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BARI, Italy (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI visited the eastern port of Bari on his first papal trip Sunday and pledged to make healing the 1,000-year-old rift with the Orthodox church a "fundamental" commitment of his papacy. Benedict made the pledge in a city closely tied to the Orthodox church. Bari, on Italy's Adriatic coast, is considered a "bridge" between East and West and is home to the relics of St. Nicholas of Myra, a 4th-Century saint who is one of the most popular in both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. Benedict referred to Bari as a "land of...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- An influential anti-U.S. Shiite cleric yesterday joined the campaign to get Sunni Arab Muslim leaders to help quell the sectarian violence now roiling Iraq, even as insurgents continued their attacks against government officials and U.S. troops. Muqtada al-Sadr, who commands thousands of militia fighters in the capital's slums, sent a delegation to meet with Sunni leaders and appeal for an end to tensions. At least 10 Shiite and Sunni clerics have been killed in recent weeks, prompting speculation that they were tit-for-tat killings. The head of the Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars last week blamed several of...

SHUNEH, Jordan (AFP) - The son of Libyan leader Moamar Kadhafi said his country will soon have an embassy in Washington and expected the US to reciprocate, adding the two had "excellent" intelligence cooperation. "By the end of this year we will have an embassy in Washinton and the United States will have an embassy in Libya," Seif al-Islam Kadhafi told a conference on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in this Dead Sea resort. Relations between the former foes have been improving since Tripoli agreed to a settlement in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and renounced weapons of mass...

ANKARA, Turkey - Iraq's new prime minister said Friday he will soon visit neighboring Syria to demand that the government halt the flow of foreign insurgents crossing into Iraq. Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari also said it was not clear Syria was backing the gunmen. "There are some armed groups infiltrating from Syria.... How much of this infiltration is related to the Syrian government, we will discuss this issue directly with Syrian authorities," al-Jaafari said at a news conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "We will visit Syria some time soon, and one of the issues that will be...

Iraq is ready to boost ties with Iran, a neighboring country which fought a bitter war with Saddam Hussein's regime in 1980-1988, the Iraqi foreign minister said Tuesday. "We have been working with Iran to open a new page in the bilateral relationship," Hoshiar al-Zebari told a press conference jointly held with his visiting Iranian counterpart Kamal Kharazi. For his part, Kharazi pledged to support Iraq's transitional government led by Shiite Islamist Ibrahim al-Jaafari, whose cabinet was sworn in on April 28, three months after the landmark election was held on Jan. 30. Kharazi expressed expectations that a close cooperation...

Sen. John McCain, who once called two top evangelical leaders "evil," commended Christian conservatives on Sunday for their political activism, adding that their critics were wrong to complain that the religious right has too much political influence on the GOP. "Religious conservatives have every right to affect the policies and programs of candidates of our party," McCain told ABC's "This Week." "They have every right - and I respect it." The possible 2008 presidential contender chastised critics of Christian leaders like Rev. Pat Robertson and Rev. Jerry Falwell, saying they should stop complaining. "To my friends who say there's too...

JERUSALEM, May 1 - In a rare visit by the leader of a Muslim country, Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, came to Israel on Sunday offering to serve as a Middle East peace mediator and looking to build on trade and military ties. Relations between Turkey and Israel had been developing steadily since they established full diplomatic relations more than a decade ago. They became strained last year when Mr. Erdogan sharply criticized what he called Israel's violent policies toward the Palestinians, and his government briefly recalled two diplomats. But Mr. Erdogan's visit suggested that any damage had been...

ISTANBUL, Turkey — Syria (search) announced plans to restore diplomatic relations with Iraq more than two decades after ties were severed, boosting regional hopes for securing borders and signaling a willingness to change its policy toward the violence-torn country.

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Syria announced plans to restore diplomatic relations with Iraq more than two decades after ties were severed, boosting regional hopes for securing borders and signaling a willingness to change its policy toward the violence-torn country. With Iraq’s neighbours concerned that violence and ethnic instability in Iraq could spread throughout the region, they pledged on Saturday to cooperate with Iraq’s newly elected government on “overall border security.” The neighbours - which include Syria and Iran, two countries accused by US officials of failing to prevent insurgents from crossing their borders - also planned an upcoming meeting of their...

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused his Israeli counterpart of "terrorism," compared Israel's crackdown against Palestinians to the Spanish Inquisition and said Israeli actions fuel anti-Semitism. But on Sunday Erdogan, whose party has its roots in Turkey's Islamic movement, heads to the Jewish state in a trip aimed not just at repairing relations but also at boosting Turkey's image in the United States and in Europe, where debate is raging over whether to let Turkey into the European Union. The trip comes as Turkey's ties with key allies are strained, with some in Washington questioning...

The End of Hostility? By Aleksandr Soldatov The Moscow News According to the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), the pope hindered mutual respect and brotherly love between the Catholic Church and the ROC I hope that the forthcoming new period in the life of the Roman Catholic Church will help renew the relations of mutual respect and brotherly Christian love between our churches," Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II wrote in a letter of condolence to Rome several hours after John Paul II's death. It is difficult not to read into this condolence message a critical note in regard...

Saturday April 9, 2005 Turks propose removing threat of war on Greece Turkey should ditch a decade-old policy of viewing any extension of Greek territorial waters as cause for war, in a bid to further improve ties, Turkish Parliament speaker Bulent Arinc said in comments published yesterday. In Athens, Foreign Minister Petros Molyviatis described Arinc’s reported remarks as “an important move in the direction of further improving bilateral relations.” The Turkish Parliament debated in June 1995 a proposal giving the government authority to take measures — including military action — against an attempt by Greece to extend its territorial waters...

NEW HAVEN -- The French ambassador said U.S.-French relations are better during President Bush's second term although differences remain on China and how to export democracy. Jean-David Levitte spoke to about 175 students and faculty at Yale University on Tuesday. "During the first four years, President Bush discovered that if America can win, alone, all the wars, America cannot, alone, build peace throughout the world," Levitte said. "For that, the U.S.needs allies. These allies, you will not find in China or Russia, you will find them in Europe." Levitte, 59, spoke a day after the European Union decided to continue...

CAIRO, Egypt - Moammar Gadhafi said Wednesday he wants Libya and the United States to be friends, but the one-time international pariah slammed the United Nations (news - web sites) Security Council for being controlled by a select group of countries. In a wide-ranging address to the annual meeting of Libya's parliament-like General's People Congress, Gadhafi also warned Libyans not to support foreign extremists and to stand strong in the face of terrorism. Gadhafi's comments, moderate in the main but typically inflammatory in parts, come as Libya returns to the international fold following years of being regarded as a state...

Moammar Gadhafi said Wednesday he wants Libya and the United States to be friends, but the one-time international pariah slammed the United Nations Security Council for being controlled by a select group of countries. In a wide-ranging address to the annual meeting of Libya's parliament-like General's People Congress, Gadhafi also warned Libyans not to support foreign extremists and to stand strong in the face of terrorism. Gadhafi's comments, moderate in the main but typically inflammatory in parts, come as Libya returns to the international fold following years of being regarded as a state sponsor of terror. "We don't say love...

LONDON, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has called the hostile U.S. attitude toward Europe during President Bush's first term "an aberration." "The lack of warmth for European unity shown during Mr. Bush's first term was an aberration in American policy," Mandelson -- a former Labor minister and a close ally of Prime Minister Tony Blair -- said in an interview published Monday in the Independent. Mandelson said in visiting Europe this week, Bush was "reaching out to Europe and the rest of the world and we should reach back." The visit "indicates a recognition that...

President Bush will today call for Europe and the United States to put aside their differences over Iraq and begin a new era of unity. The President flew into Brussels last night to begin two days of meetings with EU and Nato leaders. The aim of the trip is to mend fences at the start of his second term in office. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice paved the way with a whistle-stop tour of key EU capitals a fortnight ago. Mr Bush will say the EU - not just the UK - is a key ally of America. The...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush left on a five-day, fence-mending trip to Europe on Sunday, hoping to heal frayed feelings from the Iraq war and to bolster U.S.-European alliances. "Leaders on both sides of the Atlantic understand that the hopes for peace in the world depend on the continued unity of free nations," Bush said during his Saturday radio address. "We do not accept a false caricature that divides the Western world between an idealistic United States and a cynical Europe. America and Europe are the pillars of the free world," he said. "We share the same belief in freedom...

CONDI OFFERS TO GIVE FRANCE MICHAEL MOORE Gift of Filmmaker Seen as Olive Branch In a major foreign policy speech in Paris today, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice extended an olive branch to the French by offering to give them the filmmaker Michael Moore. “We hope you will put aside past differences to work for peace and stability in the Middle East,” Dr. Rice told her audience at the Institute of Political Studies. “And in exchange, we will give you Michael Moore.” In addition to the handover of Michael Moore, Dr. Rice offered to change the name of “Freedom Fries”...

Condoleezza Rice negotiated the trickiest leg of her European tour as the new US Secretary of State yesterday, extending an elegant hand of friendship to France and calling for a new understanding between America and Europe. Before meeting President Jacques Chirac at the Elysée Palace, Miss Rice used her first major speech in office to insist that it was time to "turn away from past disagreements". "America stands ready to work with Europe on our common agenda and Europe must stand ready to work with America," she said. Miss Rice chose the elite academic setting of Paris's Sciences Politiques university...