Angela Merkel News Blog @newzblogz.com

Ramallah, West Bank ?- A top European Union envoy met with a senior member of the new Palestinian government Wednesday, joining the United States in ending a year of ostracism and leaving Israel increasingly isolated in its demand for a total boycott of the Hamas-Fatah coalition.

However, the Islamic militant Hamas itself is still being shunned, and economic sanctions remain in place.

The boycott has been a costly policy, international aid officials indicated Wednesday.

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BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's Sunni vice president pleaded Tuesday for the kidnappers of two German citizens to release them "as a sign of goodwill."

A previously unknown Iraqi insurgent group calling itself "Arrows of Righteousness" threatened in a video on March 10 to kill Hannelore Krause and her son, Sinan, unless Germany withdrew from Afghanistan within 10 days. The mother and son disappeared in Iraq on Feb 6.

The video showed the sobbing woman, sitting next to her grown son, appealing to the German government to respond to the kidnappers' demands. There has been no further word about the two.

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MOSCOW - The U.S. administration has launched a new diplomatic initiative. It wants to intensify consultations with Russia in order to dispel its discontent with American foreign policy. But Moscow suspects that this initiative is primarily oriented toward an external, European audience, and may become a unilateral instrument of notifying Russia on what the United States has decided or already done.

An unnamed high-ranking official from President George W. Bush's team has informed several influential Western media about the new diplomatic initiative. It follows from what he said that the U.S. administration has taken seriously the Western criticism that it does not put enough effort into its relations with its major ally, Russia.

Some politicians and scholars maintain that as a result of such actions as deployment of anti-ballistic missile elements in Eastern Europe, or support of NATO's expansion meet with a lack of understanding and instinctive rejection from Russian leaders. In order to curb this negative trend, Washington intends to engage Moscow in dialog more often, primarily on such vital issues as U.S. international policy or plans to ensure national security.

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BAGHDAD, Iraq ? Iraq's Sunni vice president pleaded Tuesday for the kidnappers of two German citizens to release them "as a sign of goodwill."

A previously unknown Iraqi insurgent group calling itself "Arrows of Righteousness" threatened in a video on March 10 to kill Hannelore Krause and her son, Sinan, unless Germany withdrew from Afghanistan within 10 days. The mother and son disappeared in Iraq on Feb 6.

The video showed the sobbing woman, sitting next to her grown son, appealing to the German government to respond to the kidnappers' demands. There has been no further word about the two.

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WASHINGTON (AP) Germany's foreign minister said a U.S. plan to build a missile defense system in Europe was not damaging relations with the United States, as both countries sought to play down their differences.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that the system should have a stabilizing effect in Europe as the U.S. continued consultations with European allies and Russia, which has strenuously objected to the plans. She said the U.S. has expressed its willingness to cooperate with Russia on the missile defense system, but she did not elaborate.

Standing next to Rice, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who has previously backed Russia's claims that it was not properly consulted on the plan, said he believed that the U.S. understands the German call for open discussions.

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Afghan Pres Hopes Italian Journalist Kidnapping Ends Monday

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

March 19, 2007 5:03 a.m.

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BERLIN - The leader of Germany's governing Social Democrats criticized U.S. plans to locate a missile defense system in eastern Europe, insisting in an interview published Monday that "we need no new missiles in Europe."

The U.S. plan to place a radar base in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptor missiles in Poland as part of its proposed missile defense shield has infuriated Russia and prompted some unease elsewhere in Europe.

"We need no new missiles in Europe," Kurt Beck, the chairman of the center-left Social Democrats, was quoted as saying in an interview with the mass-circulation Bild daily. The Social Democrats make up half of conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel's governing coalition.

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BERLIN - An Italian journalist who was kidnapped in Afghanistan earlier this month is expected to be freed soon, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Monday.

Daniele Mastrogiacomo, a reporter for Italian daily La Repubblica, was abducted along with two Afghans traveling with him on March 5 in southern Helmand province's Nad Ali district. Taliban insurgents have claimed responsibility.

"On the release of the Italian journalist in the hands of the captors - whoever they are - I hope the matter is resolved today," Karzai told reporters after meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin. "He should either be free by now or should be in the process of being freed."

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BERLIN (Reuters) - U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt said on Monday America's economy remained in good shape and the housing market appeared to be stabilizing.

"Right now the U.S. economy remains strong, the outlook is positive," Kimmitt told reporters during a visit to Berlin.

"Right now some of the softness that we saw in the U.S. housing market, which I might say appears to be stabilizing, has not spread into other sectors, especially into the consumer sector," he added.

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BERLIN (Reuters) - U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt said on Monday America's economy remained in good shape and the housing market appeared to be stabilizing.

"Right now the U.S. economy remains strong, the outlook is positive," Kimmitt told reporters during a visit to Berlin.

"Right now some of the softness that we saw in the U.S. housing market, which I might say appears to be stabilizing, has not spread into other sectors, especially into the consumer sector," he added.

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BERLIN (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Monday he expected a kidnapped Italian journalist who the Taliban reportedly handed over to tribal leaders in Afghanistan to be released soon.

``I hope the matter is resolved today,'' Karzai told reporters at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. ``He should either be free by now or should be in the process of being freed.''

The Taliban said on Sunday they gave the journalist to tribal leaders in Afghanistan, but threatened to recapture him unless the Afghan government met all their demands.

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BERLIN (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Monday he expected a kidnapped Italian journalist who the Taliban reportedly handed over to tribal leaders in Afghanistan to be released soon.

"I hope the matter is resolved today," Karzai told reporters at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "He should either be free by now or should be in the process of being freed."

The Taliban said on Sunday they gave the journalist to tribal leaders in Afghanistan, but threatened to recapture him unless the Afghan government met all their demands.

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The Germany presidency is beginning to justify the hopes laid upon it. Last fall, when the European Union was suffering doubts about its decision-making ability, international influence and even its future, the Germans emphatically strove to minimize talk that, under their tutelage, the EU would get a new burst in the first six months of 2007 - a chance to set the EU's daily regimen and mark solutions to Europe's painful institutional and psychological problems.

Yet at a session of the European Council at the end of last week, another Europe suddenly emerged - forward-looking, capable of making decisions, internationally significant. EU government leaders agreed on targets to reduce greenhouse emissions to at least 20 percent of 1990 levels by the year 2020.

In one stroke, the EU has proven it has the ability to overcome serious internal disagreements (in this case over renewable energy), put forward ambitious goals for the future and continue challenging the rest of the world.

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OTTUMWA, IOWA — The toothy grin is still there, the pile of brown hair, the talk of rich and poor, and that molasses drawl that splits words like brain — bray-un — in two.

But this John Edwards is more seasoned and substantive than the one who placed second in the 2004 Democratic presidential race, and less sunny.

He assails Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) for her early support of the war in Iraq — Edwards renounced his war vote and apologized — and portrays Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) as just another pandering politician.

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Like many French women, 44-year-old Annie Gros has watched the campaign of

Socialist Segolene Royal with the heady prospect of seeing a triumvirate of

women lead three pivotal Western powers: Royal in France, Hillary Rodham

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PARIS — Like many French women, Annie Gros, 44, has watched Socialist Sgolne Royal's campaign with the heady prospect of seeing a triumvirate of women lead three Western powers: Royal in France, Hillary Rodham Clinton in the United States and Angela Merkel in Germany.

Now, five weeks before the French presidential election, the voters who should be among Royal's strongest constituency — Gros and other French women tired of male dominance in every political and professional sphere in France — are among her toughest critics. Their disenchantment is helping drive Royal toward third place in opinion polls.

"When I started hearing about her a few months ago, she seemed to be different and new," said Gros, a Paris teacher. "In a few months she lost all her credibility. It's a shame, but I'd rather abstain than vote for her now. ... She's not a strong woman like Angela Merkel or Hillary Clinton."

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Presidential contender Segolene Royal's prospects may be fading.

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PARIS - Like many French women, 44-year-old Annie Gros has watched the campaign of Socialist Segolene Royal with the heady prospect of seeing a triumvirate of women lead three pivotal Western powers: Royal in France, Hillary Rodham Clinton in the United States and Angela Merkel in Germany.

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TOULOUSE, France - Thousands of striking Airbus workers demonstrated Tuesday in Toulouse, the European aircraft maker's headquarters, to protest plans to cut 10,000 jobs and spin off or close six European plants.

Some 15,000 workers took part in the demonstrations, trade unions said. Police in the city, located in southern France, estimated there were 12,000 protesters.

"We don't want to become Airbus odd-jobs men; we want to acquire new skills," said Jean-Francois Knepper, an official with Force Ouvriere, the strongest Airbus labor union in France.

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PFAFFENHAUSEN, Germany, March 14 ? Ask Marc Bongers about the wisdom of introducing a speed limit on the German autobahn, and he answers by impatiently revving the 435-horsepower engine of a specially modified Porsche. Slowpokes, he said, already spoil half the fun.

?A lady,? Mr. Bongers sniffed, as a Mercedes scuttled out of his way in the passing lane on a busy highway in southern Bavaria. ?And she?s talking on her phone,? he said the other day, shooting her a sidelong glance. ?Doesn?t she know it?s against the law to do that on the autobahn??

With a stretch of empty road ahead, Mr. Bongers floored the gas pedal, and within seconds the speedometer registered 286 kilometers an hour (178 m.p.h.) ? something that is still legal here. That, by way of comparison, is about the speed of a commercial jet taking off.

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WARSAW, POLAND - During some of the darkest days of communism, with curfews in force and tanks on Warsaw's streets, Solidarity activist Andrzej Krawczyk was arrested with a backpack full of leaflets aimed at sabotaging the regime.

What happened 25 years later shattered his life.

Krawczyk was forced to resign as President Lech Kaczynski's foreign affairs adviser last month after the weekly magazine Wprost obtained a document he signed in detention in 1982 agreeing to collaborate with the hated secret military police in exchange for his freedom.

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European luxury automaker BMW said Wednesday that its pretax profit is expected this year to exceed the 4.12 billion euros it posted in 2006, amid higher car sales. Chief Executive Norbert Reithofer said the company plans "to beat the record pretax profit achieved in 2006." Last week, BMW reported a 26 percent rise in 2006 pretax profit from 3.29 billion euros in 2005 to 4.12 billion euros ($5.45 billion). The company also reported a 28 percent gain in net profit to 2.87 billion euros ($3.79 bil...

DEALS: Phelps Dodge, Freeport to combine

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.'s $25.9 billion cash-and-stock acquisition of Phelps Dodge Corp. was approved Wednesday, a deal that will create the world's largest publicly traded copper company. In separate votes by shareholders of New Orleans-based Freeport and Phoenix-based Phelps Dodge, the buyout was approved by about 98 percent of the votes cast, the companies said in a joint statement. Phelps Dodge shareholders will receive $88 in cash, or a total of $18 billion, and 0.67 percent...

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(AP) ? Excerpts from recent editorials in newspapers in the United States and abroad:

Rocky Mountain News of Denver, Colo., on kidney donation:

The death last month of Rep. Charlie Norwood, R-Ga., may serve as a blessing for some of the estimated 70,000 kidney patients whose lives depend on receiving transplanted organs. ...

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A federal bankruptcy trustee said Wednesday that merger possibilities for Northwest Airlines Corp. should get a closer look.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee in New York filed court papers saying it's mandatory to appoint an examiner to look into the airline's merger potential. The trustee said bankruptcy law requires that an examiner be appointed if one is requested.

In Northwest's case, a group of hedge fund shareholders has asked for an examiner to look into whether Northwest has "parked" a merger until after it gets out of bankruptcy.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said on Wednesday regulators bear some responsibility for problems in the subprime mortgage sector and he plans to call them before the committee for questioning. "That's what's made me angry here -- that the regulators apparently have not been doing as good a job as I think they should have been doing," Dodd told reporters after speaking at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce conference on market competitiveness.

House overturns Bush order on papers secrecy

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Brushing aside a veto threat, the House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to overturn a 2001 order by President George W. Bush that lets former presidents keep their papers secret indefinitely. The measure, which drew bipartisan support and passed by a veto-busting 333-93 margin, was among White House-opposed bills the House passed that would widen access to government information and protect government whistleblowers.

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BERLIN - The director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency is heading to Berlin this week in an attempt to allay concerns over the American plan to build an anti-missile system that has prompted sharp criticism from Moscow, officials said.

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BERLIN – The German government on Wednesday approved plans to reduce companies' tax burden, pushing forward a key part of Chancellor Angela Merkel's economic reform agenda.

The plan would reduce companies' total tax burden to a little under 30 percent from the current 38.65 percent, a move aimed both at improving German firms' competitiveness and ensuring that they pay their taxes at home.

The current rate in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, is the highest in the 27-nation European Union, Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said.

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BERLIN (Reuters) - The decision to build a U.S. anti-missile shield in eastern Europe cannot be a bilateral one, especially when the decision will have consequences for other European states, a senior German official said on Thursday.

Deputy Foreign Minister Gernot Erler said in an interview on German radio that Chancellor Angela Merkel would make this point when she arrives in Poland on Friday for a two-day visit.

"She will argue something very important, that this can't be done on a bilateral basis when the decisions will have consequences for other European states," Erler said.

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Just before Jacques Chirac launched his second attempt to become French president in 1988, an overseas visitor in London asked a senior official whether Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher would be supporting her fellow conservative. The official replied that Thatcher would say nothing to oppose the incumbent, socialist Francois Mitterrand, whom she liked personally and who had helped Britain during the Falklands war.

"But in her heart of hearts," he added, "she knows that France needs a Thatcherite revolution of its own. Mitterrand will never give it that. If Chirac with his energy and willingness to stimulate enterprise by cutting taxes were to be elected, she would not be displeased."

Chirac was not elected that year. By the time he reached the Elysee Palace in 1995, the world took a Thatcherite view of him. He was the dynamic conservative leader that France needed to overhaul its creaking and over-regulated welfare economy. He was seen as someone who could get things done. And newspapers stressed his pro-Americanism from his time as a soda jerk at Howard Johnson's in the 1950s when he spent a summer at Harvard. This affection for America was taken as a sign he was an economic modernizer friendly to enterprise and eager to cut taxes.

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BERLIN -- A European Union official's call for Germany to impose speed limits on autobahns to fight global warming drew angry responses Sunday in a nation that cherishes what it calls "free driving for free citizens."

Many stretches of German autobahns lack speed limits. But growing concern about carbon dioxide emissions is testing that tradition.

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CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Islamic militants threatened to attack Germany and Austria unless the two European nations break ranks with the U.S. and withdraw their personnel from Afghanistan, according to a Web statement. "Germany will face more threats and dangers if it doesn't withdraw its troops from Afghanistan," an unidentified speaker said in a video statement posted Saturday on an Islamic Web site used by al-Qaida-linked militants. The authenticity of the video could not be verified, but it ...

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CAIRO, Egypt An Iraqi insurgent group is threatening to kill a kidnapped German woman and her son unless Germany withdraw its troops from Afghanistan within ten days.The threat comes in a video posted by a previously unknown group calling itself the "Arrows of Righteousness." It shows the abducted woman sitting on the floor next to her grown son. Three masked gunmen stand behind them.Speaking in German, the sobbing woman says her abductors have threatened to kill her son in front of her, then ki...

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CAIRO, Egypt - An Iraqi insurgent group threatened to kill a German woman and her son unless Germany withdraws its troops from Afghanistan within 10 days, pan-Arab television stations reported on Saturday.

The Dubai-based Al-Arabiya and the Qatar based Al-Jazeera networks aired a video from a previously unknown insurgent group called the "Arrows of Righteousness," showing the abducted woman and her son.

In the footage, the woman is identified as Hannelore Marianne Krause. She wears a blue scarf over her head and is shown seated, next to her grown son to her right, according to the stations' reports.

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CAIRO, Egypt (AP) An Iraqi insurgent group threatened to kill a German woman and her son kidnapped in Iraq unless Germany withdrew its troops from Afghanistan within 10 days, according to a video posted by the group on Saturday.

The video, from a previously unknown group calling itself the "Arrows of Righteousness," shows the abducted woman, identified as Hannelore Marianne Krause. She wears a blue scarf over her head, has eyeglasses and is shown seated on the floor, next to her grown son.

"I am here threatened by these people, they will kill my son in front of my eyes, then they will kill me if the German forces do not pull out of Afghanistan," she sobs, speaking in German as an Arabic translation scrolls over the screen.

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BRUSSELS, Belgium - Europe embarked on a bold path to fight climate change Friday, agreeing that a fifth of the energy used by the 27-nation bloc by 2020 will come from renewable sources like the sun and the wind, and challenging the rest of the world to follow.

The plan goes beyond the 35-nation Kyoto Protocol in

setting targets for cutting emissions of greenhouse gases, but it still faces problems over how to share the burden among its coal- and oil-dependent countries, The European Union leaders hope their commitment to tackling climate change will encourage other leading polluters, such as the United States, Russia, China and India, to agree on deep cuts in emissions of the gases that contribute to global warming.

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BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - Europe embarked on a bold path to fight climate change Friday, agreeing that a fifth of the energy used by the 27-nation bloc by 2020 will come from renewable sources like the sun and the wind, and challenging the rest of the world to follow.

The plan goes beyond the 35-nation Kyoto Protocol in setting targets for cutting emissions of greenhouse gases, but it still faces problems over how to share the burden among its coal- and oil-dependent countries, and what to do about nuclear power.

"We assume leadership with this unilateral reduction," said French President Jacques Chirac, at what was likely his last summit before leaving office. "This is part of the great moments of European history."

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By Dan Bilefsky, New York Times News Service. "Setting ambitious targets" information box by the Associated Press

March 10, 2007

BRUSSELS --

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BRUSSELS, Belgium - Europe embarked on a bold path to fight climate change Friday, agreeing that a fifth of the energy used by the 27-nation bloc by 2020 will come from renewable sources like the sun and the wind, and challenging the rest of the world to follow.

The plan goes beyond the 35-nation Kyoto Protocol in setting targets for cutting emissions of greenhouse gases, but it still faces problems over how to share the burden among its coal- and oil-dependent countries, and what to do about nuclear power.

"We assume leadership with this unilateral reduction," said French President Jacques Chirac, at what was likely his last summit before leaving office. "This is part of the great moments of European history."

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BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders clinched agreement on Friday on a bold long-term strategy for energy policy and climate change aimed at leading the world in the fight against global warming, diplomats said.

The deal setting binding targets for slashing greenhouse gas emissions, developing renewable energy sources, promoting energy efficiency and using biofuels laid down a challenge to the United States and other industrialized powers to follow suit.

"There's a deal on the whole package," one diplomat said. He explained that while the 27 leaders had set binding Europe-wide objectives, "setting national targets will be done with the consent of the member states."

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BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders clinched agreement on Friday on a bold long-term strategy for energy policy and climate change aimed at leading the world in the fight against global warming, diplomats said.

The deal setting binding targets for slashing greenhouse gas emissions, developing renewable energy sources, promoting energy efficiency and using biofuels laid down a challenge to the United States and other industrialized powers to follow suit.

"There's a deal on the whole package," one diplomat said. He explained that while the 27 leaders had set binding Europe-wide objectives, "setting national targets will be done with the consent of the member states."

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European Union leaders on Friday endorsed binding targets to cut greenhouse gases and ensure a fifth of the bloc's energy comes from green power such as wind turbines and solar panels.

The deal also noted the role nuclear power could play in tackling greenhouse gas emissions, an inclusion not welcomed by all leaders.

"We have time still to reduce global warming to below 2 degrees," Merkel said as she announced the plan that would require greenhouse gas emissions to be cut by at least 20 percent from 1990 levels by 2020 and ensure 20 percent of its power comes from renewable energy. "We could avoid what could well be human calamity."

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BRUSSELS, Belgium ? European Union leaders reached a broad agreement on an ambitious plan to cut greenhouse gases and switch to renewable energy sources as part of the fight against global warming.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was working out the final details Friday of a statement setting a binding target of a 20 percent share of renewable sources in European Union energy consumption by 2020.

The final draft statement, to be endorsed at a summit of EU leaders, promised energy solidarity between EU nations in the event of a supply crisis, as demanded by Poland, and notes that nuclear energy meets the growing concerns about safety of supply ? a phrase crucial for the Czechs and Slovaks, who had been holding out on approval of the target.

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BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders were on the brink of agreeing on Thursday to set a binding pan-European target for renewable energy sources as part of an ambitious strategy to fight climate change.

After the first working session of a two-day summit, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said the 27 leaders had agreed in principle to set a mandatory target for renewable sources such as wind, solar and hydro-electric power, and allocate the burden among member states later.

"We have agreed that we need a target for renewable energy supply and that it will be binding, but it will follow a discussion on what that means for each member state," Reinfeldt told reporters.

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BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A draft final statement at a European Union summit on Friday set a binding target of 20 percent of renewable sources in EU energy consumption by 2020 in an ambitious strategy to fight climate change.

The compromise circulated by EU president Germany offered flexibility on how the 27 member states contribute to the common pan-European goal for renewables such as solar, wind and hydro-electric power.

The wording appeared aimed to win over states reliant on nuclear energy, led by France, or coal, such as Poland, or small countries with few energy resources, such as Cyprus and Malta, by adding references to the national energy mix.

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SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) -- Chile's first female president marked International Women's Day on Thursday saying women were in politics "to stay," while German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Europe must do more to bring about gender equality. In capitals of Latin American countries - including El Salvador, Nicaragua and Peru - women held rallies to mark the day, some wearing signs calling for an end to violence against women. In Santiago, President Michelle Bachelet has passed legislation during he...

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BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- European Union leaders reached a broad agreement on an ambitious plan to cut greenhouse gases and switch to renewable energy sources as part of the fight against global warming. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was working out the final details Friday of a statement setting a binding target of a 20 percent share of renewable sources in European Union energy consumption by 2020. The final draft statement, to be endorsed at a summit of EU leaders, promised energy solid...

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FRANKFURT, Germany ? With Gallic sangfroid the European Central Bank's president Jean-Claude Trichet signaled to markets that the bank's quarter-point interest rate hike on Thursday likely was not its last.

"We continue to be on the accommodative side and I said that interest rates were moderate, last time I said they were low, which is a nuance that speaks by itself," Trichet said.

In a move aimed at keeping growth in check and inflation at bay, the European Central Bank raised its key interest rate a quarter of a percentage point to 3.75 percent on Thursday.

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BRUSSELS, Belgium - European Union leaders already bicker about the future. At a summit meeting opening Thursday, even the past is bound to cause discord.

What was supposed to be a unifying, warm declaration listing the major accomplishments to mark the EU's 50th anniversary later this month could turn into a spat exposing tender wounds.

Mention the troubled draft of the constitution? No way, Britain says. Religious values? More trouble ahead. And the list goes on.

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GENEVA, March 6 — Europe prides itself on its pioneering approach to climate change — a commitment that Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany aims to deepen in her term as president of the European Union.

There is just one problem: her country, home of the autobahn and the Porsche sports cars that tear along it, is among Europe’s worst offenders when it comes to cars that spew carbon dioxide into the air.

To persuade Europe to accept stringent new cuts in carbon dioxide emissions, as Mrs. Merkel plans to do at a European Union summit meeting in Brussels this week, she must also face down the German auto industry, which has, until now, done little to make its cars more climate-friendly.

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