"When you are talking about fighting terrorism or extremism, I'm not doing that for the US or Britain. I'm doing it for Pakistan," he said. "It's not a question of being a poodle. I'm nobody's poodle. I have enough strength of my own to lead."

If necessary he had "teeth" to bite back, he added. "Yes sir, I personally do. A lot of teeth. Sometimes the teeth do not have to be shown. Pragmatism is required in international relations."

Gen Musharraf pledged to hold free and fair elections next year as urged by Mr Bush during his visit to Islamabad last month. Opposition parties fear the poll, which government officials claim will be the most open since Gen Musharraf seized power in 1999, will be rigged.

"It is ironic that I'm sitting in uniform talking of democracy ... but to bring democracy into Pakistan I thought I needed it," he said.

An American Predator drone fired Hellfire missiles at a house in Bajaur tribal agency in January, killing 18 people but missing their target, al-Qaida's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri. The attack near the Afghan border caused public uproar and brought renewed accusations that Gen Musharraf was a US puppet.

Local journalist Hayatullah Khan, who photographed missile fragments linking the strikes to the US, disappeared four days later and is still missing. A western diplomat said he was probably being held by Pakistani intelligence and may have been mistreated.

The strike underlined tensions in the anti-terror alliance between Pakistan and the US, which has also been strained by Washington's nuclear deal with India, its insistence on democratic reforms, and alleged American meddling in the sprawling south-western province of Baluchistan. "The strike was an infringement of our sovereignty and I condemned it," said Gen Musharraf.

Pakistan also faces criticism from the US and Afghanistan for not doing enough to flush extremists from its tribal areas. Mr Bush said he had come to Islamabad "to determine whether or not the president is as committed as he has been in the past to bringing these terrorists to justice".

Gen Musharraf insisted yesterday there was no question of Pakistan submitting to American scrutiny and said claims that his government acted at Washington's bidding were nonsense. "There is no need of any checks - that is the reality," he said.

Gen Musharraf, who faces revolts in Baluchistan and along the Afghan border, admitted to feeling embattled. He added that there was a growing problem of "Talibanisation" in Waziristan, a troubled tribal area where several hundred al-Qaida suspects have been killed.

The battle against al-Qaida was almost won in Waziristan, he said. "Because of our successes in the cities where we got 600-700 of them, and then in the mountains where we occupied their sanctuaries, thankfully they are on the run."

But a new form of local fundamentalism was taking its place in Waziristan, which is ruled directly from Islamabad under colonial-era laws. "Extremism in a Talibanised form is what people are now going for. Mullah Omar and the Taliban have influence in Waziristan and it's spilling over into our settled areas."

This week militants occupied a market in the regional capital, Miran Shah, for several hours, burning newspapers and threatening local people. Two taxi drivers accused of collaborating with coalition forces in nearby Afghanistan were found beheaded. More than 150 pro-government elders and officials have been killed in the past year.

Gen Musharraf defended his tactic of using military force instead of negotiation to quell the violence and said some collateral damage was inevitable when militants' hideouts were attacked.

"We take extreme care to be 100% sure of the target from all sources of intelligence ... There is minimum collateral damage. If someone happens to be very close to [the target], that somebody is an abetter and they suffer the loss. Sometimes, indeed, women and children have been killed but they have been right next to the place. It's not that the strike was inaccurate but they happen to be there, so therefore they are all supporters and abetters of terrorism - and therefore they have to suffer. It's bad luck," he said.

Gen Musharraf also played down unrest in the resource-rich province of Baluchistan, where nationalist militants are blowing up gas pipelines and trains and attacking army positions. He described the rebels as "mercenaries" and their attacks as "pin pricks", and said the disturbances were confined to one-twentieth of the province's area.

"So what revolt are you talking about? People talk about an East Pakistan situation," he said, referring to the secession of Bangladesh in 1971. "I understand strategy. These people are pygmies."

Criticism of his military-driven strategy came from "people who sit in drawing rooms and talk", he said, but added that a political solution was also being sought.

Gen Musharraf has survived two assassination attempts but elections scheduled for next year are expected to pose the greatest threat yet to his grip on power. Overt and behind-the-scenes US and British pressure for a free poll has become another friction point in the west's relationship with Islamabad.

The leaders of the two main opposition parties, Benazir Bhutto of the Pakistan Peoples party and Nawaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League, are in exile and face arrest if they return home. Meeting in London this week they launched a fresh political alliance and called for western support.

Gen Musharraf said his mission was to democratise Pakistan. "My popularity has gone down ... but at this moment my country needs me. I've put a strong constitutional democratic system in place. That will throw up a successor. I'm a strong believer in democracy."

Backstory

Pervez Musharraf seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999 when he was head of the country's armed forces, forcing the country's elected prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, into exile in Saudi Arabia. Initial international condemnation faded after September 2001, when Gen Musharraf dropped his support for the Taliban and threw his weight behind the US-led "war on terror". He has since become a key ally in the west's hunt for al-Qaida extremists but his popularity has plummeted due to widespread anti-American sentiment. In December 2003 he survived two al-Qaida assassination attempts in two weeks. Gen Musharraf attempted to legitimise his rule through elections in 2002 that observers described as deeply flawed. A self-described liberal, he has introduced some social reforms but also allied himself with hardline religious parties when necessary. Last year he advanced the peace process with India through "cricket diplomacy".

As prime minister, Berlusconi forged a strong personal relationship with Bush, and Prodi's approach to U.S. relations became an issue during the campaign for the election April 9-10.

Prodi, a former prime minister and European Commission president, said he plans to stress relations within Europe more than his predecessor.

He added that there would not be any dramatic change in Italy's ties with the United States.

"I have never had anything but a strong relationship with the United States: I stood shoulder to shoulder with President Clinton when I was prime minister the first time (1996-1998), and I have worked well with President Bush when I was European Commission president," Prodi said in the interview, conducted at the headquarters of the Ulivo Party, the leading party in his coalition. "We have agreed on most things, with one significant exception: the war in Iraq."

Berlusconi supported the U.S. invasion and the war. He deployed nearly 3,500 troops in 2003 - at the time, the third-largest troop contingent after the United States and Britain.

He also backed most U.S. international policies. In March, less than a month before the Italian elections, Berlusconi addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress.

Prodi has criticized the U.S.-led war in Iraq. By the time Italy held its election, both candidates vowed to have the 2,900 Italian troops home by the end of the year.

Despite concerns about the war - including the deaths Thursday of three Italian soldiers in a roadside bombing in southern Iraq - Prodi said he would not immediately withdraw Italian forces.

"I remain pessimistic about both Iraq and also about Afghanistan, because the task in those countries is impossible: to build something stable on a situation that is not stable. But we are not trying to escape our responsibilities in Iraq," he said.

He said he saw a different role for Italian personnel: "We know it is important to participate in the rebuilding of the country. But it will not be in combat positions."

Prodi called himself a friend of Bush. He recalled riding a bike alongside Bush, who was on a run, in Atlanta.

Prodi said friendship does not mean he always has to agree with U.S. policy.

"I have good feelings about President Bush," he said. "But because of our friendship, it is important to tell the truth, to be honest about points of dissent."

Prodi said that when Bush called to congratulate him on his electoral victory last week, the U.S. president said the two leaders would meet soon, in Washington or at the Group of Eight summit of leading industrial nations in St. Petersburg, Russia, in July.

"I hope to go to Washington soon," Prodi said. "But considering I am not even in the government yet, I think it will be some time after I see President Bush in Russia."

The process of forming a government begins today with a vote for leader of the Senate - a test for Prodi's coalition, which holds a slim majority in the Senate.

Discussing the international war on terrorism, Prodi said efforts should be, for the most part, pan-European. "Italy is a midrange power," he said. "What can we do alone? But in a European context, we can be effective."

Prodi said he will focus domestically on reviving the slowest-growing economy in the European Union and reducing the budget deficit, which was 4.1% of the gross domestic product in 2005.

He also said he wants antitrust officials to look into the television media sector, much of which Berlusconi controls, to allow more competition.

Prodi's promotion of the continued integration of Europe promises to be a top focus of his administration.

"In the Renaissance, the powerful cities in Italy like Rome, Florence and Venice were without rival," said Prodi, a historian and economist. "They led the world in banking, wealth, trade, technology, military strength, agriculture and art and culture. But they did not unite, and so they disappeared."

He warned: "That is the precise point where Europe finds itself now. We have to work together or risk becoming irrelevant."

"They participated by training local militia, by training the Interahamwe, by providing personnel to man roadblocks where passersby were asked their ethnicity. That is known. These are facts," he told the French-language newspaper.

"The international community must tell us why they do not look at these facts."

Kagame made several speeches and was awarded honors by a local university during his visit to Canada, sparking controversy.

The Rwandan president had previously accused France of complicity in the genocide, but the language he used in his comments to La Presse was stronger than in earlier remarks.

Media reports said that up to 10,000 players will be
able to take part simultaneously.

"The French want reforms but they gnash their teeth whenever it's a question of cutting costs. So this is a way of familiarising them with the budget," Cope told Le Parisien newspaper.

Virtual ministers will have to control some 300 billion euros (370 billion dollars) of expenditure, taking care to keep the annual deficit within three percent and overall debt within 60 percent of output in accordance with EU rules.