Rice to meet French, Lebanese leaders in Paris

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will go to Paris this weekend for meetings with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who took office last month, and multilateral talks on Darfur, the US State Department announced Thursday. She will also meet with Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora. Sean McCormack,the department spokesman, said Rice will meet with Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and Defense Minister Herve Morin during her visit to the French capital. The French Foreign Ministry is planning an international conference on Sudan's violence-wracked Darfur region including representatives from the US, China and several European and other nations.