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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Chaos in Darfur on Rise as Arabs Fight With Arabs  —  Some of the same Arab tribes accused of massacring civilians in the Darfur region of Sudan are now unleashing their considerable firepower against one another in a battle over the spoils of war that is killing hundreds of people and displacing tens of thousands.

The Biography As A Comic Book  —  Slate will serialize the latest biography of Ronald Reagan this week — a "graphic" biography that will appear in five installments.  After reading the first installment, I can report that it's everything one would expect from a comic book.

[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.

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.

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 …