The US defence secretary landed in Afghanistan today, vowing America “is in this thing to win”.

Congressional Democratic leaders and the White House have finalised a deal to spend $15bn (€11.54bn) on emergency loans for struggling US car makers, officials said today.

America’s two vice presidential nominees targeted their rivals at the top of the ticket as both avoided making any significant mistakes in their only head-to-head debate of the 2008 election.

Presidential hopeful Barack Obama has pulled ahead in key swing states, a new poll revealed today.

George Bush and the House of Representatives’ Speaker-in waiting Nancy Pelosi pledged over lunch to stop squabbling and cooperate.

US President George Bush today faces questions about North Korea’s claimed nuclear test and the political fallout from a congressional intern scandal.

The United States said today an offer by Iran to hold negotiations on its nuclear weapons but not to halt enriching uranium falls short of UN demands.

A top Pentagon official said today that a North Korean missile launch would be “a provocation and a dangerous action” that would lead to the United States imposing “some cost” on North Korea.

Security is being stepped up on New York’s tube network tonight after word of a “credible” threat to the city’s transit system.

The Bush administration has hit back at accusations by leaders of the House of Representatives’ intelligence committee that the United States went to war in Iraq on the basis of outdated and vague intelligence.

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams is under pressure from party members to turn down an invitation to testify this week at a US Congressional hearing on republican links to Colombian rebels, it was claimed tonight.