Democrats will "never" see US president Donald Trump's tax returns, said White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney as a new front opened in the confrontation between the administration and Congress.

The Trump administration has escalated pressure on North Korea by slapping sanctions on scores of companies and ships accused of illicit trading with the pariah nation.

The US has slapped new sanctions on eight members of Venezuela's Supreme Court, accusing them of abusing power and damaging their nation's democratic fabric as the Trump administration raises concerns that socialist president Nicolas Maduro is moving toward one-party, authoritarian rule.

The United States has issued 271 sanctions in response to Syrian president Bashar Assad's alleged use of chemical weapons.

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The Treasury Department has released a breakdown of Saudi Arabia’s holdings of U.S. debt, after keeping the figures secret for more than four decades.

Escalating a 19-month regulatory assault against US companies’ shifting their tax addresses offshore, President Barack Obama’s administration last week also went after companies that have always been overseas.

For luxury home developers and brokers in Miami and Manhattan who are already contending with slumping prices and slowing demand, the US government’s move to start scrutinising all-cash buyers marks more bad news.

Commerzbank and lawyers for the US government gained federal court approval of a $1.45bn (€1.32bn) agreement to defer prosecuting the lender for violating US laws, including sanctions on doing business with Iran and Sudan.

The entire board of Spain’s Banco de Madrid has resigned after its Andorran owner was accused by the US of money laundering for clients from China, Russia and Venezuela.

US President Barack Obama’s proposal to tax the offshore profits of US corporations could encourage all but the largest companies to follow their cash hoard overseas, according to business leaders and tax lawyers.

The United States has imposed fresh sanctions on North Korea in its first public act of retribution for a crippling cyber attack against Sony.

Medtronic, the Minnesota- based medical device maker that’s planning to take an Irish tax address, may become one of the biggest losers under rules announced today by the Obama administration.

Most of us borrow money some time in our lives, whether it’s for a house, a car, a holiday, or just to make ends meet.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is raising its outlook for the US economy, as a budget deal in Washington and the Federal Reserve’s plan to taper its bond buying ease doubts about the future, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 16,000 for the first time today as encouraging news on the job market pushed stocks higher.

US Senate leaders are nearing a deal in talks to reopen the government and prevent a default on debt that could tip the global economy back into recession.

Republicans in the US House of Representatives unveiled a plan yesterday that would avert a looming default, in a sign that lawmakers may end a standoff that has rattled markets and thrown the country’s future creditworthiness into question.

Congress needs to pass a debt ceiling increase by Oct 17 or the US will default, said Treasury Secretary Jacob J Lew.

US secretary of state John Kerry has urged Congress to end the partial government shutdown and think “long and hard” about the message the US sends the world when “we can’t get our own act together”.

Obama administration officials are split over whether to arm Syria’s rebel forces or make other military moves that would deepen US involvement in the conflict.

Antoine Fuqua’s testosterone-fuelled thriller contrives a ‘Die Hard In The White House’ scenario from an assault on Capitol Hill by heavily armed Korean terrorists who are fed up with America meddling in their affairs.

$500 gobbled up by a Golden Retriever? No problem, the US Treasury Department will refund you. See how…

Senate Republicans have told President Barack Obama to tone down his political attacks and prod Democratic allies to back controversial changes to a popular healthcare programme if he wants a compromise on reducing the gaping US deficit.

America’s biggest bank has been ordered to take steps to correct poor risk management that led to a surprise trading loss last year of more than six billion dollars (€4.4bn).

Congressional leaders showed no signs of giving ground to resolve the next step in America’s financial crisis, with Democrats still talking about higher taxes on the wealthy and the Senate’s top Republican suggesting a crippling default on US loans was possible unless there were significant cuts in government spending.

President Barack Obama has blocked a Chinese company from owning four wind farm projects in northern Oregon near a Navy base where the US military flies unmanned drones and electronic-warfare planes on training missions.

The Obama administration is temporarily easing sanctions on Iran to allow Americans to donate money to US-based charities providing direct assistance to victims of deadly twin earthquakes that hit the country earlier this month.

The UN Security Council has delayed a vote on a new Syria resolution until tomorrow in a last-minute effort to get key Western nations and Russia to reach agreement on measures to end the escalating violence.

Syrian troops today shelled the central region of Houla where more than 100 people were massacred last week, activists said.

The US has accused Iranian government agents of plotting to assassinate the Saudi ambassador, immediately using the thwarted plot to step up sanctions and recruit international allies in a bid to further isolate Tehran.

Anxiety about a deadline to raise America's debt ceiling swept across Wall Street today and drove the Dow Jones industrial average down almost 200 points.

Strong profits and a bipartisan plan to lift the US debt limit have driven a stock market rebound on Wall Street.

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke says new regulations will be unveiled this summer to protect the US economy from another meltdown of the nation’s largest banks and financial companies.

Kathryn Bigelow is working on a movie about the death of Osama bin Laden.

The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives has adopted a dramatic 2012 budget plan that would cut the country’s debt by revamping the decades-old system that guarantees medical insurance for Americans over 65 and to the poor and disabled.

Embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is arming civilian supporters in order to quash dissent in Tripoli with checkpoints and roving patrols, the capital’s residents claimed today.

Protesters demanding Muammar Gaddafi’s ousting came under a hail of bullets when pro-regime militiamen opened fire to stop the first significant anti-government marches in days in the Libyan capital.

A conservative political leader rejected key demands from three independent politicians who are likely to decide which party forms Australia’s next government after indecisive elections.

AMERICA’S Defence Department is unable to account for about 95% of $9 billion (€6.9bn) supposedly spent on rebuilding the war-shattered country.

America’s Defence Department is unable to account for around $9bn (€7bn) supposedly spent on rebuilding the war-shattered country.

The Obama administration today slapped new sanctions on several affiliates of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, targeting one person and four companies for penalties over their alleged involvement in producing and spreading weapons of mass destruction.

Citigroup is close to a deal with the US government to begin repaying some of the billions in bail-out aid it has received, according to a report.

THE White House is being forced to acknowledge the wide gap between its once-upbeat predictions about the economy and today’s bleak landscape.

The US federal deficit topped one trillion US dollars (€714.7bn) for the first time ever and could grow to nearly two trillion (€1.42 trillion) by this autumn, intensifying fears about higher interest rates, inflation and the strength of the dollar.

SOUTH Korean intelligence officials believe North Korea or pro-Pyongyang forces committed cyber attacks that paralysed major South Korean and US government websites, aides to two lawmakers said yesterday.

North Korea was today blamed for sophisticated cyber attacks that paralysed major US government websites.

A widespread and unusually resilient computer attack that began on July 4 knocked out the websites of several US government agencies - including some responsible for fighting cyber crime, it emerged today.

Chrysler’s five weeks of breakneck-speed bankruptcy proceedings came to a screeching – but possibly temporary – halt when a Supreme Court judge delayed the sale of assets to Italian carmaker Fiat.