The Quartet

(Newser) - With 23 Palestinians now dead in the latest Gaza conflict , the Middle East Quartet is meeting for the first time in six months in New York. Hillary Clinton, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and EU diplomat Baroness Ashton will discuss the growing violence after Israeli air...

(Newser) - Tony Blair’s ties to President Bush are getting thicker by the minute: The former British prime minister will take a teaching position at Yale, Dubya's alma mater, this fall, the Guardian reports; Blair's son Euan is a grad student at the university, the Yale Daily News reports. Blair, who's...

(Newser) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert today refused to consider a truce with Hamas until the militant Palestinian group recognizes Israel and halts attacks in Gaza, reports the BBC. Olmert told government officials that Israel is gaining ground in stopping rocket attacks, of which 1,000 have hit Israel since Hamas...

(Newser) - The US will issue invitations to this fall's Mideast peace conference to Saudi Arabia, Syria and other Arab nations that don't have diplomatic ties to Israel, the Washington Post reports. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice suggested Sunday that attendance would bring with it "certain responsibilities" such as avoiding violence...