GEORGE W. BUSH

North Korea launched a Taepodong-2 rocket over the Sea of Japan on Sunday. The launch rattled the North's neighbors and countries around the world. The U.S. and its rallies asked for quick punishment at an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting held hours after launch.

Iran criticized on Monday U.S. President Barack Obama for saying Tehran posed a threat with its nuclear program and urged Washington and other countries possessing atom weapons to dismantle their arsenals.

From cheering fans lining the streets to an adoring crowd packed into a sports arena, Obama-mania was in full swing in Europe on Friday.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates will unveil his budget recommendations for fiscal year 2010 on Monday in a proposal likely to call for major changes in priorities, a defense official said on Friday.

President Barack Obama told Europe on Friday it must do more to help the United States win the war in Afghanistan, looking to leverage his huge popularity here to wring concessions from NATO allies.

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday the United States would lead by example in combating climate change so that developing nations such as India and China would follow suit.

The Democratic-controlled U.S. Congress on Thursday approved budget blueprints embracing President Barack Obama's agenda but leaving many hard choices until later and a government deeply in the red.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday that the United States was ready to discuss different ideas on the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system in Europe, which Moscow strongly opposes.

The Democratic-controlled U.S. Congress on Thursday moved toward passing a federal budget that embraces President Barack Obama's initiatives on healthcare, energy and education but leaves the government deeply in debt for the foreseeable future.

There was no peering into anyone's soul, and there was no bonding over Colgate toothpaste.

China, India and other developing nations joined forces on Wednesday to urge rich countries to make far deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions than planned by 2020 to slow global warming.

President Barack Obama arrived in Europe on Tuesday with a hefty agenda for tackling the economic crisis and seeking support for his new Afghanistan strategy on a trip that will test his global leadership.

President Barack Obama headed to Europe on Tuesday with a hefty agenda for tackling the economic crisis and seeking support for his new Afghanistan strategy on a trip that will test his global leadership.

U.S. President Barack Obama's administration promised to push for a new United Nations climate treaty on Sunday but said Washington had no magic wand and that all countries had to help.

President Barack Obama lobbied fellow Democrats on Wednesday to support major initiatives in his $3.55 trillion budget proposal and the White House played down differences as lawmakers sought to trim the plan to reduce long-term deficits.

President Barack Obama said on Tuesday he was seeing signs of progress in his drive to lead the United States out of economic crisis as he sought to reassure recession-weary Americans he was on the right track.

Ronald Reagan was known as the great communicator. George W. Bush was the self-styled decider. President Barack Obama could easily be called the salesman-in-chief.

U.S. President Barack Obama sent Iran an unprecedented videotaped message on Friday offering a new beginning of diplomatic engagement after decades of U.S. hostility to the Islamic Republic.

President Barack Obama issued an unprecedented videotaped appeal to Iran on Friday offering a new beginning of diplomatic engagement to turn the page on decades of U.S. policy toward America's longtime foe.

President Barack Obama is grappling with the AIG bonus furor by both accepting responsibility for the government's failure to head off the payments and blaming it on the big mess he inherited.

A plan to expand a controversial U.S. ballistic-missile shield into Eastern Europe is being scrutinized as part of a 2010 budget request to be sent to Congress next month, the Pentagon's chief financial officer told Congress on Wednesday.