WASHINGTON - As Yasser Arafat was buried, President Bush raised hopes Friday for a Middle East peace and the creation of an independent Palestinian state within four years, suggesting decades of distrust and frustration could be altered by the change of Palestinian leadership.

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Monday bowed his head in silence before the flag-draped casket of Gerald R. Ford - a man the president said used a calm, steady hand to guide the nation after the tumultuous Watergate years.

WASHINGTON - President Bush, stung by the rejection of his first choice, will nominate conservative judge Samuel Alito to replace moderate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in a bid to reshape the Supreme Court and mollify his political base, officials said Monday.

WASHINGTON - The presidential candidates are hitting big battleground states again today. President Bush will be on his second bus trip in Florida in four days.

BEIJING - President Bush on Monday sharply criticized Moscow's harsh military crackdown in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, saying the violence is unacceptable and Russia's response is disproportionate.

WASHINGTON - President Bush pushed back against suggestions by some skeptical Republicans that Harriet Miers was not conservative enough, insisting on Tuesday that his nominee to the Supreme Court shares his strict-constructionist views.

BATON ROUGE, La. - President Bush asserted Monday that federal, state and local governments are "doing the best they can" to help Hurricane Katrina victims even as his third visit there exposed friction with the governor of Louisiana over the slow pace of relief efforts.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - President Bush made a surprise Thanksgiving visit to American troops in Baghdad Thursday, flying secretly to violence-scarred Iraq to thank U.S. forces for serving there.

HOUSTON - Former first lady Barbara Bush was resting comfortably after undergoing successful open heart surgery Wednesday to replace her aortic valve, a family spokesman and hospital officials said.

It was business first before the pleasure of watching top-flight pro golf in Scottsdale Thursday for former President George H.W. Bush.

Former President George H.W. Bush will serve the role of chief spectator at the FBR Open golf tournament in Scottsdale this week.

WASHINGTON - President Bush hinted on Monday that his next nominee for the Supreme Court would be a woman or a minority, saying that "diversity is one of the strengths of the country."

WASHINGTON - In his final acts of clemency, President George W. Bush on Monday granted early prison releases to two former U.S. Border Patrol agents whose convictions for shooting a Mexican drug dealer fueled the national debate over illegal immigration.

WASHINGTON - Putting pressure on congressional Democrats to back more exploration for oil, President Bush on Monday lifted an executive ban on offshore drilling that has stood since his father was president. But the move, by itself, will do nothing unless Congress acts as well.

CRAWFORD, Texas - President Bush is looking at world hot spots from Baghdad to Pyongyang, without leaving Texas. Keeping up an annual tradition, Bush was meeting with his defense and foreign policy teams on Thursday at his ranch, where he is spending August.

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Tuesday that authoritarian rule in the Middle East has begun to ease, and he insisted anew that Syria must end its nearly three-decade occupation of Lebanon.

October 19, 2004

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush marked the anniversary of the Iraq war Sunday by touting the efforts to build democracy there and avoiding any mention of the daily violence that rages three years after he ordered an invasion.

WASHINGTON - President Bush will tour the hurricane devastated Gulf Coast region on Friday and has asked his father, former President George H.W. Bush, and former President Clinton to lead a private fund-raising campaign for victims.

April 8, 2005

WASHINGTON - George W. Bush swore the presidential oath for a second term in turbulent times Thursday and issued a sweeping pledge to spread liberty and freedom "to the darkest corners of the world."

WASHINGTON - President Bush claimed a re-election mandate Wednesday after a record 59 million Americans chose him over Democrat John Kerry and voted to expand Republican control of Congress as well.