MIDDLE-INCOME families will be hit with another stealth tax after Environment Minister Phil Hogan confirmed a “household charge” will be introduced from January 1.

Israeli and Palestinian leaders said they would keep talking and produce a framework for a permanent peace deal following their first session in two years.

INTERNATIONAL diplomats yesterday called on Israel and the Palestinians to return to peace negotiations with the goal of creating an independent Palestinian state within two years.

ISRAEL has lifted its tight restrictions on Palestinian access to Jerusalem’s holiest shrine and called off an extended West Bank closure after days of clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces.

The surprise choice of President Barack Obama for the Nobel Peace Prize drew praise from much of the world today even as many pointed out he has not yet accomplished much on the world stage.

POPE BENEDICT XVI urged Middle East Christians yesterday to persevere in their faith despite hardships threatening their ancient communities, addressing a crowd of 20,000 people who filled a sports stadium where he celebrated the first open-air Mass of his Holy Land pilgrimage.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair called off a ground-breaking visit to Gaza today in his role as Middle East envoy after a specific warning of an assassination plot.

International Middle East envoy Tony Blair said today that he believes the Arab and Israeli perspectives on an acceptable permanent peace accord are very similar.

MIDDLE-INCOME families could end up paying €500 more a year in PRSI under budgetary proposals being discussed by senior officials in the Department of Finance.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hailed Tony Blair as an "historic and passionate leader" today, saying his debut as Middle East envoy could breath new life into long-stalled talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Israel warned today that a new “axis of terror” – Iran, Syria and the Hamas-run Palestinian government – was sowing the seeds of the first world war of the 21st century.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has ordered disciplinary action against the head of the UN oil-for-food program in Iraq, who was sharply criticised in an investigation that accused him of a “grave conflict of interest” and “undermining the integrity” of the UN.

The United Nations’ special envoy to the Middle East has said that 75% of the Palestinian population is now unemployed because of a state of economic paralysis caused by 19 months of violence.

Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat has spoken by phone with US Secretary of State Colin Powell to ask the US to intervene in the Middle East conflict.