US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, after conferring with her aides, said today she will return to the Middle East to work with others on trying to bring an end to the Israeli-Hezbollah fighting, but did not say when she would travel.

Israel blasted the home and office of Hezbollah’s leader in the Lebanese capital of Beirut today – vowing to fight until the guerrilla group was neutralised.

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin wants the nuclear waste the rest of the world shuns, hoping for a financial bonanza — and US president George W Bush wants to help.

The European Union hopes for a substantive response from Iranian nuclear negotiators today regarding a package of incentives offered to Tehran as a way of ending the stand-off caused by its nuclear programme.

The G-8 summit that US President George Bush and seven other world leaders are attending next weekend in Russia is often billed as a gathering of the world’s leading economic powers.

Speaking in Vilnius, Lithuania, US Vice President Dick Cheney today caused a stir in neighbouring Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has cut back on the duties of a top economic adviser who has been outspoken critic of Kremlin policies.

Tony Blair was being asked today to call an emergency meeting of the G-8 industrial nations to discuss their response to Asia’s tsunami disaster.

President George W Bush said he ordered US officials to follow the law while interrogating suspected terrorists, but he side-stepped an opportunity to denounce the use of torture.

As President George Bush plays host today to world leaders critical of his Iraq policies, the White House is hoping the G-8 summit proves a turning point where he and his adversaries on the war permanently set aside their differences.

World leaders clamped a harmonious face on a summit simmering with Iraq war disputes today, striking a united front with pledges of billions of dollars to fight Aids and hunger in poor nations.

On the eve of a mass anti-G-8 demonstration in Geneva, militant protesters set fire to shops and damaged public buildings in the Swiss city, police said.

SIGNING a $15 billion authorisation to fight AIDS abroad gives US President George W Bush more leverage to press other wealthy nations to work harder against the killer disease as he prepares for a European summit.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced today that he is prepared to “accept the steps prescribed” in the road map peace plan that will lead to a Palestinian state and he would present it to his Cabinet for approval.

Chinese President Hu Jintao is having medical tests to ensure he is not carrying the deadly Sars virus when he meets world leaders on the fringes of next month’s G-8 summit in France.

As representatives from the World’s richest countries prepare to meet in Italy for this weekend’s G-8 summit, there are fresh calls for an end to the debt burden that is being placed on developing nations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated President Bush on his 55th birthday today and said he looked forward to meeting him again at this month’s G-8 summit in Italy.

George W Bush and Vladimir Putin have agreed to exchange visits to the United States and Moscow in their first face-to-face meeting.