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WASHINGTON - Israel would be ready to open negotiations with the Palestinians on a permanent peace accord after the country's elections on March 28, former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres said Wednesday. Peres said after meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that the aim would be ending the conflict between the two sides and establishing permanent borders. Implying that Israel was prepared to yield more territory, Peres told reporters, "We don't think of Gaza last but Gaza first." Israel's withdrawal from Gaza was undertaken by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Critics said Sharon's aim was to solidify Israel's control...

Iran crisis talks expose west's split with China · Europe seeks Tehran's referral to security council · Major obstacles remain in row over nuclear weapons Ewen MacAskill and Nick Paton Walsh in Moscow Tuesday January 17, 2006 The Guardian (UK) Differences between the west and Russia and China were exposed yesterday during a meeting in London to discuss strategy for tackling the crisis over Iran's suspected nuclear weapons programme. After seven hours of talks Britain, France and Germany announced they are to seek Iran's referral to the security council at a meeting on February 2 and 3 of the UN's...

WASHINGTON - Lawyers for Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff are in discussions with the Justice Department about his possible cooperation in a congressional corruption probe, a person involved in the investigation said Tuesday night. The probe involves a number of members of Congress as well as staff. A former aide to ex-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, has already pleaded guilty. Abramoff would plead guilty under an arrangement that would settle a criminal case against him in Florida as well as potential corruption charges in Washington, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the...

Last update - 09:57 12/12/2005 Foreign Ministry slams EU talks with Hezbollah, Hamas By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent The Foreign Ministry believes that the European Union has violated international law by talking to Hezbollah and by planning to make contact with Hamas. An internal ministry document obtained by Haaretz states that contact with representatives of these two groups is contrary to international law. "Several countries have adopted a policy that includes entering into official talks with representatives of Hamas and Hezbollah, or refraining from taking harsh measures against their involvement in terrorism," the document states. "From a legal standpoint, such...

MONTREAL - After two contentious weeks, the United States neared agreement with an array of other countries late Friday to join in global talks about possible new steps to combat climate change, the chief U.S. negotiator said. "We're getting very close. I'm quite confident we will have a successful outcome," Harlan Watson told The Associated Press as the U.N. climate conference entered its final hours. Any agreement would probably be only a small step forward, however, by a Bush administration that for days resisted Canadian and other efforts to draw it into multilateral talks on mandatory reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions...

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran said on Sunday it had no interest in talking to its arch-foe the United States concerning events in Iraq or about its nuclear programme. Media reports last month quoted U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad as saying he had been authorised by President George W. Bush to begin a dialogue with Iran about Iraq. U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei has also suggested lately that Washington would eventually have to get directly involved in negotiations to resolve Tehran's nuclear standoff with the West. But Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said talks with U.S. officials...

President George W Bush has authorised his ambassador in Baghdad to talk to Iranian officials about the security crisis in Iraq in a move which suggests that America is adopting a less confrontational approach towards its old enemy. Although America has not had diplomatic relations with the clerical regime since the United States embassy in Teheran was stormed in 1979, Zalmany Khalilzad has been given permission to talk to his Iranian counterparts about the Iraqi insurgency and border security. Iran is widely blamed for destabilising Iraq by backing fellow Shia armed factions and allowing weapons and fighters to cross its...

The Iraqi reconciliation talks, sponsored by the Arab League in Cairo, agreed on a definition of terrorism all right, but it was one that seemed to legitimize the blowing up of American soldiers, even as they fight terrorism. For starters, this Iraqi communique — hammered out by some 200 Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish leaders — called "resistance" a "legitimate right." You know, "resistance": the killers who blast soldiers on patrol, or kids getting candy or worshippers inside rival mosques to bits. The communique went on to note that "terrorism does not represent resistance," which sounded a little more promising. Then...

MONTREAL (Reuters) - Major U.S. allies expressed confidence on Thursday that they could persuade a reluctant Washington to consider new ways to fight global warming at a 189-nation environmental conference. The United States, the biggest emitter of heat-trapping gases, has ruled out joining any U.N.-led talks in coming years on ways to rein in rising temperatures. Such talks are favored by many at the U.N.'s November 28-December 9 climate conference. Host Canada and the European Union reckon they can allay U.S. fears that any discussions would inevitably lead to binding targets, opposed by Washington, which has pulled out of the...

Glossing over differences straining their political relationship, President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin greeted each other warmly Friday in talks expected to emphasize cooperation in the war on terror and the campaign to stop North Korea's nuclear ambitions. The two leaders apparently were still at odds over how to address Iran's nuclear program. There also were long-running differences over the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and U.S. concern that Russia is retreating from democracy. Exchanging pleasantries, they offered no public remarks on the issues they face. . . . Bush and Putin have generally agreed on a need to avert...

DAMASCUS, Syria - Syria's top prosecutor has invited the chief U.N. investigator in the assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister for talks on coordinating the U.N. probe with Syria's newly opened one, the official news agency reported Wednesday. Prosecutor-General Ghada Murad, who heads the Syrian probe into Rafik Hariri's killing, has asked U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis to come to Damascus "to search for the best means and mechanisms of cooperating between the two commissions," the Syrian Arab News Agency said. In a letter to Mehlis, Murad said her commission "highly appreciates your mission and is keen to unveil the...

The Thing About Thieves by Michael G. Mickey (10-24-05) Matthew 24:43-44: But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. As a police officer, I can tell you one thing about a thief. He is most often coming to take what is yours when you least expect it, late in the night or when you're away...

Mullah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani says the US and Israel are raising too much hue and cry trying to exaggerate Iran's peaceful nuclear activities solely for political purposes, irrespective of the grave consequences of their actions regionally and globally. In an interview with the Jeddah-based daily, Okaz, published on Saturday, Rafsanjani said there is a possibility of the referral of Iran's nuclear issue to the UN Security Council though "knowing the serious outcome of such a move would convince western leaders to act more prudently to avoid such a development". "The US and the 'Zionist regime' have been trying to exaggerate...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan's initiation of high-level talks with Israel prompted fury from Islamic hard-liners who stormed out of Parliament on Friday and called protests in major cities across the country. But despite fiery rhetoric, the rallies held after Friday prayers were poorly attended, and newspaper commentators gave the landmark meeting between Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and his Pakistani counterpart Khursheed Kasuri a cautious welcome. Thursday's meeting in Turkey was the first high-level contact between the two countries — a direct response to Israel's recent removal of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip. However, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Naeem...

Pakistan took a first step toward normalizing relations with Israel on Thursday, with Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom meeting his Pakistani counterpart, Khurshid Kasuri, in Istanbul. In the public meeting, the ministers discussed ways of promoting bilateral ties, but not establishing full diplomatic relations. Shalom and Kasuri will meet again in about two weeks at the United Nations General Assembly, where a first meeting could also take place between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. "Pakistan attaches great importance to Israel ending its occupation of Gaza, and has therefore decided to engage Israel," Kasuri said after the meeting....

TEHRAN, Iran Aug 25, 2005 — Iran's top nuclear negotiator called for more countries to join the three European states engaged in talks about Tehran's contentious nuclear program, state-run television reported Thursday. Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said he welcomed negotiations with all members of the board of governors of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, plus countries from the 116-member Non-Aligned Movement. "There is a serious question in Iran that asks why nuclear negotiations should be limited to just three European countries," state TV quoted Larijani as saying. He did not single out any other countries...

For two years now, the Bush Administration has willingly taken a back seat to European diplomacy to induce Iran to abandon its nuclear-weapons program. In the last few weeks, the world has been able to see what this non-cowboy strategy has achieved: • Iran's new president has called for "a wave of Islamic revolution." Only a few years ago, this new world statesman was running gangs of street thugs who harassed anti-government demonstrators. His political rise was engineered by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini, who barred 1,000 reformist candidates from the recent parliamentary elections. • Last week, Iranian police opened fire...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Sunni Arabs complained Saturday they were being sidelined in talks on the new constitution only two days before the deadline and warned that their community will reject the document if it is submitted to parliament without Sunni consent. "They will surprise us in the final hour," Saleh al-Mutlaq, one of four main Sunni negotiators, told The Associated Press. "We will reject it and the people will be angry, the street will be angry and as a result we will be back to square one." But a Shiite politician, Khaled al-Attiyah, was upbeat and said the negotiations were...

A high ranking Kremlin official emphasized Wednesday, "Iran's right to take advantage of nuclear power for peaceful purposes must be internationally recognized," the official Iranian news agency reported today. Speaking to his country's official Itar-Tass news agency, the Russian official who spoke on condition of anonymity added, "Russia believes it is appropriate for the international community to recognize Iran's right to continue its nuclear programs, since that would solve the current crisis and save unnecessary problems." Meantime, IRNA reported that: senior Iranian officials warned the European Union Wednesday to stop pressuring the Islamic republic to limit its nuclear activities and...

A US envoy has suggested the latest round of talks on North Korea's nuclear programme, now in its ninth day, could be nearing some kind of conclusion. Christopher Hill was speaking after China put forward yet another draft of a proposed joint statement. Mr Hill called the latest proposal "a very important text... designed to narrow the differences". The North wants security guarantees and aid before it will scrap its programme, conditions the US has baulked at. Both Mr Hill and North Korean envoy Kim Kye-gwan had earlier expressed doubts that an agreement would be achieved. Six nations - the...