French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for France and Britain to open a new chapter in their long-fractious ties overnight, as he received a red-carpet welcome in London with his glamorous new wife. 

In a rare address to a joint session of the British houses of parliament, the French leader proposed that the traditional 'entente cordiale' between the two countries be transformed into more friendly relations. 

President Bush said Wednesday he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week in Russia to try to break a logjam between the two nations over a proposed U.S. missile defense system. 

''I think a lot of people in Europe would have a deep sigh of relief if we're able to reach an accord on missile defense,'' Bush said during a roundtable interview with foreign journalists. ''And hopefully we can.'' 

Cheney pledges support for Israel ...

Mr Cheney also plans to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank as part of efforts to reignite the peace process.... 

American Vice President Dick Cheney has given strong backing to Israel during a nine-day tour of the Middle East. 

As the American military death toll in Iraq reached 4,000, President Bush conferred yesterday with top U.S. officials in Washington and in Baghdad and vowed in a public statement that the outcome of the war "will merit the sacrifice." 

Letters to the Editor

The Times Editor,  

We're winning but the other side makes all the points.

Dick Cheney, the US vice president, has met King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia with the soaring price of oil and instability in the region expected to be on the agenda. 

However, it is unclear whether Cheney will urge the leader of the world's largest oil exporter to increase output during the talks at the monarch's horse farm in Riyadh. 

Credit Suisse faced a double whammy of bad news yesterday, revealing it is almost certain to plunge into loss during the first quarter of this year and admitting a group of rogue traders in its London office had forced it to write down the value of its assets by SFr2.86bn (£1.43bn). 

Even as America sinks deeper and deeper into a recession, we can also continue to count the incredible cost of this war.  

Former foreign minister Alexander Downer has criticised the United States' strategy in the Iraq war, saying more troops should have been deployed in the early stages of the conflict. 

Mr Downer says getting rid of Saddam Hussein was the right thing to do but the Americans failed to back up their gains with sufficient troop numbers after the initial invasion. 

President Bush used the fifth anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq on Wednesday to make the case for persevering in a conflict that will in all likelihood have many more anniversaries. 

Mr Bush, speaking before troops, officers and defense officials at the Pentagon, acknowledged in some of his bluntest language yet that the costs of the war, in lives and money, had been higher than he had anticipated — and longer. 

Casting aside any hesitation about an aggressive interest rate cut, investors sent stocks soaring to their highest gains in five years on Tuesday as shares of financial firms surged in the hopes that the Federal Reserve has finally taken hold of the credit crisis. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 420 points. 

Florida's Democratic Party chairwoman on Monday officially buried the possibility of redoing the state's disputed January presidential primary, saying there was no practical or affordable way to conduct a new election. 

US Vice-President Dick Cheney declared the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq a 'successful endeavour' during a visit to Baghdad, on the same day a woman suicide bomber killed 40 people. 

'If you look back on those five years it has been a difficult, challenging but nonetheless successful endeavour ... and it has been well worth the effort,' Cheney, an architect of the invasion, said after meeting Iraqi leaders. 

from Crikey ….. 

Bear Stearns and the decline of American prestige 

Stephen Mayne writes: 

United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice & Defence Secretary Robert Gates are due in Moscow today for talks with their Russian counterparts.