Under fire, Blair to visit Middle East on peace mission

September 27th, 2009 LONDON - Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has been cashing it up by attending various lecture events and corporate work, and for a latest event, admirers have paid 180 pounds to have a photograph with him. Blair will attend the Surrey Regional Economic Summit in British Columbia on October 6, during which as many as 100 people will be whisked through in a one-hour session, where they would get an opportunity to meet and have photographs taken with the former prime minister.

September 21st, 2009 LONDON - Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair thinks his successor Gordon Brown is a political "quitter" who could stand down before the next election. According to a new book, Blair has told his inner circle that Brown does not have enough political courage.

July 12th, 2009 LONDON - Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's chances of becoming the new president of European Union have receded after he lost support among continental leaders. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was originally Blair's key backer, is said to have "changed his mind".

July 5th, 2009 Obama to begin overseas mission SundayWASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is embarking on his next foreign mission. He leaves late Sunday on a weeklong trip that takes him to Russia, Italy and Ghana.

June 21st, 2009 LONDON - Cherie Blair has said she feels nice to be in the spectator seat again rather than be "a spectator sport" two years after she left Downing Street. The 54-year-old, who constantly made headlines during her time as the wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, was asked if she missed life at the official residence, where present Prime Minister Gordon Brown is presently struggling to keep his government.

May 18th, 2009 LONDON - Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has received a million-pound Dan David prize for leadership at a ceremony at Tel Aviv University. The prize, named after international businessman and philanthropist Dan David, is awarded for "achievements having an outstanding scientific, technological, cultural or social impact on our world." Blair's office has announced that 90 percent of the prize money would be donated to the Tony Blair Faith Foundation that promotes religious understanding, The Guardian reports.

May 8th, 2009 Pope heads to Mideast on 'pilgrimage of peace'ROME — Pope Benedict XVI has set off for the Middle East on a self-proclaimed pilgrimage of peace. Benedict's plane took off from Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport at about 9:50 a.m.

April 10th, 2009 LONDON - Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has launched a new organisation about religion and God named after him, admitting that he did not pass a "single day" without reflecting on the aftermath of the Iraq war. The Tony Blair Faith Foundation would promote understanding about the world's major religions.

April 1st, 2009 BRUSSELS - There can be no alternative to a two-state solution for the Palestininan crisis, Middle East Quartet envoy Tony Blair said here Wednesday, a day after the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu was sworn in. 'There is no alternative to a two-state solution, except the one-state solution.

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 - The US' new Middle East envoy George Mitchell met Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton Tuesday after returning from his first visit to the region, but won't stay away long as he plans another trip by the end of the month. Mitchell is to return to the Middle East before the end of February, Clinton said, calling his recent trip 'the first of what will be an ongoing high level of engagement by Senator Mitchell on behalf of myself and the president'.

January 30th, 2009 AMMAN - US Middle East envoy George Mitchell conferred Saturday with the Jordanian Foreign Minister Salah Bashir and said that the administration of US President Barack Obama would give 'priority' to the Middle East peace process, a foreign ministry statement said. 'The US envoy asserted that the US administration is giving priority to the Middle East and to a serious effort towards the resumption of the peace process between the Palestinians and Israelis in the run-up for the two-state solution,' the statement said.

January 30th, 2009 LONDON - Former British prime minister and current international Quartet envoy to the Middle East Tony Blair has said in a newspaper interview published Saturday that the Palestinian militant movement Hamas must be brought into the peace process. Blair, in an interview with The Times, said that the previous policy pursued by the Quartet - the UN, US, Russia and the EU - of isolating Hamas and concentrating peace and reconciliation efforts on the West Bank 'was never going to work and will never work'.

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 11th, 2009 CAIRO - Former British prime minister and Middle East special envoy Tony Blair Monday said 'elements were in place' for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Speaking after a meeting with Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak in Cairo, Blair stressed that any agreement must be predicated on an end to weapons smuggling into Gaza and an end to the blockade of the territory.