Moving quietly and solemnly through the moonlight, mourners in Michigan waited for a chance to file past the casket of Gerald Ford, welcoming home the 38th US president for a final time.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld stepped down as defence secretary today, one day after congressional elections in which opposition to the war in Iraq contributed to heavy Republican party losses.

Gerald Ford, the oldest living former US president, began his 93rd birthday today with a note of praise and best wishes from the White House.

THE US Olympic team’s head of security is to meet his Irish counterpart in a bid to ease concerns over safety at this summer’s Athens Games.

Some of the one-liners over the years which helped to make Bob Hope the incomparable comic that he was: