Washington, Jan. 7 : US President George W Bush's younger brother and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush has ruled out a bid for a Senate seat, saying that the time is not right for running for elective office.

Jeb Bush said that he would instead work from outside elected office to rebuild the Republican Party.

"While the opportunity to serve my state and country during these turbulent and dynamic times is compelling, now is not the right time to return to elected office," Fox News quoted him, as saying.

Washington - US President George W Bush designated three areas of the Pacific Ocean as national monuments on Tuesday, preserving vast areas of waters rich in sea life for scientific research.

The three new monuments in remote areas of the Pacific near the US territories of American Samoa and Wake Island consist of a combined 518,000 square kilometres - slightly larger than Spain.

Bush made the designations under the Antiquities Act of 1906 that allows presidents to set aside places of historic, cultural or scientific significance.

London, Jan 6 : Since an Iraqi journalist hurled his footwear at George W Bush, portraits of the outgoing US president have become popular targets for demonstrators around the world -and now a US art gallery has opened an exhibit with a "shoe throw" fundraiser.

For 1 dollar a throw, visitors can hurl shoes covered in red paint at a large picture of Mr Bush, reports the Telegraph.

New York, Jan. 5 : U. S. President George W. Bush will largely be seen as a failed head of state, because he spent most of his eight years thinking about himself, rather than the nation, an article in the New York Times has said.

The last NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll on Bush's presidency found that 79 percent of Americans would not miss him after he leaves the White House.

Washington  - US President George W Bush plans to get out of bed early on the first day of 2009 and go for a sunrise walk on his ranch with First Lady Laura as he ushers in the last New Year's Day of his presidency.

Bush has been spending the holidays at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, and in 21 days will have more time to hang out at his beloved home away from Washington dubbed as the "Western White House." Bush, famous for going to bed at an early hour, does not intend to stay up for a midnight celebration, Gordon Johndroe, a White House spokesman said.

Washington, Dec. 31 : In what without a doubt is the most astounding op-ed piece of the year, Karl Rove reveals that his friend and former boss, George W. Bush, has read probably hundreds of books over the course of his presidency.

In his column for the Wall Street Journal, Rove says that Bush read 95 books in 2006 alone. In 2007, he read 51 books and as of last week, he had read 40 in 2008.

According to the Washington Post, one of them was Albert Camus'' "The Stranger," with its unforgettable opening lines: "Mother died today. Or perhaps it was yesterday, I don''t know."