EFL AP from Newsday
He scratched at the door, but White House officials weren’t letting Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien in Sunday. The prime minister requested a formal one-on-one meeting with President Bush during the two-day APEC summit here this week, but his appeal has been met so far with nothing more than silence. Chretien and Bush were expected to bump into each other several times during the summit, but U.S. officials shrugged off a Canadian request for a formal bilateral meeting between the men, who have never had a close personal relationship. "We told them that if we can, we should sit down," said a senior Canadian official. "If not, we’ll meet in pull-asides (informal meetings)." His relationship with Chretien, never warm to begin with, soured further when the prime minister refused to send Canadian troops to Iraq earlier this year to support the U.S.-led invasion.
Message to Chretian - we’re neighbors; we don’t need to travel to Asia for a sitdown. You want to talk turkey? Oh, its beef imports. OK. Let’s look at my schedule. No can do - got a meeting with Vincente. See yah some other time.
Kept the next item in the article gratuitously.
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s mind is trained on terrorism and trade, but her stomach apparently is focused on Thailand’s notoriously foul-smelling durian fruit. In a tribute to the stinky fruit, Arroyo is throwing a gig billed as "The Durian Party" for aides and Filipino journalists at the end of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, officials traveling with her said. Because of its offensive smell, the fruit is banned in many buildings, airplanes and other enclosed areas in Southeast Asia. But Arroyo, who developed an early liking for the fruit in her hometown in the southern Philippines, doesn’t have to wait for the party to satisfy her craving. Thai officials hosted a lunch Sunday at a swank hotel for Arroyo and other fellow Southeast Asian heads of state attending the summit. After a meal of steamed fish, prawns and seafood, dessert was durian ice cream.
Just how bad can the stuff stink. Regardless, I plan to give any ice cream that I eat a good sniff - just in case. |