(27 Nov 2004)
1. US President George W Bush waving at supporters, with Laura Bush and her mother walking behind him
2. Bush
3. SOUNDBITE: (English) George W Bush, US President:
"First of all, I appreciate the nations of Great Britain, Germany and France who are trying and working to convince Iran to honour their international treaty obligations. The only good deal is one that's verifiable and I look forward to talking with the leaders of those countries if they can get Iran to agree to a deal to make sure it's verifiable. I know the prime minister of Great Britain wants a deal because I've talked to him personally about it. In terms of Iraq, the Iraqi election commission has scheduled elections in January and I would hope they would go forward in January.
Q: Mr. President, what are the consequences if Ukraine does not comply with international pressure and demands on elections, and do you think President Putin overstepped his bounds?
"You know there's just a lot of allegations of vote fraud that placed their elections, the validity of their elections, in doubt. The international community is watching very carefully, people are paying very close attention to this. Hopefully, it will be resolved in a way that brings credit and confidence to the Ukrainian government."
4. Secret Service agent by limousine
5. SOUNDBITE: (English) George W Bush, US President:
"Listen, it's great to see everybody."
Q: And Northern Ireland?
"Well, I talked to, evidently the word's out that I made a phone call this morning and I did so. Just trying to be a part of the process of getting Ian Paisley's group and Gerry Adam's group to the table to get a deal done. To get a deal done, in other words, close the agreement that they've been working on for quite a while. Hopefully it will help. Of course the primary movers are Prime Minister Blair and Bertie Ahern of Ireland, who've been working very diligently on this. I appreciate their efforts and anything I can do to help keep the process moving forward I'm more than willing to do. So listen, I've got to eat a burger, thank you all."
6. Bush leaves and goes into coffee shop
STORYLINE:
US President George W Bush warned on Friday that the world "is watching very closely" as Ukraine tries to sort out charges of vote fraud following a disputed presidential election in the former Soviet republic.
The United States and other Western nations contend that massive fraud marked the presidential run-off election in the Ukraine, and its highest court has ordered election officials not to publish the results until an appeal is heard next week.
In other matters during the short question and answer session with reporters outside a coffee shop in Crawford, Texas, Bush applauded efforts by Great Britain, Germany and France to get Iran to honour its international treaty obligations to refrain from developing nuclear weapons.
"The only good deal is one that's verifiable," said Bush. "I look forward to talking with the leaders of those countries if they can get Iran to agree to a deal to make sure its verifiable".
Asked about a demand on Friday by seventeen political parties in Iraq that the interim government there postpone elections scheduled for 30 January 2005 by at least six months, Bush said he hoped the elections would go ahead as planned.
Also on Friday, Bush lent his weight to a final push for reviving power-sharing in Northern Ireland, telling the province's Protestant leader to do his best to cut a deal with his long-time Catholic enemies.
Bush is scheduled to return to Washington late on Sunday afternoon.
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