Moscow  - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday called for a two-state solution in the Middle East following talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Moscow.

"We continue to support the establishment of a separate Palestinian state," Medvedev said, according to Russia's Itar-Tass news agency.

The Kremlin chief again announced plans for a Middle East conference in Moscow, for which a date has yet to be set, saying the conference could mark "the next step towards a solution to the conflict."

Ankara - US President Barack Obama arrived in Turkey on Sunday on
an official visit that would see him fulfilling a pledge to visit the
Muslim nation in his first 100 days in office.

Obama was expected to seek to emphasize his administration's new
approaches to regional problems in talks with Turkish leaders President
Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the capital
Ankara on Monday.

Discussions on withdrawing US troops from Iraq, stepping up
reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan and new US moves to engage Iran

Jerusalem  - Israel will set its peace agenda in the next few weeks, new Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday as he opened the first cabinet meeting of his government.

"In the coming weeks we will complete the formulation of our policy to advance peace and security," he told the ministers at the weekly cabinet session in Jerusalem.

The cabinet, sworn in last Tuesday night, also appointed a 12-man inner cabinet, which will take decisions on political and security matters.

Gaza  - Palestinian medics on Saturday confirmed that two fighters were killed during armed clashes with Israeli forces in the northeast of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army also confirmed that its forces killed two militants said to have been planting bombs near the security fence that separates between Israeli and Palestinian territories in the east of Jabaliya refugee camp.

Earlier, the medical sources were unable to confirm reports that the two fighters had died.

Gaza  - Two Palestinian militants were wounded Saturday morning during armed clashes with Israeli forces in the northeast of the Gaza Strip, Palestinian medics said.

"At least two citizens were injured in the east of Jabaliya refugee camp and the ambulance crews cannot reach them," said Mu'awia Hassanein, a health emergency official.

Witnesses said that the exchange of fire erupted when Israeli forces rolled for nearly 200 metres into the Palestinian territories in northeast Gaza Strip.

Gaza/Cairo  - Rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas on Thursday suspended talks in Cairo without an agreement on a "national unity" government, representatives from the factions said.

Fatah, which controls the West Bank, and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, for the third time failed to agree on the political platform for the interim government, control of Palestinian security forces, or the conduct of elections to replace the interim government.