GEORGE W. BUSH

Major U.S. telephone carriers refused to answer questions from the Democratic-led Congress about their possible participation in President George W. Bush's warrantless domestic spying program, according to documents released by lawmakers on Monday.

President George W. Bush ratcheted up the pressure on U.S. Democrats on Monday to adhere to his budget plans or face a string of vetoes on government spending bills.

They won the prize for their part in galvanizing international action against global warming before it 'moves beyond man's control'.

Turkish PM to ask approval for Iraq iTurkey's prime minister will ask parliament next week to authorize a military push into north Iraq to fight Kurdish rebels amid Turkish anger on Thursday at a U.S. vote branding Ottoman Turk killings of Armenians genocide.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon criticized the planned U.S. border fence designed to stem illegal immigration, saying countries should be "building bridges, not fences" in an interview broadcast on Monday.

A growing sense of urgency is pushing world leaders to agree a new treaty to fight climate change but the U.S. presidential election might still foil hopes of a deal by the end of 2009, experts say.

Leaders of the two Koreas agreed on Thursday to try to bring peace to the Cold War's last frontier, just a day after the North signed up to an international deal to disable its nuclear facilities.

Lawmakers called on Wednesday for a 'mortgage czar' to help cope with an expected wave of foreclosures from the U.S. housing slump but Alan Greenspan said the credit crunch was past the worst. Fallout from a global credit squeeze, sparked by problems in the U.S. subprime mortgage market, have rattled markets in recent weeks, threatening economic growth and bank earnings.

President George W. Bush on Wednesday held up North Korea as a possible model for resolving the Iranian nuclear standoff and reaffirmed a U.S. offer of talks if Tehran suspends uranium enrichment.

President George W. Bush on Wednesday vetoed a measure to expand a popular children's health care program, launching the first in a series of major battles with Democrats over domestic spending. An extra $35 billion over five years would have been added to a health program for low-income children.

North Korea has agreed to disable its Yongbyon nuclear reactor and provide a complete declaration of all nuclear programs by the end of the year, in a deal that won praise from U.S. President George W. Bush.

More than 100,000 Costa Ricans, some dressed as skeletons, protested a U.S. trade pact on Sunday they say will flood their country with cheap farm goods and cause job losses.

The $85-billion student loan industry is looking toward its next battle in the U.S. Congress -- one that could be for its very survival -- as President George W. Bush on Thursday signed legislation slashing federal subsidies to the troubled sector.

U.S. President George W. Bush on Friday called for a "strong and transparent" way for nations to measure progress on fighting climate change but said each country should set its own approach. In a speech to a U.S.-sponsored conference of major emitting countries, Bush also called for the creation of a global fund to promote clean technology.

President George W. Bush signed student loan legislation on Thursday that slashes federal subsidies to lenders such as Sallie Mae, Citigroup, Bank of America and many others.Bush, who had originally called for smaller subsidy cuts, backed the more aggressive legislation drafted by Democrats that will see $11.4 billion in savings go to federal grants for college students.

A $25 billion takeover of Sallie Mae was on the verge of collapse on Wednesday after the student lender said a consortium does not expect to complete its planned acquisition on the agreed terms.

The White House demanded on Thursday that Myanmar's military government immediately halt an intensifying crackdown by security forces against protesters mounting the country's largest uprising in 20 years.

The U.S.-sponsored meeting of major emitting countries is aimed at supporting and accelerating the U.N. process on climate change, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice insisted on Thursday.

Vilified as a Holocaust denier, a supporter of terrorism and a backer of Iraqi insurgents, the president of Iran was actually able to make New Yorkers burst into laughter but not at a joke.

World leaders signaled on Tuesday that a long-awaited global trade deal could soon be within reach, reviving some hopes that the Doha trade talks may finally move beyond years of deadlock and discord.

The cries of tens of thousands of people led by Buddhist monks, who are staging anti-junta protest rallies in Myanmar at the risk of a government crackdown, has reached the ears of the US President George W. Bush, who is expected to take up the issue in his speech Tuesday to the General Assembly and urge the U.N. to uphold its pledge to fight for freedom and impose new sanctions against the repressive military regime in Myanmar.