Bill Clinton has commanded Vice-President Al Gore to cut the country's red tape.

ECONOMIST: In love with regulation

It is far too simplistic when considering a complex economy such as the US to say al one has to do is cut down the current size of the government.

FORBES: To Stay AAA, America Has To Act

So while candidate Bush gives the impression he's more willing to cut nuclear weapons and supports a better missile defense than Al Gore, he won't provide the details that would tell voters whether his policy on those two issues is really much different from the vice president's.

CNN: Bush's missile defense plans may be indistinct from Clinton-Gore's

Scottish party leader Annabel Goldie said statements made to the UK government in the run-up to the release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi gave "the impression of wanting to cut a deal".

BBC: First minister's questions

But it was soon knocked back as Al Gore returned to his well-worn theme, that the Bush tax cut would benefit the wealthiest 1% above all others.

BBC: Gore comes out fighting

The president of OPEC, Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, told the Wall Street Journal that the cartel would not cut production below 24m bpd unless big oil exporters outside OPEC, including Mexico and Norway as well as Russia, were prepared to cut production too.

ECONOMIST: OPEC��s oil shock | The

In a televised speech on state media last week, al-Bashir urged citizens to understand the new harsh austerity measures, which lifted fuel subsidies and cut the Cabinet by half to reduce expenses.

CNN: Sudanese protest government cutbacks