BARACK OBAMA

Perry's spokesman Mark Miner told The Associated Press on Thursday that the Texas governor will be running for president and will make his intentions known on Saturday while visiting South Carolina and New Hampshire as most of his presidential rivals compete in a test vote in Iowa.

A federal panel sketched out its first vision of a regulatory roadmap for the booming shale natural gas industry on Thursday, urging more transparency on the use of chemicals and more careful treatment of waste water.

Texas Governor Rick Perry, a staunch conservative with a Washington outsider's resume, will seek the 2012 Republican nomination for U.S. president, his spokesman said on Thursday, adding a top contender to the party's field of hopefuls.

Texas Governor Rick Perry, a staunch conservative with a Washington outsider's resume, will seek the 2012 Republican nomination for U.S. president, his spokesman said on Thursday, adding a top contender to the party's field of hopefuls.

A leading Republican lawmaker would not rule out tax increases on Thursday if they fostered economic growth, adding that "everything is on the table" for a U.S. congressional panel charged with forging a deal to cut the deficit.

In days past, jawboning from Presidents and central banks was often enough to stem a financial markets selloff. Not anymore.

The Republican Party argues it's the party of job creation, but the statistics indicate otherwise, at least concerning U.S. presidential administrations. Democratic presidents have a higher annual job creation average, 1.647 million per year, than Republican presidents, 966,388 per year.

The number of Americans claiming new jobless benefits fell to a four-month low last week, a sliver of hope for an economy battered for days by a credit rating downgrade and falling share prices.

Sarah Palin announced that the One Nation bus tour will be back on the road and headed to the Iowa State Fair before the GOP presidential straw poll.

The attacks are openly denounced by Pakistani military and political leaders.

The roots of the debt deal showdown: Ascendant Tea Party faction Republicans pushed their case, remained remarkably cohesive and defiant, and essentially won the U.S. debt deal crisis.

With the appointment of nine of 12 members, the "super committee" charged with reducing the budget deficit by at least another $1.5 trillion is taking shape. The body could help stabilize the financial markets by announcing a ?quick-start? agreement on additional debt reduction.

A U.S. Department of Energy panel issued a report recommending more stringent safeguards on hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as 'fracking," a potentially hazardous process used to harvest natural gas from underground shale formations.

An advisory panel to the Department of Energy stopped short of putting forth stricter regulations for the use of hydraulic fracturing to drill for natural gas, but recommended stricter oversight of the practice, known as ?fracking.?

Republicans in Wisconsin's Senate emerged from Tuesday's special recall elections with their majority intact, parrying four out of six Democratic challengers who sought to ride a wave of voter anger at a controversial law that sharply curbed unions.

Economic fears are weighing heavily on Americans, with a large majority saying the United States is on the wrong track and nearly half believing the worst is yet to come, a Reuters/Ipsos poll said Wednesday.

Republicans named their six members on Wednesday to a U.S. congressional deficit-reduction super committee, including a favorite of the conservative Tea Party movement and other no-new-taxes hardliners.

Economic fears are weighing heavily on Americans, with a large majority saying the United States is on the wrong track and nearly half believing the worst is yet to come, a Reuters/Ipsos poll said on Wednesday.

In the Wisconsin recall elections, quite possibly the most contentious in state history, Republicans managed to fend off the Democrats and barely hold onto their state Senate majority.

The narrow U.S. escape from default and its credit downgrade have added to a perception that the United States is in decline, a view that could weaken Washington's influence abroad.

Economic fears are weighing heavily on Americans, with a large majority saying the United States is on the wrong track and nearly half believing the worst is yet to come, a Reuters/Ipsos poll said Wednesday.