White House News

MIDLAND, Texas - President Bush almost made it through his two terms without visiting his boyhood hometown. He broke the more than 7-year, 8-month streak on Saturday for a quick and lucrative fundraising stop in this West Texas oil patch.

Text of President Bush's statement Friday on Congress passing a $700 billion bailout bill for the financial industry, as provided by the White House:

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has taken action against an international charity in Africa over work it does in China, a step the group says is politically motivated and dangerous for poor African women and girls.

WASHINGTON - A federal judge has rejected the Bush administration's attempt to shield records that may shed light on the White House visits of now imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

WASHINGTON - China has canceled some military contacts with the Pentagon as a result of America's recent announcement of a planned arms sale to Taiwan, a Pentagon official said Monday.

WASHINGTON - The Group of Seven industrialized countries is outmoded and should be replaced with a new entity that would include growing economies in Asia and Latin America, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said Monday.

WASHINGTON - U.S. and NATO allies will embrace fledgling Eastern European nations during international meetings this week, in a what will be seen as a sharp message to Russia that further aggression in the region will not be tolerated.

ASTANA, Kazakhstan - U.S. efforts to build closer ties to this energy-rich former Soviet republic are not meant to undermine Russian influence in Central Asia, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has shelved plans to set up a diplomatic outpost in Iran, in part over fears it could affect the U.S. presidential race or be interpreted as political meddling, The Associated Press has learned.

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is leading U.S. efforts to court energy-rich Kazakhstan, the former Soviet republic balancing close relations with Russia and openings to the West after Moscow's invasion of Georgia.

WASHINGTON - A lame duck in a financial downpour, President Bush called senators ahead of Wednesday's big vote on the financial rescue plan. The measure passed, but not just because of the president's intervention. He wields dwindling overall influence.

NEW DELHI, India - The top American and Indian diplomats on Saturday lauded a new agreement that opens up U.S. nuclear trade with India, but they stopped short of signing the deal, which some private U.S. arms control experts say is likely to speed up nuclear arms competition in Asia.

WASHINGTON - A lame duck in a financial downpour, President Bush called senators ahead of Wednesday's big vote on the financial rescue plan but he seems to wield dwindling overall influence.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration issued new rules Friday designed to allow the FBI to pursue potential national security threats with the same vigor and techniques used against common criminals. Civil libertarians said the guidelines will come at a cost to constitutional protections.

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Tuesday signed a sprawling, stopgap spending bill to keep the government running for the next 12 months.

WASHINGTON - Federal regulators said Friday they don't plan to try to rid drinking water supplies of a toxic rocket fuel ingredient that's been found in 35 states.

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Tuesday that up to 80,000 refugees from around the world can be accepted in the United States over the next year for humanitarian reasons, the same ceiling set by his administration last year.

WASHINGTON - The Air Force said Friday it has ordered immediate inspections and repairs to about 130 of its A-10 aircraft to fix possible cracks in the wings.

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Tuesday tried to reassure the country that Congress will pass a plan to save the sinking economy even as no clear path existed for that to happen. He warned of painful, lasting damage for millions of people if lawmakers don't get moving.

WASHINGTON - Democratic lawmakers on Friday questioned the independence of a veteran federal prosecutor named to investigate whether laws were broken in the partisan political firings of U.S. attorneys.

WASHINGTON - Here is a text of the statement that President Bush made Monday morning on legislation to rescue the nation's reeling financial markets, as released by the White House:

WASHINGTON - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson pledged to get the $700 billion financial rescue program up and going quickly.

WASHINGTON - President Bush is welcoming the $700 billion financial rescue deal reached by congressional leaders and his administration.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has announced plans to sell billions of dollars in arms to Taiwan, a decision certain to anger Taiwan's rival China.

WASHINGTON - First lady Laura Bush and daughter Jenna took a lesson from their own book Saturday at the National Book Festival.

WASHINGTON - The State Department says a U.S. diplomat's trip to North Korea has not stopped the North from moving to restore its disabled nuclear reactor.

NEW YORK - At the White House, President Bush welcomed the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan this week. Along their borders, safe havens for anti-U.S. militants, their troops exchanged fire, deepening a foreign policy challenge for the next American president.

WASHINGTON - After seven years at war, the military paid recruits hundreds of millions of dollars over the past year as they answered the call to duty.

WASHINGTON - Children's book author Jon Scieszka enlightened a National Book Festival audience Friday night with stories about how he learned to read funny books by Dr. Seuss and strange books at school about an "alien" family.