Mark Mardell's take on politics and life in the US and North America.

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Could the passion fans bring to football be used as a tool in diplomacy, asks Matt Frei, presenter of BBC World News America.

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Comedians sharpen their barbs against Obama

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Political turmoil costs Honduras dear

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How America's top diplomat approaches her job

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Wild West spirit persists but for how long?

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US town sees boom as its oil reserves are drilled

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How virtual reality can help deal with 'shell shock'

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Defending champions Philadelphia are back in the World Series after taking a second straight National League crown.

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Envoys for Honduras' ousted president say crisis talks have broken down, but the interim government disputes this.

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Argentina plans a new debt swap, hoping to end a saga that started when it defaulted on its debt eight years ago.

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Mobile phone maker Nokia's bid to sue Apple is aimed at trying to extract royalty payments, an analyst suggests.

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Microsoft says it is pleased with the demand for Windows 7 as it reports an 18% fall in quarterly profits.

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The mother of the boy believed swept away in a helium balloon has confessed to making it up, court documents suggest.

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The number of US bank failures this year surpasses 100 after US federal regulators shut down a trio of Florida banks.

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Officials move 1,500 people living near the site of a vast blaze at an oil refinery near Puerto Rico's capital, San Juan.

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The US special envoy to Afghanistan says it is reasonable to hope for fewer irregularities in the presidential run-off poll.

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At least five inmates are killed and dozens injured in a fire that broke out at a Brazilian jail, reportedly after a riot there.

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Police in the US state of Minnesota are to auction a motorised lounge chair impounded after its driver was found drunk.

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Sales of previously-owned US homes surged last month to the highest in more than two years, an estate agent body says.

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'Balloon Boy' case reveals celebrity-crazed culture

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Former guerrilla v ex-president in Uruguay poll

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A journey along the rainforest's controversial road

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How often to tempers flare at 35,000 feet?

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President Obama declares H1N1 swine flu a national emergency, in a move to help medical teams handle the outbreak.

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Ten Brazilians seen as leading drug traffickers are moved from a jail in Rio, amid fears they are still directing violence in the city.

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The final mayday call to a flight control tower from a British pilot who died after ditching his plane in the Caribbean Sea is released.

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Bodies of a kidnapped Colombian football team are believed to have been found across the border in Venezuela.

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Scottish detectives pursuing "several potential lines of inquiry" into the Lockerbie bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, reports say.

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Ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya tells the BBC why the latest talks with the interim government broke down.

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A pilot on the plane that overshot its US destination says it is not unusual for contact to be lost and the incident was not serious.

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Policemen in Brazil are accused of failing to help a charity worker, shot and robbed on the streets of Rio de Janeiro.

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A US writer's skin tone experiment still resonates

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Ten reasons behind the success of Warren Buffett

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