CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - President George W. Bush received assurances from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Wednesday that Israel was trying to avoid civilian casualties in air strikes on Hamas-ruled Gaza, but a timetable for ending the assault was not discussed, the White House said. Read more »

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has chosen a pastor who opposes gay marriage as a speaker at his inauguration, creating a commotion over what inclusiveness will mean for his administration. Read more »

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush expressed concern Thursday that a disorderly bankruptcy in the auto industry could be "very destabilizing" and said he was looking for concessions from labor unions and others in deciding on aid to automakers. Read more »

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve on Tuesday cut its target for overnight interest rates to zero to 0.25 percent, bringing it closer to unconventional action to lift the economy out of a year-long recession. (Reporting by Mark Felsenthal and Alister Bull) Read more »

WASHINGTON, Dec 16 (Reuters) - U.S. consumer prices plummeted again at a record pace and groundbreaking on new homes slumped to a new low in November as the recession-hit economy lost momentum, government reports Tuesday showed. Read more »

CHICAGO (AP) - President-elect Barack Obama has chosen his former chief rival for the Democratic nomination to be his secretary of state. Read more »