June 16, 2008	Monday	Jamadi-us-Sani 11, 1429

LONDON, June 15: Protesters staged a noisy rally in London as US President George Bush held talks with British Prime Minister Gordon over dinner on Sunday, with Iraq and Iran likely high on the menu.

Police sealed off the Whitehall government district as Bush and his wife Laura posed for photographers in front of Brown’s Downing Street residence, on the second-from-last stop on a farewell European tour.

More than 2,000 campaigners opposed to British and US involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan gathered in Parliament Square, although police said the protest was peaceful.

“George Bush: terrorist!” shouted the protestors, gathered peacefully in Parliament Square, and watched over by some 1,200 police including armed officers prepared for “all outcomes,” said a Scotland Yard spokeswoman.

Protests have been a rare sight during Bush’s week-long tour of Europe, which has taken him to Slovenia, Germany, Italy, the Vatican City and France.

Bush, flying in from Paris, started his visit by taking afternoon tea with Queen Elizabeth II before the dinner with Brown.

He will have more talks with Brown on Monday before heading for Northern Ireland later the same day, his last stop before flying home.

Even before Bush’s presidential Air Force One airplane touched down at London Heathrow, top officials dismissed a report in The Observer newspaper that suggested he would warn Brown against a premature withdrawal from Iraq.

“There is no disagreement between us, between the President and Prime Minister Brown, on this issue, period,” US National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley told reporters.

The two agreed that any withdrawal “has to be a result of progress on the ground, on the advice of our military, and not according to any arbitrary schedule,” said Hadley.

Another US official branded the report “ludicrous”, and a Downing Street spokeswoman said that there was “absolutely no disagreement” with the United States over the issue.

Hadley said the talks would focus on tightening sanctions on Iran over its refusal to freeze its suspect nuclear programme, a subject that Bush said on Saturday had dominated his European tour thus far.

“That (sanctions) seems to be pretty clear commitment and consensus throughout Europe,” the adviser said.

Both sides said the talks would also include climate change, the state of the global economy and ongoing efforts to clinch an international trade liberalisation deal.

Since Bush’s visit to Paris, commentators have made much of the new warmth in ties with France, and what are seen to be the cooler relations between Bush and Brown, at least compared to the British PM’s predecessor Blair.

But US aides were at pains to underline the enduring close ties between Britain and the United States.

“Brown is a different personality than Blair. The president, I think, has forged a good, close relationship with each and both of them,” said Hadley.

But he insisted: “What underlines that relationship is the fact that the United States and Britain continue to have a very special relationship.” Blair, who is now the envoy for the Middle East Quartet, is due to have breakfast with Bush on Monday morning, shortly before Bush’s formal talks with Brown.

“Obviously it’s going to focus principally on the Middle East peace process and Mr Blair’s work there,” said Blair’s spokesman Matthew Doyle.—AFP