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US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held talks Friday with Massoud Barzani, president of Kurdistan region in northern Iraq. The secretary's stopping in Irbil was continuation for an effort to get Iraq's many ethnic religious and political factions to work out their differences and bring an end of sectarian violence that many fear could drive the country apart.

In a news conference, president Barzani played down the possibility with the largest autonomic Kurdistan region in northern Iraq might break away and become independent of Iraq. He said Kurds have a right to self determination. He says he is committed to a federal democratic and pluralistic Iraq. Fears of Kurdish secession rose in the recent weeks when Iraqi flag were banned in government buildings in Kurdistan. Another concern is the bickering among Iraqi ethnic groups over the details distributing the nation's oil wealth some of which comes from Kurdistan. Secretary Rice thanks Mr. Barzani for the Kurds long cooperation with the United States and said she appreciates this participation in process of national reconciliation. She also reported progress and efforts to queer the activities of the Kurdistan workers party known as PKK. The group recently cleared a ceasefire on long fire with authorities in neighboring Turkey.

A leading Republican in the US senates says the situation in Iraq is not going as planed or, as he putted, is drifting sideways. Senator John Warner back in Washington after a brief visit to Baghdad said if violence in Iraq does not ease soon, the US should consider changing its course of action. Warner is the chairman of the senate on Service Committee.

World powers are convening London today to discuss future steps over Iran's nuclear program. The talks in London come after the fail efforts by the European Union to convince Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment activity. US Secretary of States Condoleezza Rice says she expected to arrive late to the talks with her counterparts from other permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany.

South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon says if he becomes the next UN secretary general he will consider visiting the North Korea to help resolve the standoff over the North Korea’s nuclear program. Ban /Ki-moon/ is expected to be confirmed as the new UN chief next week. In a interview published by the Financial Times today Ban /Ki-moon/ said current Secretary General Kofi Annan has made many contributions but has not been able to visit North Korea during the past ten years. Ban said he believes he is in a better positon to handle the nuclear dispute because he has a deeper understanding of the inter-Korean relationship.

The European Union and the United States have reached a new agreement on the transfer of airline passenger data used in anti- terrorism operations. EU and US officials reach the interal agreement today following 9 hours of overnight negotiations by a trans-Atlantic vedio conference. Finland's justice minister says the new agreement provides the possibility of giving passenger information to US authorities while guaranteeing the data will be sufficiently protected. The agreement will expire in July of 2007.

Russia has deported the plane load of Georgian it is auccused of being illegal migrants and continued to crack down on Georgian-owned businesses. The actions mark further deterioration in relations following Georgia's arrest last week of 4 russia army officers it acussed spying.

Police in Russia has conducted a raid against Georgian-owned markets shops and restaurants and cracked down on illegal immigrants. Officials said at least 140 Georgians were deported by plane Friday. A spokesman for the Moscow city education department said police were asking schools for list of students with Georgian names whose parents might be in Russia illegally. Several major Georgian businesses have been closed as state television broadcast a vedio footage showing police agency in skin masks looking through casino and other establishments run by Georgians. Immigration officials say laws will soon be tightend to restrict the flow of any new immigrants from the Caucasus mountains nation will those found to a lack proper documents will be deported. About one millions Georgians work in Russia, many of them illegally. And their families rely on the money they sent home.

Taking a brief look at market activity. on wallstreet us stock indexes are down this hour,asia stock markets close most lower today.