German leaders meet, don’t agree

Berlin Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and opposition leader Angela Merkel held their first face-to-face talks Thursday to wrangle over their rival claims to lead Germany out of political paralysis following inconclusive elections.

Merkel said her conservative Christian Democrats and Schroeder’s Social Democrats agreed to further coalition talks next week but disagreed over who has mandate to run Germany.

Merkel’s conservatives narrowly beat Schroeder’s party in Sunday’s parliamentary balloting and ended his seven-year coalition with the environmentalist Greens. But the margin of victory was so slim that Schroeder refused to acknowledge defeat, insisting he should remain as chancellor .

It remained unclear how they would resolve their competing claims to be chancellor, raising speculation that both might have to stand aside or that another election would have to be held.

Syria trying to head off possible U.N. sanctions

Washington Syria is trying to negotiate a deal to prevent punitive action by the United Nations if, as is widely expected, the Damascus government is linked to the Feb. 14 assassination of Lebanon’s former prime minister, according to U.S. and European officials.

Over the past month, the government of President Bashar Assad has been inquiring about the potential for a deal, roughly equivalent to what Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi did to end tough international sanctions imposed for his country’s role in the 1988 midair bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, the officials said. Gadhafi eventually agreed to hand over two intelligence officials linked to the bombing for an international trial.

But the United States, France and U.N. officials have all recently signaled to Syria that they will not compromise on the completion of a full investigation into the slaying of Lebanese reformer Rafik Hariri – or subsequent legal steps, wherever the probe leads, the officials said.

Since the arrest last month of four top Lebanese security officials with close ties to Damascus, Syria has been “running scared,” said a U.S. official familiar with the overtures.