Bush makes surprise visit to Iraq  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — President Bush greeted his war commanders with salutes Monday during a surprise visit to a U.S. air base in Iraq's Anbar province.  —  Air Force One touched down at Al Asad Air Base at 3:43 p.m. (7:43 a.m. EDT) under a blazing sun.

Soldiers evacuate babies from Israeli daycare centre as Islamic Jihad rockets fall  —  Soldiers scrambled to evacuate babies from a day care center in rocket-scarred Sderot today after a projectile fired by Palestinian militants thudded into the courtyard.  —  None of the 15 babies at the center was hurt.

Edwards backs mandatory preventive care  —  TIPTON, Iowa - Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said on Sunday that his universal health care proposal would require that Americans go to the doctor for preventive care.  —  "It requires that everybody be covered.

Strong words for America, stern warnings for Mexico  —  MEXICO CITY - Mexico's president drew a standing ovation from legislators as he chided Americans for new border fences and their "humiliating treatment" of illegal immigrants during his State of the Union speech on Sunday.

When Controversy Follows Cash  —  Some Fundraisers With Legal Issues Slip Through Campaigns' Vetting  —  Sant S. Chatwal, an Indian American businessman, has helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaigns, even as he battled governments on two continents …

Transformed By Her Bond With Bush  —  Rice's Loyalty Brings Power and Pitfalls  —  It was just two days after President Bush's reelection in 2004, and Condoleezza Rice was planning her move back home to California and to the tranquility of life at Stanford University.  —  But Bush had other plans.

WHAT EXIT?  FALLUJAH!  —  JERSEY MARINES DO U.S. PROUD  —  Jersey rules.  The Marines of 1st Platoon, Fox Company, 3rd Battal ion, 3rd Marines aren't living large, but they're making a huge difference.  Bunking in a police precinct headquarters in Fallujah, they're at the forward edge of our current successes in Iraq.

Democratic Vistas  —  With the possible exception of the Republicans, is there a major political party more stupefyingly brain-dead than the Democrats?  That's the ultimate takeaway from "The Argument," Matt Bai's sharply written, exhaustively reported and thoroughly depressing account of …

[TS] Op-Ed Columnist: Snow Job in the Desert  —  It appears that many influential people in this country have learned nothing from the last five years.

Report: U.S. workers are most productive  —  GENEVA - American workers stay longer in the office, at the factory or on the farm than their counterparts in Europe and most other rich nations, and they produce more per person over the year.  —  They also get more done per hour than everyone …

CO-05: Republican Congressman threatens local couple  —  Colorado representative Doug Lamborn has just made the final doo-doo step it what will be the shortest and most lackluster career the House has ever seen.  Doug Lamborn's recorded threats to a pair of voters critical of his views …