White House News

WASHINGTON - President Bush signed an executive order on Friday to expand sanctions against what he calls the "illegitimate" regime of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and his supporters.

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Thursday nominated Paul S. Diamond to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, withdrawing his earlier pick for the job after she drew opposition in the Senate.

WASHINGTON - The National Park Service wanted to close a section of Yellowstone Park in the wintertime because of the risk of avalanche. No way, protested businesses in Cody, Wyo., that wanted to promote more tourism.

WASHINGTON - Rescue legislation sailed through the House Wednesday aimed at helping 400,000 strapped homeowners avoid foreclosure and to prevent troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from collapsing.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - In a global kick to the tape, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is grasping for diplomatic victories before the Bush administration's exit from the world stage in January.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned China on Saturday not to use its massive Olympic security apparatus to crack down on legitimate dissent.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Saturday that a lingering nuclear dispute between the United States and New Zealand ought to be overcome to focus on a new era of cooperation in the Pacific and elsewhere.

WASHINGTON - The government has endangered the public's health and safety by failing to clean up abandoned mines on federal land in the West, according to a scathing audit released Friday.

WASHINGTON - The State Department insisted Friday it can handle the growing demand for passports, despite congressional investigators' findings that the agency has not overhauled the system to avoid repeating last summer's backlog fiasco.

PERTH, Australia - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Pakistan needs to do more to prevent Taliban militants from launching attacks into Afghanistan from its territory.

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Tuesday seasoned his call to Congress to pass a free trade pact with Colombia with a little Latino music.

WASHINGTON - One of the worst outbreaks of foodborne illness in the U.S. is teaching the food industry the truth of the adage, "Be careful what you wish for because you might get it."

WASHINGTON - President Bush, in an unguarded moment, said Wall Street "got drunk and now it's got a hangover."

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department in 2002 told the CIA that its interrogators would be safe from prosecution for violations of anti-torture laws if they believed "in good faith" that harsh techniques used to break prisoners' will would not cause "prolonged mental harm."

WASHINGTON - President Bush gave U.S. Olympians a rousing White House send-off to next month's games in Beijing, urging them Monday to "compete swifter, higher and stronger" but also be mindful they will be "ambassadors of liberty" to the people of China and elsewhere.

WASHINGTON - Three ballistic missile crew members in North Dakota fell asleep while holding classified launch code devices this month, triggering an investigation by military and National Security Agency experts, the Air Force said Thursday.

WASHINGTON - President Bush pledged Monday to seek broader international support for Kosovo's independence from Serbia and said the United States opposes any partition of the poor Balkan nation.

PERTH, Australia - Forget long-winded foreign policy sessions, White House meetings, traveling the globe and talks with world leaders. What Condoleezza Rice really wants to do is shop.

WASHINGTON - President Bush and Iraq's prime minister have agreed to set a "general time horizon" for bringing more U.S. troops home from the war, a dramatic shift from the administration's once-ironclad unwillingness to talk about any kind of deadline or timetable.

WASHINGTON - The State Department's inspector general is investigating Iraqi oil contracts after four Democratic senators complained that department employees may have encouraged lucrative oil deals between Iraq and several Western companies.

MEXICO CITY - Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Friday that U.S. intelligence led Mexican forces to a small submarine captured this week packed with 5.8 tons of cocaine.

WASHINGTON - The towering trucks that give U.S. troops the best protection against roadside bombs and enemy bullets also make them vulnerable to routine hazards like sharp turns, rutted roads and rickety bridges.

HOUSTON - President Bush, in the second half of a Southwestern fundraising trip Friday, backed the candidacy of Republican Pete Olson, who is challenging incumbent Rep. Nick Lampson in Texas' 22nd congressional district.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration underscored its continued support for Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday despite fresh allegations from a former U.S. anti-drug official that Karzai is playing both sides of the effort to combat a raging drug business.

WASHINGTON - President Bush has been a "total failure" in everything from the economy to the war to energy policy, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday. In an interview on CNN, the California Democrat was asked to respond to video of the president criticizing the Democratic-led Congress for heading into the final 26 days of the legislative session without having passed a single government spending bill.

WASHINGTON - Approval of a merger of the nation's only two satellite radio companies was imminent Thursday after the pair agreed to pay $19.7 million to settle charges they violated federal rules.

BAGHDAD - The insurgency that bedeviled U.S. forces for years and killed thousands of Iraqis and Americans has withered to the point where it is "not even much of a challenge any more" to Iraq's future, Ambassador Ryan Crocker said Thursday in an interview with The Associated Press.

WASHINGTON - Sixteen years after Barbie dolls declared, "Math class is tough!" girls are proving that when it comes to math they are just as tough as boys.