Donald Trump is proposing immediate budget cuts of $18bn (€16.5bn) from programmes like medical research, infrastructure and community grants so US taxpayers, not Mexico, can cover the down-payment on the border wall.

The White House says President Donald Trump's upcoming budget will propose a whopping $54bn increase in defence spending and impose corresponding cuts to domestic programmes and foreign aid.

Democrats demanding action on gun control continue to stage a sit-in on the floor of the US House of Representatives with one saying she would stay "until hell freezes over".

The US senate passed legislation that would allow families of 9/11 victims to sue the government of Saudi Arabia, rejecting the fierce objections of a US ally and setting congress on a collision course with the Obama administration.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Congress yesterday that an emerging agreement between Iran and the US would all but guarantee Tehran gets nuclear weapons and would be a bad deal, drawing a blunt rebuttal from US President Barack Obama.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the US Congress that negotiations under way between Iran and the United States would “all but guarantee” that Tehran will get nuclear weapons, a step that the world must avoid at all costs.

US health officials are alerting airline passengers who were on the same flight as a Texas nurse who was diagnosed with Ebola the following day.

The International Monetary Fund says it will loan Ukraine’s fledgling government between $14bn and $18bn.

The United States moved closer to a default that could seriously harm the economy and a partial government shutdown entered its third week as Senate Democratic and Republican leaders remained at odds over spending in their last-ditch negotiations to end the crises gripping the nation.

US Senate leaders have taken the helm in the search for a deal to end the partial government shutdown and avert a federal default.

Republicans are offering to pass legislation to avert a debt default and end the partial government shutdown as part of a package that includes cuts in benefit programmes, officials in the House of Representatives say.

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.

The White House has signalled that it would be open to a short-term hike in the US debt limit as the United States moved a step closer to its first-ever default while a separate impasse, a partial government shutdown, entered its second week.

Barack Obama is going public to try to convince war-weary Americans that limited strikes against Syria are needed for the United States’ long-term safety.

A US Senate resolution authorising President Barack Obama to use military force against Syria would bar American ground troops fro combat operations and set a deadline for any action.

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.

The White House and Republican congressional leaders offered no meaningful proposals for rolling back automatic spending cuts that will slash €64bn from the national budget.

House of Representatives Republican leaders have offered President Barack Obama a three-month reprieve to a looming, market-rattling debt crisis.

US President Barack Obama will nominate Republican Chuck Hagel as his next defence secretary, a senior administration official said tonight.

Republicans in the House of Representatives confronted with a revolt among the party’s rank and file abruptly delayed a vote on legislation to avert a fast-approaching “fiscal cliff”.

Prominent gun rights advocates in the US government are now calling for a national discussion about curbing gun violence - signalling that the Connecticut primary school massacre could be a tipping point in a debate dormant for years.

The make-up of Congress is unlikely to be changed by the election which is expected to leave Republicans in control of the House of Representatives and Democrats keeping their majority in the Senate.

US PRESIDENT Barack Obama channelled President Theodore Roosevelt last night, embracing a mantle of economic fairness for the nation’s middle class that drew parallels to the progressive reformer’s calls for a “square deal” for regular Americans more than a century ago.

DEMOCRATS in the US House of Representatives might decide not to support a last-minute deal to raise the debt ceiling when they meet today, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said last night.

The Republican-controlled House and Democratic-run Senate remained deadlocked today over debt legislation required to avoid a first-ever default on US financial obligations.

The Democratic-controlled US Senate last night killed the House's Republican-backed plan to raise the government's borrowing cap.

US PRESIDENT Barack Obama warned yesterday that polarised lawmakers were “almost out of time” to forge a deal averting a disastrous debt default that could send shockwaves though the world economy.

Republican leaders in the House of Representatives, facing a conservative revolt, put off a vote on a bill to increase the government’s debt limit, cut federal spending and avoid a potential US default.

US president Barack Obama has said he remains confident that a government shutdown can be avoided this weekend if negotiators can build on constructive talks over a public spending impasse.

The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives passed sweeping legislation today to cut $61bn (€44.5bn) from hundreds of federal programs and shelter coal companies, oil refiners and farmers from new government regulations.

US president Barack Obama brushed aside opposition in his own party today and announced an agreement with Republicans on a plan to extend expiring income tax cuts for all Americans, renew jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed and grant a one-year reduction in payroll taxes.

A major nuclear arms reduction deal between the US and Russia was in danger of collapse today.

A SENATE bill to repeal the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was headed for defeat last night, a major setback for gay groups which saw the vote as their last chance this year to overturn the 17-year-old ban.

Senate Republicans today blocked legislation that would have repealed the law banning gays from serving openly in the US military.

US Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan, has moved a step closer to becoming President Barack Obama’s second appointee to the court after winning the approval of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

A BEAMING President Barack Obama yesterday signed an historic $938 billion healthcare overhaul that guarantees coverage for 32 million uninsured Americans and will touch nearly every citizen’s life. It is the biggest shift in US domestic policy since the 1960s and caps a divisive, year-long debate that could define the November elections.

A smiling President Barack Obama today signed a historic 938 billion dollar health care overhaul that guarantees coverage for 32 million uninsured Americans.

WITH tempers flaring, President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans clashed in an extraordinary live-on-TV summit yesterday over the right prescription for the nation’s broken healthcare system, talking of agreement but holding to long-entrenched positions that leave them far apart.

President Barack Obama made a last-ditch effort to save his reforms of the US health care system today with a near-trillion dollar, 10-year compromise plan.

President Barack Obama tonight implored Senate Democrats to stay aggressive in pushing through their agenda despite the loss of one vital seat, saying: “We still have to lead.”

Barack Obama's bid to overhaul the US healthcare system was in doubt today as politicians rejected the quickest route for achieving it in the aftermath of this week's shock Republican Senate victory.

The leader of the House of Representatives said today that she lacks the votes to move the Senate’s sweeping healthcare reforms Bill through the House, dealing a jarring blow to Democrats’ hopes of finally speeding US President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority through Congress.

Democrats confidently predicted today that President Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul would clear the US Senate after it passed the second of three critical procedural votes.

US Senate Democrats won a crucial vote on President Barack Obama’s healthcare plan, putting them on track for passage before Christmas of the historic legislation to overhaul the medical system and cover 30 million uninsured Americans.