US PRESIDENT George Bush and dozens of other leading politicians are racing to distance themselves from a disgraced political lobbyist.

US president George Bush has personally approved a secretive eavesdropping programme more than three dozen times since October 2001, a senior intelligence official has said.

THE American Senate yesterday rejected attempts to re-authorise several provisions of the USA Patriot Act as infringing too much on Americans’ privacy and liberty, dealing a huge defeat to the Bush administration.

US Supreme Court nominee John Roberts pledged to judge with humility and “without fear or favour” if approved as the nation’s 17th chief justice, the youngest head of the nation’s highest court in 200 years.

President George Bush’s nomination of John Bolton to be UN ambassador has been shaken again by a Republican senator’s surprise opposition to the embattled nominee, and Democrats hope to seize the opportunity and defeat him in the Senate.

President George Bush prodded Congress today to “act now” and give him the go-ahead to confront the threat from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

A New York Post employee has contracted skin anthrax, a television station affiliated with the newspaper reported today.