 Germany's foreign minister warned Wednesday against building unrealistic expectations for a U.S.-backed push toward peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Still, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier cheered the effort led by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who came to Europe to report on her meeting Monday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "We have to show a great deal of realism," and not get ahead of what is still a tentative but hopeful process, Steinmeier said following a meeting with Rice. He acknowledged, as Rice has done, that peace prospects are clouded by uncertainty over the political role of Palestinian Hamas militants. ...
http://abcnews.go.com
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Editor - 12:12:00 02-21-07
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 Anglicans 'in interpretive free-for-all' over their future |
Tensions between the worldwide Anglican Communion and its liberal U.S. branch, the Episcopal Church, continued Tuesday as both sides fell to arguing over the requirements listed in documents released by the top bishops of the 77-million-member Communion. On Monday, bishops released a draft "covenant" and a "communique" intended as a roadmap to mending divisions over views of the Bible, homosexuality and other questions.On Tuesday, those trying to understand the documents squared off "in an interpretive free-for-all," says Canon Jim Naughton, spokesman for the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, D.C. Progressives and traditionalists looked at the documents from the five-day meeting of 38 primates — leading bishops of national and regional churches — and drew opposite conclusions....
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2007-02-20-episcopal-fight_x.htm?csp=34
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Editor - 12:10:00 02-21-07
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| Europeans slap $1.3 billion price-fixing fine on 5 elevator makers, including Otis |
European Union regulators on Wednesday fined United Technologies' (UTX) Otis unit and four other elevator makers $1.3 billion for operating a cartel for the installation and maintenance of elevators and escalators in Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. EU spokesman Jonathan Todd said the fines represent the "largest ever" for price fixing in the European Union, and EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said the costs of buildings and hospitals were "artificially bloated by these cartels." "The result of this cartel is that taxpayers, public authorities and property developers have been ripped off big time," Todd told reporters. "The companies ensured that by rigging the bids and sharing the markets that the prices paid for the installation and the maintenance were way above what they would have been if there had been a competitive market."...
http://www.usatoday.com/money/world/2007-02-21-eu-elevators_x.htm?csp=34
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Editor - 12:08:00 02-21-07
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| U.S. Marine, soldier killed in Iraq |
A U.S. Marine was killed in fighting in the volatile Anbar province and a soldier was killed by gunfire in a neighborhood of Baghdad, the military said Wednesday.The Marine assigned to Multi-National Force — West was killed Tuesday during combat operations in the insurgent stronghold, which stretches west from Baghdad to the borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, according to a military statement....
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-02-21-troop-deaths_x.htm?csp=34
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Editor - 09:54:00 02-21-07
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| INTERVIEW WITH SYRIA'S DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER |
In an exclusive interview with SPIEGEL ONLINE, Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah al-Dardari explains why the US wants to use Syria as an excuse for its failure in Iraq and why peace in Iraq is impossible without the involvement of Damascus. SPIEGEL ONLINE: Damascus has clearly been seeking to get close to Europe in the last few months. You were in Berlin at the beginning of Feb to negotiate new economic links between Germany and Syria. Was your visit a further step by Syria away from the "Axis of Evil?" Dardari: We feel optimistic: Trade relations between Germany and Syria are on the up and up, Syrian exports to German increased by 38 % in 2006, and German exports to Syria also increased by 41 &. In addition, we heard from everyone we talked to in Germany that they will really make an effort to persuade the US to lift its sanctions. They told us that Germany doesn't believe in sanctions and isolations, but rather in cooperation and dialogue and discussions -- just like Syria....
http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,467754,00.html
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Editor - 09:39:00 02-21-07
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| 680 Die in Ethiopia Cholera Outbreak |
More than 680 people have died in a suspected cholera outbreak in Ethiopia that has also affected neighboring countries, officials said Wednesday. Some 60,000 people have been infected, but the country's Health Ministry is resisting pressure to declare an emergency despite a U.N. warning that the disease is an epidemic. "The fact that it is spreading to new areas in the country is cause for serious concern," said Paul Hebert, head of the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Ethiopia. "The full extent of this needs to be addressed." The U.N. has not officially declared the outbreak, which began nearly a year ago, to be cholera. But U.N. officials speaking privately because of the sensitivity of the issue are saying it is cholera, something local officials continue to deny. ...
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2892464
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Editor - 09:22:00 02-21-07
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