Bush optimistic on economy

The President-elect of the United States, George W Bush has said he's genuinely optimistic about America's long-term prosperity.

After a two-day economic summit in Texas with some of the country's richest and most influential business leaders, Mr Bush said he did have some concerns for the short term.

He said there was a need to recruit people from around the world to help meet the employment needs of high-tech firms in the US.

Mr Bush also said that Wednesday's cut in interest rates had not made his planned tax cut any less necessary, and suggested there might be a case for reducing taxes even sooner than he'd originally intended. A BBC correspondent in Washington says the recent slowing of the US economy has made some Democrats more sympathetic to the idea of tax cuts.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service