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DEVELOPING REPORT: US President George W Bush's aircraft Air Force One has arrived in Sydney for the APEC summit, amid security arrangements unprecedented in Australia. Sydney Police have cleared a path through Sydney for the president's 30-car motorcade to travel unhindered to the Intercontinental Hotel in the city's CBD. Mr Bush is in Sydney for the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit this week. He leaves on Saturday to return home in time for September 11, 2001 terror attack commemorations. He travelled to Sydney from Iraq today, where he made a surprise visit to a US military base with top members...

Bush Visits Iraq, Lefties Go Nuts Mon, Sep 3, 2007 at 9:53:46 am PST On his way to Australia for the APEC economic summit, President Bush made a surprise stop-over in Iraq. And the “progressive” bloggers are freaking out, of course. UPDATE at 9/3/07 10:07:47 am: Daily Kos: How dare Dubya smile while in Iraq? newsvine | reddit | del.icio.us | | email this article 296 comments

Today the President was in South Korea attending the APEC Meeting. The President had a private meeting with Russian President Vladmir Putin where they talked about Iran's nuclear program and how to prevent the Terorist supporting nation of Iran from producing a Nuclear weapon

President and Mrs. Bush are in Asia; he is participating in the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference. Secretary of State Rice is attending the ancillary APEC Ministerial Conference, after negotiating for the opening of Gaza's borders on her 51st birthday. "How Rice Won a Mideast Deal" (worth reading). Something to watch: New Documents Reveal Saddam Hid WMDs, Was Tied to Al Qaida . Welcome to Sanity Island!

/begin my translationS. Korea is among Al-Qaeda's 2nd Priority Targets08/27/2005 An high-level al-Qaeda member arrested in a foreign country is said to reveal that S. Korea is among the al-Qaeda's second priority targets. NIS, the S. Korean intelligence agency, reported on Aug. 25, in a closed hearing at the Intelligence Committee of S. Korean legislature, "Last month, authorities in an allied nation arrested a high-level al-Qaeda member, and he said that S. Korea, Japan, and Philippines make up the second priority list for al-Qaeda hit," according to a source present at the Intelligence Committee. The agency said, "According to him,...

Security Tightened for APECBy Park Song-wu Staff Reporter PUSAN _ Pusan has tight security plans for hosting this year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in November, organizers said. ``Our city is strengthening cooperative measures with relevant agencies to beef up security for the major event,’’ Lee Kyung-hoon, executive director of the Preparatory Office for APEC 2005, said in a telephone interview. His remarks came as police in Pusan, South Korea’s second largest city, increased anti-terrorism patrols around public facilities, including airport and train stations, after terrorists hit London last week. ``Military, police and the National Intelligence Service have joined forces...

S. Korean Foreign Minister Invites Kim Jong-il to APEC Summit JAKARTA -- South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon met with North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun on Thursday and invited North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and other North Korean delegates to the summit for ministerial talks of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), which is scheduled to be held in Busan, South Korea, in November 2005. Ban is on a trip to Jakarta to attend the ASEAN Regional Forum. It is the first time for the South Korean government to officially invite the North Korean leader to the APEC. Ban suggested...

THE Howard Government has had its biggest single boost since the 1996 election after the twin presidential visits of George W.Bush and Hu Jintao, but the Greens' parliamentary protest appears to have backfired. Simon Crean, despite his best public performance for months and no leadership speculation, leads a Labor Party that has lost the slim lead in Newspoll it held only two weeks ago, and would be beaten soundly if an election were held now. The latest poll will ignite simmering dissatisfaction in Labor ranks over Mr Crean's leadership and inability to capture "uncommitted" voters - including "pale greens", disenchanted...

Fake police used in Bush visit By Mark Phillips October 30, 2003 PUBLIC servants were deliberately dressed up as police officers to bolster numbers during the visit to Canberra of President George W. Bush, it has been revealed. As F/A-18 Hornets and helicopters buzzed overhead, bureaucrats switched roles to be part of the nation's biggest security blitz – armed with nothing more than pens and water bottles. In a major embarrassment for authorities, it has been revealed almost one in nine of the "police" assigned to protect the world's most powerful man last week actually was a civilian. They were...

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP). Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has repeated his claim that Jews rule the world, and accused U.S. President George W. Bush of lying if he said he rebuked Mahathir for the comment. Mahathir and Bush met briefly last week on the sidelines of a Pacific Rim leaders' summit, a few days after the Malaysian leader caused a furor by saying in a speech that "Jews rule the world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them." Speaking to reporters later, Bush said he told Mahathir the remarks were "divisive and unnecessary" and made...

<p>For months following the atrocities of 9/11, US officials from President Bush on down repeatedly declared that Islam is a religion of peace and that no American should think ill of Muslims or their religion because of the terrorist attacks.</p> <p>The president had occasion to return to the subject of religious bigotry this week, but it was Muslim hatred -- not hatred of Muslims -- that decency required him to condemn. At a gathering in Thailand, Bush made a point of telling Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad that he had been "wrong and divisive" when he uncorked a toxic rant against the world's Jews last week.</p>

<p>There was a time in the 1990s when our friends in Asia began to doubt America's commitment to the region. Today, President Bush returns home from his six-nation visit having sent a clear signal: Not only are we in Asia to stay, we are working with our allies and partners across the region to advance alliances, promote open trade and investment, and bolster the forces of democratic change and tolerance in ways that seemed unachievable only a few years ago. And from historic collaboration to halt North Korea's nuclear weapons program, to successful regional cooperation on the war on terror, to the deployment of Australian, South Korean, Thai and Philippine forces in Iraq -- U.S.-Asia partnerships are paying security dividends the world over.</p>

(Pearl Harbor, O'ahu)-- President George W. Bush and his entourage spent Thursday morning shuttling around Pearl Harbor, meeting veterans and volunteers aboard the Mighty Mo and the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial. "You don't get to meet the president everyday. It is very rare," said war veteran Toby Langcaon. Langcaon waited for hours on Thursday morning, just to get the chance to shake hands with President Bush. "From six to probably five hours, every minute was worth it just to meet the President and his wife, Mrs. Bush," said Langcaon, who served on the U.S.S. Missouri. Langcaon met the Commander-in-chief when he...

The United States won agreement from Asian and Pacific Rim governments to sharply restrict the use and transfer of shoulder-fired missiles that could be used terrorist groups to shoot down passenger planes. Meeting with Asian foreign ministers, Secretary of State Powell called for joint action to control trade in the American-made Stinger, Russian "Strela" and "Igla" MANPADS (Man-Portable Air Defense Systems). These are shoulder fired missiles that weight under 30 pounds. The United States government had previously resisted formal international restrictions on the transfer of shoulder-fired missiles. The regional press is already misinterpreting the initiative as a "ban on purchasing"....

<p>CANBERRA, Australia — President Bush met Wednesday with religious leaders who reminded him that much of the Muslim world views the United States and its policies with suspicion.</p> <p>On Bali in Indonesia, Islamic religious leaders told the president in a private meeting that they worry that Americans believe all Muslims are terrorists. "I wanted to make it very clear that I didn't feel that way and Americans don't feel that way," Bush told reporters later.</p>

By Michael Gordon October 24, 2003 The best line by George Bush was not in the prepared text for his historic address to Federal Parliament yesterday. It came when the high jinks of Green senators threatened to poison the atmosphere and demean the occasion."I love free speech," said the good-humoured President, breaking the tension, transforming the mood and winning applause from both sides of the chamber.From a leader so often accused of wooden and unconvincing delivery, it was a PR master stroke, one that defused a potentially embarrassing, even nasty, situation.The President had been warned to expect a cool reception...

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea, in a significant shift in a year-old nuclear crisis, said on Saturday it was prepared to consider a U.S. offer of security guarantees in return for dropping its atomic weapons program. But, in comments from a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Pyongyang said it was too early to assume more multilateral nuclear talks would be held until Pyongyang had checked Washington's intentions through diplomatic channels. President Bush proposed the unspecified written undertakings this week during the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Bangkok. "We are ready to consider Bush's remarks on the written assurances of non-aggression...

Australia and its South-East Asian neighbours are discovering that space under the US security umbrella does not come free. Marian Wilkinson reports from Washington. From the beginning of President George Bush's Asian-Pacific trip, White House officials were blunt about the message for the region. "Security and prosperity are inseparable," as one official put it. US-backed security, they argued, underpins economic growth in the region, but it comes with a price tag. From his first stop in Japan to his last in Canberra, Bush advanced the argument that the US security umbrella in the post-Cold War world demands obligations from America's...

Never Forget

AUSTRALIAN Greens senators Bob Brown and Kerry Nettle were ordered out of Parliament today, after interrupting United States President George W. Bush. But they refused to go and plan to defy a 24-hour ban by attending Chinese President Hu Jintao's address to Parliament tomorrow. Some government MPs tried to physically prevent the Greens senators from approaching Mr Bush after he addressed Parliament. Several Labor MPs protested silently during Mr Bush's speech. Labor backbencher Harry Quick wore a white armband, some Labor MPs wore peace dove badges, and the Greens wore pictures of the Australian prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Senator Brown...