BREAKING NEWS

UN chief: Mideast Quartet will meet in Italy in late June

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday that key parties trying to promote Mideast peace will meet in Italy later this month. Ban gave no details on the date and place but said he expects the Quartet - the UN, the US, the European Union and Russia - to discuss next steps to promote Israeli-Palestinian peace. High-level Quartet meetings are usually attended by foreign ministers. Foreign ministers from the Group of Eight major industrialized nations are already scheduled to meet in Trieste June 26-27. The G8 includes the US, Russia, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Italy and Canada.