ABBAS MEETING: President Bush invited Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas to the White House in an effort to give a kick to Mideast peace talks, the White House said. Details of the visit are being worked out, but the Mideast talks are to open in early May.
GITMO CALL: Five former U.S. secretaries of state said the next president should move quickly to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The five — Henry Kissinger, James Baker, Warren Christopher, Madeleine Albright and Colin Powell — were at the University of Georgia for a round-table discussion offering what was billed as “bipartisan advice to the next administration.”
ARGENTINE STANDOFF: President Cristina Fernandez refused to back down from her demand that Argentine farmers lift a nationwide strike, saying she wouldn’t negotiate “with a pistol pointed at the head.” Earlier the farmers had opened the possibility of talks over the taxes that led to the strike.
FEMALE JUDGE: The first female judge was named in the United Arab Emirates, Kholoud Ahmed Juwan al-Dhahiri.
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Page compiled from Tribune news services
