* Ahmadinejad: Israel doomed to collapse Israel is doomed to “collapse” and the US-brokered Middle East peace conference was a “failure”, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said.

* Syrian Speech at Annapolis: Golan Never Belonged to Israel The Syrian and Lebanese delegates to the Annapolis conference Tuesday were provided a forum in which to express their countries’ views.

* PM, Bush to hold private meeting on Iran Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will hold his second private White House meeting of the week with President George Bush on Wednesday.

* Musharraf gives up army uniform Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf has handed over the command of the military in a ceremony in Rawalpindi.

* Lebanon Lawmakers Back Army Chief The largest bloc in Lebanon’s deadlocked parliament has dropped its opposition to the army chief becoming president.

* Mid-East leaders in fresh talks Israeli and Palestinian leaders are set formally to begin a new round of peace talks at the White House.

* Vatican cardinal: Palestinians have right to return to homeland A senior Vatican cardinal said on Wednesday that all Palestinian refugees had a right to return to their homeland.

* Final Kosovo talks end in failure Serbs and ethnic Albanians have failed to resolve the future status of Kosovo at a final round of internationally-brokered talks.

* Arabs doubt Annapolis conference will bring peace Arab commentators on Wednesday dismissed the relaunch of Israeli-Palestinian talks as a U.S.-staged media event unlikely to lead to Middle East peace.

* EU-China summit to be overshadowed by trade rifts Chinese and European Union leaders will meet in Beijing on Wednesday (28 November) to discuss a wide range of trade issues.