US President George W. Bush prepared Saturday to host British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the first foreign leader to visit the White House since Bush's re-election and ahead of Iraq's January elections.
Blair will arrive Thursday and meet with Bush at the White House Friday, spokesman Scott McClellan said in a statement.
Bush "is determined to continue to reach out to friends and allies, and the EU and NATO, to promote development and progress, to defeat the terrorists and to encourage freedom and democracy as alternatives to tyranny and terror," read the statement.
"The United Kingdom stands as one of America's closest allies, and Tony Blair as one of America's greatest friends," it added.
Bush, who was re-elected for a second four-year term on Nov. 2, will hold a joint news conference with Blair at 11:25am Friday.
Blair is one of Bush's most loyal foreign allies, along with prime ministers Silvio Berlusconi of Italy and John Howard of Australia, and President Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland. All four of their countries have troops in Iraq.
Speaking at a EU summit Friday, Blair said European leaders are waking up to the "new reality" of Bush's re-election.
"What I'm really trying to say is, we've got to move on now, there's a new reality, so let's work with that reality," he said in Brussels after meeting Iraqi interim leader Iyad Allawi.
Earlier this week Blair said the war on terror must involve not only bringing democracy to Iraq but also a renewed commitment to peace in the Middle East and the alleviation of poverty in Africa.
Blair faces intense anger over Iraq after three British soldiers and their Iraqi civilian translator were killed in a suicide attack on Thursday, just days after being sent into a dangerous US-run sector of the war-torn country.
On Friday UN Secretary General Kofi Annan warned Washington, London and the interim Iraqi government that a planned assault on Fallujah could undermine planned elections in January.
Home Secretary David Blunkett told the BBC on Saturday that Annan was "entirely wrong" for opposing the offensive.
Blunkett said the US-led coalition had to listen to Annan's concerns but added: "I think on this occasion he is entirely wrong."
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
UNSCHEDULED VISIT: ‘It’s a very bulky new neighbor, but it will soon go away,’ said Johan Helberg of the 135m container ship that run aground near his house A man in Norway awoke early on Thursday to discover a huge container ship had run aground a stone’s throw from his fjord-side house — and he had slept through the commotion. For an as-yet unknown reason, the 135m NCL Salten sailed up onto shore just meters from Johan Helberg’s house in a fjord near Trondheim in central Norway. Helberg only discovered the unexpected visitor when a panicked neighbor who had rung his doorbell repeatedly to no avail gave up and called him on the phone. “The doorbell rang at a time of day when I don’t like to open,” Helberg told television
RSS