A £9bn (€6.74bn) bailout of the US car industry looked set to encounter problems passing the Senate despite urgent appeals by both President-elect Barack Obama and President George Bush today.

Senate leaders will vote tonight in a surprise move to resurrect US president George Bush’s $700bn (€482bn) Wall Street rescue plan.

A United States Senate panel, following the House of Representatives' lead, has authorised subpoenas for White House political adviser Karl Rove and other top aides involved in the sacking of federal prosecutors.

The US Senate today narrowly blocked a Republican plan to tap into the nation’s largest untapped reservoir of oil beneath the frozen tundra of an Alaska wildlife refuge.