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JERUSALEM: A leading candidate to head a caretaker government in Iraq has told Israel Labor Party chairman Shimon Peres that Iraq would likely make peace with Israel if it gives the Palestinians control over 95 percent of the West Bank and Gaza, Peres said Monday. Peres told Israel Radio he had met over the weekend with former Iraqi Foreign Minister Adnan Pachachi, 80, at a Rome conference organized by the Socialist International. A Sunni Muslim with a secular outlook, Pachachi is favored by many American officials to head an Iraqi caretaker government during the post-Saddam Hussein transition period. According to...

<p>German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, a leftist hell-raiser in his youth but today a popular politician, last week visited Washington and offered his views on what the future world order should be. French President Jacques Chirac must have been stunned. The message was that Germany has its own ideas about international politics, and they are precisely the opposite of Mr. Chirac's grand vision of a united Europe that would become a rival to the U.S. for global power.</p>

As Fischer leaves Washington, no indication that U.S. and Germany closer on Iraq It was planned more to set the tone for a further relaxation in bilateral tensions than to reach any hard decisions on the issue that is still bitterly dividing the two countries, and German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer's trip to the United States appears not to have surpassed that modest expectation. As Fischer returned home to Germany on Thursday, neither he nor the Americans were claiming that they had moved any closer on the question of Iraq and how it is to be governed. Fischer's talks with...

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer took warm stock of his four-day visit to the U.S. on Thursday and offered humanitarian aid but no troops to Iraq. An upbeat German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer met the press gathered in front of the White House on Thursday, after talks with U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney – his last stop on his four-day visit to the U.S. Fischer praised the sunny weather and the German-American relationship, said he had good and open discussions with Cheney and added he was generally pleased with the " receptive audience" he had come across in Washington. Concrete...

Don't look now, but France is ready to rekindle the Franco-American fire. Two months removed from major combat in Iraq, the French have embarked on an ambitious marketing campaign called "Let's Fall In Love Again." In it, Woody Allen -- a New Yorker, of all things -- shills for their cause: "I don't want to have to refer to my french fry potatoes as freedom fries, and I don't want to have to freedom kiss my wife, when I really want to French kiss her." Ignoring the obvious Soon-Yi joke here, there's a question that must be addressed. Namely: With...

Paris woos US tourists with champagne and flowers give-aways. About 100 hotels, restaurants, shops and tour operators in the French capital will provide visitors with free gifts such as drinks, American-style meals, perfumes and river cruises. The celebrations are part of a wider campaign by the French tourism board to win back Americans after tensions over the Iraq war. Last year Paris hosted 1.7 million US tourists, but comparable figures for the first four months of 2003 show a drop of around a quarter. Also a grassroots initiative is under way to honour US soldiers who fell in France during...

France Remembers U.S. on Independence Day By ELAINE GANLEY, Associated Press Writer PARIS - From signs on the Eiffel Tower to red roses on the immaculate graves of U.S. soldiers who fell in France, the French, in large ways and small, offered gestures of healing on America's Independence Day. Relations between the two nations were severely strained over the leading role France took in opposing the U.S.-led war in Iraq (news - web sites). But America was given tender treatment Friday by simple citizens, businesses and the City of Paris, all trying to undo the damage. "July 4th, 2003, Independence...

PARIS - The July 4 holiday is taking on extra meaning this year for many French, offering a chance to repair frayed ties and honor U.S. sacrifices there. Despite differences over the Iraq war, many citizen groups and tourism promoters hope to use the occasion to point out that France has long been - and will remain - a friend of the United States. More than in years past, France wants to provide an ``extra welcome'' to American visitors this year, Paris tourism officials say. An array of festivities are planned. From offering free champagne to cooking up barbecue meals,...

PARIS (AP) — The July 4 holiday is taking on extra meaning this year for many French, offering a chance to repair frayed ties and honor U.S. sacrifices there. Despite differences over the Iraq war, many citizen groups and tourism promoters hope to use the occasion to point out that France has long been — and will remain — a friend of the United States.More than in years past, France wants to provide an "extra welcome" to American visitors this year, Paris tourism officials say. An array of festivities are planned.From offering free champagne to cooking up barbecue meals, more...

When Americans celebrate Independence Day Friday, they will be joined by some of their toughest critics in recent months, the French, who strongly opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Some of the planned Fourth of July festivities in France aim to warm up a transatlantic alliance that has become decidedly frosty. American comedian Woody Allen is urging his fellow countrymen to fall in love again with France, following bitter diplomatic sparring over Iraq. But some French intend to use this Fourth of July to show they are already back in love with the Americans. The Paris tourism office is draping...

PARIS (Reuters) - Paris is launching a champagne and flowers charm offensive to woo U.S. tourists after France's opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq triggered a large drop in the number of transatlantic visitors. Around 100 hotels, restaurants, shops and other businesses will be laying on the bubbly, blooms and other treats for American visitors in a promotional campaign timed to coincide with the U.S. Independence Day celebrations on July 4. "This campaign is aimed at Americans who would like to visit France, but are worried about what kind of welcome they might receive," the tourist office said in...

STAR- Columnist Zeynep Gurcanli writes on Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal’s visit to the US later this week. A summary of her column is as follows: This will be a critical week for Turkish-US relations. Ankara is striving mightily to mend bilateral relations, which were strained in the wake of Turkey’s refusal of US troop deployments for the Iraq war. This week’s most important event will be Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal’s visit to Washington, where is expected to convey important messages. In particular, he is due to present a letter plus a report to US President George W. Bush....

Israel has made several goodwill gestures as part of the peace process. After talks on Thursday evening with his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that travel restrictions for Palestinian workers will be eased. This means that some 25,000 Palestinians will again be able to return to their jobs in Israel. Mr Sharon also promised that two Palestinian prisoners, including a senior PLO official, will be released. Israel will also increase payments of tax owed to the Palestinian Authority to 30 million dollars a month. This morning, the Israeli government announced its intention to gradually transfer...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) -- He hasn't quite forgiven France for trying to block the war in Iraq, but President Bush says he won't let that get in the way of talks at an economic summit because rivalry only weakens efforts to fight terrorism, AIDS, and famine and to improve world trade.</p>

<p>President Bush said Wednesday that though Americans had been "disappointed and frustrated" by French opposition to war in Iraq, an upcoming summit in France would not be confrontational.</p> <p>The president, in interviews with French media, said it was time for both nations to move beyond disagreements and work to fight problems like AIDS.</p>

Nairobi, Kenya (CNSNews.com) - With a slow warming in relations between the U.S. and Sudan, aid groups report an improvement in Khartoum's attitude toward humanitarian efforts there, and analysts hope for positive spin-offs for peace moves aimed at ending a long and bloody civil war. After a decade of severed ties because of Sudan's links to terrorism, the U.S. is edging toward improved relations with the northeast African country, with the fight against terror ironically the motivation behind the thaw.

By Staff Writer President Vladimir Putin informed U.S. President George W. Bush on Thursday that Russia is ready to work with the United States on all fronts, the strongest personal signal from Putin yet that he is eager to mend ties that were strained over the Iraq war. "There is more substance that unites us than questions that we differ over," Putin wrote in a message delivered to the White House on Thursday by Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, according to the Kremlin press service. In his message, Putin said he was looking forward to holding talks with Bush in St....

MOSCOW: In a sign that Moscow wants to set the stage for a friendly US-Russian summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a note to US President George W Bush, saying that Russia is interested in expanding cooperation with the United States in all directions, the Kremlin said on Thursday. There is "much more substance uniting us than issues over which disagreements remain," Putin wrote in the letter, which was delivered to Bush by visiting Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov. The note emphasized that "the Russian-American strategic partnership meets the interests of the entire international community, because it works for the...

COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, France (May 18) - Attempting to mend fences, France's finance minister on Sunday took U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow on a tour of Normandy beaches and said differences between the two countries over Iraq cannot hurt traditional ties. The visit to the beaches where thousands of American soldiers lost their lives to liberate France from Nazi occupiers followed a two-day Group of Eight meeting with monetary officials from the world's wealthiest countries and Russia. The loss of life ``demonstrates that 50 years later, relations that are so tight cannot, and will not, ever be ruptured,'' French Finance Minister Francis...

LONDON: Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom called Britain a close friend on Thursday, but said it must do more to combat rising anti-Semitism here. Shalom spoke after meeting with Prime Minister Tony Blair and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in talks aimed at reducing recent strains between the two countries. "I think the meetings that I had with the prime minister and foreign secretary were very fruitful meetings and will show the Israeli people that Britain is still a close friend of Israel. I think it is very important that we will have now warm relations like we had in the...