Chirac response to Mahathir comments 'a shame', Israel says:

Chirac response to Mahathir comments 'a shame', Israel says:
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom criticized on Sunday
French President Jacques Chirac's reaction to controversial
comments about Jews made by Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad as "a shame". Shalom "expressed his disappointment
regarding President Chirac's refusal to condemn the Malaysian
prime minister's anti-Semitic remarks" at a cabinet meeting, a
foreign ministry spokesman said. "It's a shame that France, a
leading country, has even the slightest understanding or
acceptance of such anti-Semitic remarks," the spokesman quoted
Shalom as saying. "We cannot accept from any country less than a
full dismissal and condemnation of remarks of this kind." -- AFP

Palestinians head to U.S. to press truce demands: Three senior
members of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement
left for Washington on Sunday for talks with officials and
Congress members on arranging a truce with Israel. Israel has
repeatedly ruled out a cease-fire until the Palestinians rein in
militants spearheading attacks on Israelis during the three-month
uprising against Israeli occupation. -- Reuters

Romania scrambles to woo votes for constitution: Romania's ruling
ex-communists launched a last-ditch campaign on Sunday to lure
more voters to a referendum on bringing the constitution in line
with EU law, after many abstained to protest against poverty and
corruption. Out of more than 16 million voters, 45.5 percent had
cast ballots two hours before polls closed on Sunday, the second
day of the weekend referendum touted by the government as a vote
for the European Union, which Romania hopes to join in 2007. --
Reuters