Sun, May 18, 2008 - Page 7 News List

Leaders vow to fight poverty, warming

UNITED WE STAND The Peruvian president urged his European and Latin American counterparts to put aside petty differences and focus on setting clear strategies

AP , LIMA

Ecuadorian Justice Minister Gusto Jalkh insisted on Friday that the computer files “cannot have credibility” because they had been mishandled.

During a European tour this week, Correa said he would consider restoring ties only if Uribe halts “Colombia’s verbal aggression.”

The three feuding leaders met for the first time on Friday since an uncomfortable summit in the Dominican Republic in March, when Uribe and Chavez embraced one another at the urging of Dominican President Leonel Fernandez, and Correa reluctantly shook Uribe’s hand.

One personal feud that seemed to have cooled on Friday was between Chavez and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Chavez gave his German counterpart a kiss, apparently ending a verbal spat that had erupted last week.

Merkel had drawn Chavez’s wrath by saying he did not speak for Latin America, and that his leftist polices would not solve the region’s problems. He responded by accusing her party of sharing the ideals of Adolf Hitler.

“I have not come here to fight. It was a great pleasure to shake her hand,” Chavez said on Friday. “I told her: ‘If I said something very harsh, forgive me.’”

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