Tony Blair, new Mideast envoy, meets UN chief

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair met here Tuesday with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for the first time since becoming an international Middle East envoy. The private meeting at a London hotel came as representatives of the international diplomatic Quartet on the Middle East - the US, the EU, the United Nations and Russia - met here to discuss the situation in the region. The envoy-level Quartet meeting was called in part to determine if a gathering of its top leadership, including Blair, is needed, US officials have said. If such a meeting is called, it could be held in Portugal, which has just assumed the rotating presidency of the 27-nation European Union.