EU troika to visit Middle East for talks: Sweden

September 4th, 2009 Special EU summit called ahead of G20 talks in USSTOCKHOLM — Sweden has called for an extra meeting of European Union leaders to discuss the global financial crisis ahead of a summit of Group of 20 nations in the U.S. later this month.

August 28th, 2009 Egypt: Israeli freeze must include east JerusalemSTOCKHOLM — Egypt's foreign minister says east Jerusalem must be included in a freeze of Israeli settlement activity before Middle East peace talks can restart. Ahmed Aboul-Gheit told reporters in Stockholm on Friday that Jerusalem is Arab "and it will continue to be so." He said the Arab world expects the area to be included in a moratorium on Israeli settlements.

August 18th, 2009 Russia, Israel to discuss Mideast peace, IranMOSCOW — Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev hosted Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres for talks Tuesday that were expected to focus on the Middle East and the Iranian nuclear standoff. Russia aspires to host an international conference to discuss the Middle East peace process, and Medvedev and Peres were expected to discuss the issue during their talks in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi.

July 13th, 2009 STOCKHOLM - North Korea must give up its controversial nuclear programme, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said Monday after talks with Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt. Lee said he supported sanctions adopted by the UN Security Council after North Korea on May 25 conducted an underground test of a nuclear device, which raised tensions in the region.

July 1st, 2009 STOCKHOLM - Sweden Wednesday took over the rotating presidency of the European Union for the second time since it joined the bloc in 1995. As part of events marking the launch of the six-month presidency, the European Commmission headed by President Jose Manuel Barroso was due to visit Stockholm on Wednesday for meetings with Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and other cabinet members.

May 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama will hold his first talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later this month on the Middle East peace process, the White House said Tuesday. Obama will meet with Netanyahu at the White House on May 18 followed by visits from Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak on May 26 and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on May 28.

May 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - More than eight months after the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) granted waiver to New Delhi allowing the resumption of global nuclear commerce, India Monday held talks with an NSG troika comprising Germany, South Africa and Hungary. The Indian delegation, led by Vivek Katju, special secretary (Political and International Organizations), in the external affairs ministry, held talks with the NSG team led by representative of its current chair, Viktor Elbling of Germany.

May 8th, 2009 Obama: US relations with Russia can improveWASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says he thinks the United States and Russia can improve their relationship concerning nuclear weapons and several other issues. Obama met at the White House Thursday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

March 8th, 2009 DAMASCUS/WASHINGTON - Senior US officials met with Syrian counterparts in Damascus Saturday for the highest level talks between the two countries in years, as part of US President Barack Obama's initiative to expand dialogue in the Middle East. Acting US Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman and White House aide Daniel Shapiro met with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem and other Syrian officials for discussions on bilateral and regional issues.

March 4th, 2009 GAZA CITY - The radical Islamist Hamas movement that is controlling the Gaza Strip Tuesday said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's first visit to the region was 'disappointing'. In her meetings with Israeli leaders, Clinton said the new US administration was committed to Israel's security and to the two-state solution to the Middle East conflict.

February 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton plans to buck tradition and make her first visit as the top US diplomat to Asia, rather than Europe or the Middle East, media reports said. Clinton plans to visit Japan, China, South Korea and possibly a country in South-East Asia, the reports released late Tuesday said.

January 26th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Barack Obama gave his first formal interview since becoming president Monday with Al-Arabiya television, in an attempt to send a signal of the importance of US policy in the Middle East by calling for 'a new partnership based on mutual respect and mutual interest'. The administration's new Middle East envoy George Mitchell was to arrive in the region Tuesday with planned stops in Israel, the Palestinian territories, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

January 24th, 2009 TEL AVIV - George Mitchell, the former US senator who has been named a special envoy to the Middle East, is scheduled to visit Israel and Palestinian-controlled territories in the coming days, an Israeli government spokesman said Sunday. No programme for Mitchell's visit has been set, said Jigal Palmor.

January 20th, 2009 TEHRAN - Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has said that new US President Barack Obama should try to understand the 'new Middle East which was emerging', Iran's IRNA news agency reported Wednesday. Mottaki Tuesday said that the traditional ways of looking into Middle East issues would no longer work.

December 29th, 2008 LONDON - Former British premier Tony Blair is to visit the Middle East next week to try and broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, according to a report Tuesday. Blair, the Middle East envoy for the EU, Russia, the US and Britain, is to meet Israeli and Palestinian officials and politicians in his efforts to bring an end to a conflict that has killed 300 people so far.