Public diplomacy chief to step down as view of US worsens around the world.

A US-Islamic forum seeking to find common ground between the United States and the Muslim world has opened in Qatar with Muslim anger against the West at boiling point.

Karen Hughes, the US under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs and a close adviser to George Bush, has visited the headquarters of Aljazeera in Qatar, three months after revelations about purported US plans to bomb the news channel.

US media are being disingenuous in portraying Arab women as unhappy and wronged, a close aide to President George Bush on a PR visit to Saudi Arabia has been told. And it has come from the horse's mouth.

US goodwill envoy Karen Hughes was in the midst of explaining her Four E strategy to an audience in Jidda when reality dawned.

A popular train of thought in Washington concedes the United States has an image problem in the

US President George Bush has formally given his closest confidante, Karen Hughes, the job of polishing the nation’s global image.