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US President Barack Obama's administration is hoping to relaunch communication channels with Cuba after 50 years of adversarial relations, US media reported. "Informal meetings" were being planned between the US State Department and Cuban diplomats in the United States "to determine whether the two governments could open formal talks on a variety of issues," The New York Times said

President Barack Obama on Tuesday condemned as "appalling and objectionable" a speech by Iran's president which denounced Israel as a racist state and prompted a walkout from a U.N. conference on racism. Delegates at the troubled United Nations meeting, meanwhile, speedily adopted an anti-racism declaration the day after the dramatic protest by Western states at the comments by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Ahmadinejad was the only head of state to address the Geneva conference, known as Durban II, which is being boycotted by about a dozen countries including the United States who fear it could be used to single out Israel for...

Prior to North Korea's launch yesterday of a Taepodong-2 ballistic missile, President Barack Obama declared that such an action would be "provocative." This public statement was an attempt to reinforce the administration's private efforts to urge the Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea (DPRK) not to fire the missile.

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran dismissed American government reports that senior U.S. and Iran envoys had a cordial — and promising — face-to-face exchange at an international conference, saying Wednesday that no "talks" took place. The competing accounts of Tuesday's encounter in the Netherlands appeared to reflect the different approaches to overtures to end the United States' and Iran's nearly 30-year diplomat standoff. Washington has seemed eager to build on President Barack Obama's surprise video message last month to seek engagement with Iran's ruling clerics. Iran has — in public, at least — been far cooler to making immediate contacts, but...

TALKING with Taliban moderates in Afghanistan is a tactic "worth exploring", US Vice President Joe Biden says. "It's worth exploring. The idea of what concessions would be made is well beyond the scope of my being able to answer,'' said Mr Biden at NATO headquarters in Brussels today. "I do think it's worth engaging and determining whether or not there are those who are willing to participate in a secure and stable Afghan state,'' he said. Mr Biden said that while the US-led forces were not winning the war in Afghanistan, neither was the conflict lost. "We are not now...

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's president said Tuesday the world was "entering an era of dialogue" and that his country would welcome talks with its longtime adversary, the United States, if they are based on mutual respect. The hard-line Iranian leader said terrorism, the elimination of nuclear weapons, restructuring the U.N. Security Council and fighting drug trafficking could be topics for the two sides to talk about. "If you really want to fight terrorism, come and cooperate with the Iranian nation, which is the biggest victim of terrorism so that terrorism is eliminated. ... If you want to confront nuclear weapons...

Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) has pulled out of negotiations on a bipartisan compromise on the Senate’s economic stimulus bill. Three Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Olympia Snowe (Maine) and Arlen Specter (Pa.) — continue to negotiate with Democrats, but Voinovich’s departure could make it more difficult for Democrats to reach the 60 votes they need to pass the bill. Voinovich left a meeting in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) office around 2:30 p.m., saying he did not believe there was a deal he could agree to on an amendment that would cut as much as $100 billion from...

Obama has begun discreet talks with Iran, Syria by Sylvie Lanteaume – Sat Jan 31, 9:54 pm ET Featured Topics: Barack Obama Presidential Transition … WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama has already used experts within the last few months to hold high-level but discreet talks with both Iran and Syria, organizers of the meetings told AFP. ...

A few days before he left on his eight-country world tour, Barack Obama wanted to discuss the trip with an old contact in Washington: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Obama's phone call was in part a courtesy, but over three years of occasional phone conversations, the two have quietly discussed everything from foreign aid to the Middle East and nuclear proliferation. Obama and Rice have come to have a certain respect for each other, says an Obama aide familiar with their conversations, because both take an intellectual, sober view of foreign affairs. "They've had good exchanges," the aide says. "Does...

Israel and Syria on Wednesday said they were holding indirect peace talks through Turkish mediators — the first official confirmation of contacts between the longtime enemies. In statements issued minutes apart, the two governments said they "have declared their intent to conduct these talks in good faith and with an open mind," with a goal of reaching "a comprehensive peace." Both nations thanked Turkey for its help, and Turkey issued its own confirmation. Muslim Turkey has good ties with both Israel and Syria. There have been reports in recent months of new Israeli-Syrian contacts through Turkey, and Turkey's foreign minister...

The first round in seven weeks of talks between Israel's prime minister and the Palestinian leader has ended with pledges to continue meeting regularly. Mahmoud Abbas broke off peace talks with Ehud Olmert last month after about 120 Palestinians, many civilians, died in an Israeli operation in Gaza. Both sides are under domestic as well as international pressure to achieve a peace deal in the coming months. At the Jerusalem meeting, each side voiced concern at the other's actions. The Palestinians say Israel is damaging the chances of peace by building on occupied land, carrying out raids against Palestinian towns...

WASHINGTON —After ruling out talks with Hamas, the militant Islamist group, the Bush administration is using Egypt as an intermediary to open a channel between Israel and representatives of the group, in what some diplomats say could be a softening of the American stance. While administration officials still say they do not plan to deal directly with Hamas, the United States has given tacit support to an attempt by Egyptian officials to mediate a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, which controls Gaza. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discussed the mediation attempt with President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Foreign Minister...

US Democratic candidates, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, have expressed their intention to engage in “unconditional negotiations” with Iran, should either of them attain the presidency. The question is: Negotiate over what? Are the conflicts in the Middle East a result of a crisis in Washington-Tehran relations; or rather, does it revolve around Iran’s expansion ambitions and its interference in the internal affairs of Arab states for over 20 years? Is the Washington-Tehran crisis a result of the absence of dialogue, or is it by reason of Iran’s aspirations to destabilize the region? Iran occupies the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE)...

Syria refuses peace talks with Israel DAMASCUS, Syria, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- Senior Syrian officials said Monday the U.S. airstrike on a Syrian nuclear facility Sept. 6 has ruined all chances of peace with Israel. The announcement came after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said earlier Monday there would be no war with Syria, the Jerusalem Post reported. Olmert said ongoing tension with Syria in the past few weeks would not turn into armed conflict, and while Syria's troops are "on alert," Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal said Syria would not initiate an attack, Ynetnews reported. Regarding talks with Palestinian...

Iraqi Sunni and Shiite delegates made progress at secret peace talks in Finland, negotiators said Tuesday, cautioning that their Northern Ireland-inspired agreement would have to be endorsed by top leaders in Baghdad to have any chance of succeeding. Organizers said the four-day meeting at an undisclosed location in Finland brought together high-level delegates from the feuding groups to study lessons learned from successful peacemaking efforts in South Africa and Northern Ireland. The talks ended Monday with all parties agreeing on a list of principles to start negotiations to end sectarian violence. "And at the end of our discussions, we had...

After a hiatus of 28 years, the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran finally held an openly acknowledged dialogue[1]. Actually to date there have been two such meetings, both held in Baghdad, (May 28, 2007 and July 24, 2007) and both specifically dealt with the security situation in Iraq, and were ostensibly limited to that subject alone. Although newsworthy because of their unusual occurrence within the last 28 years, these meetings and any future follow-ups should be reviewed for their significance, efficacy, and political repercussions. The following essay is a first attempt to do such. Before continuing, it...

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea's military proposed Friday holding direct talks with U.S. forces, an unusual plea amid recent progress on the nuclear standoff between the two countries. The North's Korean Peoples Army proposed the talks, also be attended by a U.N. representative, "for the purpose of discussing the issues related to ensuring the peace and security on the Korean peninsula," the chief of the North Korean military's mission at the truce village of Panmunjom said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. "It is easy to miss a chance, but difficult to get it,"...

WMD: Iran's flouting of international law and human decency is getting a little monotonous. Despite repeated efforts to curb Tehran's nuclear program, it continues not just unabated but at an accelerated pace. Iran's latest snub to the civilized world was summarized in the New York Times Tuesday: "Inspectors for the International Atomic Energy Agency have concluded that Iran appears to have solved most of its technological problems and is now beginning to enrich uranium on a far larger scale than before, according to the agency's top officials." Imagine that. Iran improves its ability to enrich uranium in defiance of "strict"...

The U.S. and Iran will hold rare meetings within the next few weeks in Baghdad to discuss the insurgency in Iraq, officials from the two nations said Sunday. The talks, to be conducted between the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad and Iranian officials, would be the highest-level negotiations acknowledged between the two countries in recent years. The announcement suggested a new willingness on the part of the Bush administration to reach out to a longtime foe.

Rare talks between military leaders from North and South Korea have got off to an unusual start with one of the North Korean generals recalling an internet joke about the US president. Tuesday's meeting at the border village of Panmunjom was intended to discuss the restoration of rail links after more than half a century. Both sides had previously agreed to a test-run across the heavily-fortified border on May 17th, but the North's military must first give its consent. "Have you heard the one about..." Kim Young-chol, left, gets things off to a light-hearted start