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Berlusconi wins

AGENCIES

ROME -- Media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi won a close race in Italy's national elections on Sunday. He returns to power, as Italy's prime minister, a position he last held in 1994.

Berlusconi marketed himself through thousands of billboards with his ever-smiling photo and constantly reminded Italians of his publishing, television, real estate and financial services empire.

Shrine visit

AGENCIES

TOKYO -- Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said on Monday that he plans to visit Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine. The controversial memorial is dedicated to Japan's war dead. The visit may cause criticism by other countries, Kyodo News reported.

Several Japanese cabinet ministers visit the shrine each year. A number of prime ministers have made trips. But only one, Yasuhiro Nakasone, described his 1985 visit as official.

NMD gets cool reception

THE WASHINGTON POST

MOSCOW -- US President Bush's representatives spread themselves across the world last week looking for support, or at least acceptance of, his plans to build a missile defence system.

But if he hoped to win approval of his vision of a nuclear shield, Bush might be disappointed when his delegates return home. Leaders in Western Europe expressed doubt and questioned the plan. Furthermore, Russia continued to warn that construction of a comprehensive anti-missile system could undo decades of arms control agreements.

"I would put it like this: We still have more questions than answers," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said after Bush aides met with senior officials in Moscow on Friday. But he added, "The most important thing is that discussions have begun and are going to be continued."

US sends envoys

The Bush team was sent far and wide which is unusual. Diplomats from Washington sat down with counterparts around the globe, from the Kremlin to New Delhi, capital of one of the world's newest nuclear powers.

The US State Department said that in addition to Friday's consultations in Moscow and New Delhi, the envoys have met with officials in Beijing, London, Paris, Rome, Warsaw, Copenhagen, Istanbul, Tokyo and Seoul, and have scheduled meetings in Canada and Ukraine.

China's primary target is to urge the United States to give up its NMD program through diplomatic consultations, said Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Sun Yuxi on Tuesday.

The NMD programme was one of the major focuses of the discussions between China and the United States when James Kelly, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, went to China on Monday.

In many of the meetings over the last several days, the US delegations listened to often detailed questions posed by military and civilian leaders from host countries.

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov will go to Washington next week for the first time since Bush took office. "But it is not clear to us how to solve the problem of international security if we break all the (arms control) agreements," Yakovenko said.

Western European leaders were slightly less blunt in voicing their doubts. The French Government issued a clear statement saying that "our position and our questions are well known; we repeated them to the American delegation."

Michael Steiner, foreign policy adviser to Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, told reporters that

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