Washington - The United States welcomed the announcement Friday that the leaders of the Turkish and Greek communities in Cyprus have agreed to begin negotiations to reunify the Mediterranean island.

"We strongly support the stated goal of these negotiations to find a mutually-acceptable solution to the Cyprus problem that will safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots," said Gonzalo Gallegos, the State Department's acting deputy spokesman.

Washington  - US President George W Bush on Friday widened sanctions against Zimbabwean officials for using violence and intimidation to manipulate elections in the troubled country.

The sanctions freeze the assets in the United States of senior Zimbabwean officials designated by the US government as supporters of the violence by President Robert Mugabe's regime against the opposition ahead of the June 27 presidential election.

"Today I have signed a new executive order that expands our sanctions against the illegitimate government of Zimbabwe," Bush said in a statement.

New York  - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday sent a "warm welcome" to the decision by Cypriot leaders to restart full- fledged peace talks in September for a comprehensive solution to the ethnically divided island.

Greek Cypriot leader Dimitris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat agreed to start the peace talks on September 3. They announced the new schedule for the peace talks in Nicosia Friday.

Paris - As he prepared to meet with US presidential candidate Barack Obama later Friday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy told a French newspaper that the Illinois senator was his "buddy."

"Obama? That's my buddy," Sarkozy was quoted as saying in Friday's edition of Le Figaro. "Contrary to my diplomatic advisors, I never thought Hillary Clinton had a chance. I always said Obama would be chosen" as the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party.

New Delhi - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George W Bush have discussed the next steps to be taken towards the completion of a India-US civilian nuclear agreement, media reports said Friday.

The two leaders spoke by telephone on Thursday night in a conversation that also covered issues related to world trade talks, the Hindu newspaper reported.

Castel Gandolfo, Italy - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki, was expected to invite Pope Benedict XVI to visit his sectarian strife-torn country during talks scheduled later Friday, Iraq's ambassador to the Vatican said.

The meeting, the first between the two, was set to take place at around noon (1000 GMT) at the pontiff's Castel Gandolfo summer residence in the hills south of Rome.