Bush To Focus on Mid-East Peace

The US Secretary of State says President George Bush has decided to make ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict one of his highest priorities. The current moves to re-start talks were the most serious effort to resolve the conflict in many years. Ms. Rice is in the West Bank, where she has been trying to salvage a peace conference planned for next month. The Palestinians have warned that if no tightly worded text is agreed on which to base talks, they will not attend. The Israelis say they do not believe an agreed text is necessary.

Rusia Drops Out Of Arms Treaty

Russia suspended participation in a key arms control treaty saying it will hold NATO inspections of its military sites and no longer limit the numbers of its tanks and other heavy conventional weapons. The move, threatened for months, added new tension to relations with the West already strained over U.S. plans to build a missile shield in Eastern Europe, Russian conflicts with its neighbors and Western criticisms of Moscow's human rights record.