The United States agreed on Friday to help Saudi Arabia protect its oil industry from terrorist attack, while offering to back conservative Arab countries resisting Iranian influence spreading across the Middle East — but King Abdullah was not persuaded to boost Saudi oil production to ease the effect of the -a-barrel price on the US.
Israel on Thursday threw a huge birthday bash to celebrate 60 tumultuous years during which the Jewish state made great strides forward but failed to achieve peace with its neighbours. Military air shows topped the programme with war planes being put through their paces even as a dark cloud hung over the political future of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
United States President George Bush’s attempts to patch up the US’s battered relationship with Russia failed on Sunday when Vladimir Putin said he continued to oppose the US’s European missile defence plans. Bush and Putin held talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. It was their last encounter before Putin steps down as president.
France will not support bids by the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Ukraine to become members of Nato, putting it at odds with the United States, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on Tuesday. ”France will not give its green light to the entry of Ukraine and Georgia,” Fillon told France Inter radio.
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/ 16 February 2008
President George Bush began a five-nation tour of Africa on Saturday that will highlight United States health, education and pro-democracy projects there and also seek to advance efforts to end Kenya’s post-election crisis. Bush, accompanied by his wife Laura, arrived in the small West African state of Benin.
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/ 14 February 2008
United States President George Bush travels this week to Africa, one of the few regions where he can claim globally recognised successes for efforts on Aids and development in a foreign-policy legacy dominated by the Iraq war. But conflicts in Kenya and Darfur will intrude on a trip intended to show the positive impact from US investment.
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/ 5 February 2008
Kenya’s government and the opposition begin detailed negotiations on Tuesday to try to end political and tribal conflict that has killed about 1 000 people and brought one of Africa’s brightest economies to its knees. The two sides agreed on Monday on immediate steps to help the hundreds of thousands displaced by the violence.
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/ 4 December 2007
United States intelligence agencies undercut the White House on Monday by disclosing for the first time that Iran has not been pursuing a nuclear weapons development programme for the past four years. The secret report, which was declassified on Monday and published, marked a significant shift from previous estimates.
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/ 27 November 2007
President George Bush launched a United States drive to create a Palestinian state on Monday, with Israelis and Palestinians nearing an agreement to address the toughest issues of their decades-old conflict. His legacy dominated by war in Iraq, Bush began three days of Middle East diplomacy in separate Oval Office meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
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/ 26 November 2007
United States President George Bush meets Palestinian and Israeli leaders on Monday in a last-ditch push for Palestinian statehood before he leaves office in 14 months. Expectations are low for three days of talks because Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas all face political challenges at home.
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/ 26 October 2007
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas pledged on Friday to work towards a meaningful agreement for a United States conference following major disagreement on how to proceed. The two leaders met for two-and-a-half hours with their chief negotiators.
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/ 25 September 2007
President George Bush is set to announce new United States sanctions against Burma over human rights as the annual United Nations General Assembly gathering of world leaders gets under way on Tuesday. Bush will advocate supporting groups in Burma that are trying to advance freedom and announce new sanctions directed at key members of the military rulers.
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/ 4 September 2007
United States President George Bush paid a surprise visit to a US military base in Iraq on Monday, in a piece of stagecraft intended to bolster support in Congress for the administration’s war strategy, only days before a crucial report on the success of the American troop ”surge”.