US President George W. Bush says the Middle East summit sponsored by former president Bill Clinton resulted in a ``significant intifadah,'' or uprising, repeating an accusation his press secretary got in trouble for uttering.
``It wasn't all that long ago where a summit was called and nothing happened, and as a result we had significant intifadah in the area,'' Bush told Britain's ITV network in an interview taped for his weekend talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The Middle East crisis and Bush's decision to send Secretary of State Colin Powell on a peacemaking mission will dominate their talks.
During his last months in office, Clinton was heavily engaged in pressing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and then-Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak to strike an accord, but his intensive diplomacy -- capped by the 2000 Israeli-Palestinian summit at the Camp David presidential retreat -- failed.
White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, defending Bush against criticism that he had not played an active peacemaking role in contrast to Clinton, said in February that the 17-month uprising broke out during Clinton's presidency.
``In an attempt to shoot the moon and get nothing, more violence resulted,'' Fleischer said.
Clinton's former national security adviser, Sandy Berger, lodged a complaint with Bush's national security chief, Condoleezza Rice. She asked Fleischer to retract his comment, though advisers said at the time that Fleischer reflected the president's privately held views.
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
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Taiwan is gearing up to celebrate the New Year at events across the country, headlined by the annual countdown and Taipei 101 fireworks display at midnight. Many of the events are to be livesteamed online. See below for lineups and links: Taipei Taipei’s New Year’s Party 2026 is to begin at 7pm and run until 1am, with the theme “Sailing to the Future.” South Korean girl group KARA is headlining the concert at Taipei City Hall Plaza, with additional performances by Amber An (安心亞), Nick Chou (周湯豪), hip-hop trio Nine One One (玖壹壹), Bii (畢書盡), girl group Genblue (幻藍小熊) and more. The festivities are to
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