US: US president George Bush yesterday rejected a suggestion by Germany's new chancellor that the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, be shut down.
The camp on the US navy base was "a necessary part of protecting the American people", Mr Bush said after meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House.
In a joint news conference, Ms Merkel said she raised the issue with Mr Bush, and she described it as one of the differences between the US and Germany.
"There sometimes have been differences of opinion; I mentioned Guantanamo in this respect," Ms Merkel said.
On another issue, referring to recent comments by Iran's leader challenging Israel's right to exist, she said: "We will not be intimidated by a country such as Iran."
It was Ms Merkel's first visit to the US as chancellor. She took power last November after an extremely close and protracted race with former chancellor Gerhard Schröder.
Mr Bush jokingly made reference to both that race, which took three weeks to decide, and his own victory in 2000 over Democrat Al Gore, which was decided only after weeks of suspense by a Supreme Court decision. "We didn't exactly landslide our way into office," Mr Bush said.
While Ms Merkel has indicated Germany will not always agree with the US, her White House meeting came on the heels of a decision by European allies to confront Iran - an approach that US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice endorsed.
Rejecting the motorcade that usually transports world leaders to the White House - even when they are staying in the Blair House guest quarters just across the street - Ms Merkel made the short trip to the West Wing on foot. She and her sizeable entourage walked through the White House gates trailed by empty black limousines and a fleet of silver German-made BMWs.
Mr Bush said that at the start of their meeting he asked all aides to leave the room for a while.
The US and German disagreement over Iraq was wider when Mr Schröder was chancellor.
Mr Schröder's opposition to the US-led war that deposed Saddam Hussein so damaged the German's relationship with Mr Bush that the president refused at times to speak to Mr Schröder on the telephone.
Ms Merkel, by contrast, is more in tune with Mr Bush's conservative politics.
Departing for Washington, she said she expected "a first visit that will take place in a friendly atmosphere, one of partnership, and an open one".
Besides meeting with Mr Bush, Ms Merkel scheduled a session with members of Congress and planned to attend a ceremony at the newly-renovated headquarters of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
Despite her calls for a partnership with Washington, Ms Merkel has already demonstrated a strong streak of independence.
She has criticised the US detention of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, and Germany has rebuffed an appeal by US attorney general Alberto Gonzales not to release a terrorist accused of killing a navy diver in an aeroplane hijacking in 1985.
On Monday Ms Merkel is due to fly to Moscow to meet with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Iran is likely to be on the agenda, along with Russia's conflict with Ukraine over shipping natural gas to Europe.