Rice calls for ‘sustainable’ ceasefire

US, EUROPEAN and Arab officials holding crisis talks on Lebanon have failed to agree on an immediate plan to halt the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Although officials called for an end to the violence, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said there cannot be a return to a “status quo” of political uncertainty and instability in Lebanon. She said any cease-fire must be “lasting, permanent and sustainable”.

Ms Rice, who had been under pressure to lean on Israel to end its two-week-old offensive, maintained that any cease-fire must be sustainable and that there could be “no return to the status quo ante”.