WASHINGTON, Dec. 5  -- U. S. President George Bush reiterated Friday his pledge that the United States would not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.

"We have made our bottom-line clear. For the safety of our people and the peace of the world, America will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon," Bush said in remarks prepared for the Saban Forum in Washington.

Bush said he looks forward to "a Middle East where our friends are strengthened and the extremists are discredited, where economies are open and prosperity is widespread, and where all people enjoy the life of liberty ... ."

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5  -- The U.S. jobless rate shows the country is in a recession resulting from poor housing and the troubled financial markets, President George Bush said Friday

Unemployment jumped from 6.5 percent to 6.7 percent, the U.S. Labor Department reported.

"I'm concerned about our workers who've lost jobs during this downturn," Bush said.

Government officials are working on the causes of the downturn "to return our economy to health," Bush said.

The frozen credit market is showing signs of thawing, but "there's still more work to do," he said.

Washington  - President George W Bush said he was concerned about Friday's report of more than 500,000 US jobs lost in November and insisted his administration was making the right moves to address the credit crisis at the heart of the downturn.

The rise in unemployment to 6.7 per cent "reflects the fact that our economy is in a recession," Bush said. US economists this week officially declared the world's largest economy has been in a recession since December 2007.

Dallas (Texas), Dec. 5 : Outgoing US President George W Bush and his wife Laura Bush will move into a sprawling 8,501-square-foot house in an ultra-chic North Dallas enclave of Preston Hollow next year.

Despite the national nosedive in real estate prices, the Bushes appear to have paid top dollar for the house. According to the New York Daily News, they have paid three million dollars for the house.

Their new neighbors in leafy Preston Hollow include oilman T. Boone Pickens, billionaire Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, and Thomas Hicks, the guy said to have made Bush rich when he bought out his share of baseball''s Texas Rangers.

Washington/Baghdad  - The United States hailed Iraq's approval of a security pact Thursday as a significant milestone that solidifies US support for Iraq's reconstruction and sets a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq in the coming years.

"Today is a remarkable achievement for both of our countries," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters in Washington.

Washington  - US President George W Bush marked his last Christmas in the White House at the lighting of the national Christmas tree on Thursday.

First Lady Laura Bush and two young daughters of US military servicemen threw a switch to turn on the thousands of lights on the tree, in a tradition that dates back 85 years. In his remarks, Bush paid tribute to military personnel serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, away from their families during the holiday.