Obama Meets W/ A Silly Brit

LONDON (AP) -- As President Barack Obama sought to rally the world's powers to fix a lifeless global economy, the White House announced Wednesday that Obama and Russia's president were ready to negotiate on reducing both nations' nuclear arsenals.

The flurry of diplomacy came as Obama stepped on the world stage for the first time as president, aiming to shore up both America's economy and its reputation across the globe. The White House confirmed that Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev would announce new talks to limit the number of nuclear warheads, the first major negotiations in years over what Obama called the gravest threat to humanity.

Ahead of the G-20 summit of the world's richest and emerging economies, Obama said he came to listen, not lecture -- but also to lead. Pushing for unity, he said, "We can only meet this challenge together."

The world's greatest diplomat sure will teach that redcoat a lesson! <3>

U.S Embassy Opens in Berlin

Berlin - The July 4 inauguration of the United States Embassy in the heart of this city is the last stone in the postwar edifice of a whole and free Europe, diplomats say.

But Berliners are calling the building – perhaps unfairly – an architectural 'triumph of banality' more fitting for a Kansas cornfield.

Either way, the event is rich in symbolism. The embassy reopens on land the US owned in 1941 when Adolph Hitler declared war on the US. The property abuts the Brandenburg Gate, a noman's land in the cold war, and is a block from the German Reichstag.

"It's a very big piece of history," says John Kornblum, a former US ambassador. "It's a look back and a look forward at a time when Europe is going to change very fast, at a time when the Germans see they can't always live under a big US umbrella."

The German reaction to the new embassy has been almost universal dismay at the building itself with some saying the security-manic Americans should have built it in the relatively safe suburbs. - Christian Science Monitor

A pretty disgusting looking building.

U.S Might Open Up Office In Iran

WASHINGTON - With President Bush trying to burnish his diplomatic credentials on a series of fronts, the State Department is pushing the envelope by suggesting it may be time to open a permanent American presence in – of all places – Tehran.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has recently floated the idea of opening a US interests-section office in the capital of Iran – the last member of Mr. Bush's 2002 "axis of evil." An interests-section office, which is basically an embassy without an ambassador, allows for a US presence in a country with which the United States has no formal diplomatic relations.

The US maintains an interests section in Cuba – in a seafront high-rise in Havana. It is larger than the diplomatic missions of many countries with full diplomatic relations with the Cuban regime. - Christian Science Monitor

The U.S has had a storied history of dealings with Iran.