washington regrets the decision.

"This was a program intended to try to help get food to needy North Koreans," Wood said. "And we're obviously disappointed in that."

Washington - European Union officials said Tuesday there had been a noticeable shift in climate policy since President Barack Obama took office, but said they expected much more drastic action before the United States can regain its international credibility.

After meeting US climate envoy Todd Stern in Washington this week, the EU's key environment ministers said it would be up to US legislators to improve the country's bargaining position by the time the world's climate officials meet to discuss a new global deal in Copenhagen in December.

Baghdad  - Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa on Tuesday said he sees a "prosperous future" for Iraq.

"I feel that there is a big difference in the country since my last visit and the policy of reconciliation has led to increasingly stability," Mussa said.

He was speaking at a press conference in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, held jointly with Iraqi Prime Minsiter Nuri al-Maliki.

"Hope has emerged for a prosperous future," Mussa added.

Washington  - US President Barack Obama nominated Daniel Rooney, the owner of American football champion Pittsburgh Steelers, as the next ambassador to Ireland on Tuesday, Saint Patrick's Day.

Rooney, 76, has played an important role in the Irish-American community.

Rooney, through charitable groups, supported the Irish peace process and co-founded the American Ireland Fund in 1976, which has raised more than 300 million dollars for peace and education programmes in Ireland.

Baghdad  - The Iraqi government led by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki Tuesday repeated its call for the execution of three officials from the former regime of Saddam Hussein for genocide, as a dispute over sentencing continued.

Former ministers Ali Hassan al-Majid and Sultan Hashem and Hussein Rashid Mohammed, a former army chief, were sentenced to death in 2007 for their part in the so-called Anfal campaign against Kurdish civilians and militia in 1988.

Washington  - US President Barack Obama praised the people of Northern Ireland for rejecting violence and standing up for peace against "those who would seek to destroy it."

Obama spoke at a White House ceremony Tuesday to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day with the traditional visit by the Irish prime minister, Brian Cowen.

The meeting comes as authorities in Northern Ireland continue to investigate the murders of two British soldiers and a policeman by an extremist splinter group associated with the now disbanded Irish Republican Army (IRA).