U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice canceled a trip on Friday to Indonesia and Australia because of concerns over critically ill Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and any outburst of Middle East unrest, according to Reuters. Rice called off the trip so she could liaise in Washington with President George W. Bush's other top foreign policy aides without the problems of time differences, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. Sharon was fighting for his life on Friday after a massive stroke. Asked if Rice canceled her trip that was due to start on Saturday because she expected to be attending a funeral for Sharon in the coming days, McCormack said, "I'm not necessarily going to draw a line between those." Rice has been to the Middle East four times since becoming secretary of state and has made pushing the peace process forward a foreign policy priority. Rice spoke by telephone briefly to acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Friday and expressed the solidarity of the American people, he added. McCormack said the Australia trip might be rescheduled for March but a date had not yet been set with Indonesian authorities when she would make her first trip there. --SP 00 11 Local Time 21 11 GMT
