BARACK OBAMA

U.S. President Barack Obama plans to ask Congress for $33 billion (20.3 billion pounds) in emergency war funding for a major U.S. troop buildup in Afghanistan this year, defence officials said on Wednesday.

President Barack Obama is discussing ways to help U.S. states cover costs that are destined to rise under pending healthcare reform legislation, his press secretary said on Monday.

ther internet search businesses operating in China could benefit from Google's possible exit from the market over censorship issues

A major earthquake rocked Haiti, killing possibly thousands of people as it toppled the presidential palace and hillside shanties alike and left the Caribbean nation appealing for international help.

President Barack Obama will announce plans on Thursday to raise up to $120 billion from major U.S. financial firms to cover expected losses from a taxpayer-funded bank bailout, a senior administration official said on Tuesday.

Google Inc may pull out of China because of censorship and cyber attacks on rights activists, further straining Sino-U.S. relations as Washington prepared to tackle global Internet censorship.

The United States and Google Inc separately said they would move against Chinese Internet censorship, possibly signaling the start of a harder line toward China by U.S. President Barack Obama and the end of Google's business in the country.

U.S. stocks slid in a broad selloff on Tuesday as investors pummeled financials on concerns about a potential government levy on banks, while Alcoa Inc's disappointing results tempered optimism about the economic recovery.

U.S. President Barack Obama, who failed to attract much bipartisan support in his first year in office, has agreed to meet with U.S. Republican lawmakers as he starts his second year, a party leader said on Tuesday.

U.S. stocks slid in a broad selloff on Tuesday as investors pummeled financials on concerns about a potential government levy on banks, while Alcoa Inc's disappointing results tempered optimism about the economic recovery.

A fee being considered for banks could raise more than $100 billion if the Obama administration seeks to recoup the current estimate of financial bailout costs, but exact figures are preliminary.

Stocks fell on Tuesday, halting a six-day streak of gains, after weaker-than-expected results from Alcoa Inc and on concerns banks could face fees from the government to recoup losses tied to bailouts.

U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday, halting a six-day streak of gains, after weaker-than-expected results from Alcoa Inc and on concerns banks could face fees from the government to recoup losses tied to bailouts.

North Korea will not return to nuclear disarmament negotiations unless the United States agrees to peace treaty talks and lifts sanctions, a senior North Korean diplomat said on Tuesday, leaving little room for compromise.

The federal government earned a grade of A for giving the Food and Drug Administration power to regulate tobacco, including how companies market, manufacture and sell tobacco products, the advocacy group said in its annual report card on tobacco control.

The leader of the biggest U.S. labor federation warned President Barack Obama on Monday that failure to act quickly on unemployment would be suicidal and would put the Democrats' control of Congress at risk.

The White House and New York's top prosecutor attacked excessive Wall Street bonuses, as the nation's biggest banks prepare to hand out awards critics say were made possible by taxpayer bailouts.

The Obama administration is considering imposing a fee on banks to help recover some of taxpayers' costs of bailing banks out from the financial crisis, according to multiple reports on Monday.

Most notably, such companies want to cut or delay massive taxes that would raise tens of billions of dollars over the next 10 years to fund the healthcare reforms.

As Obama's fellow Democrats in the House of Representatives and the Senate struggle to merge their healthcare bills into one, the president used his weekly radio address to try to ease lingering public doubts over his top legislative priority.

The Obama administration plans on Monday to announce the selection of nine projects totaling $187 million aimed at improving the fuel efficiency of cars and trucks.