The Quartet of international powers has “lost its grip” on the Middle East peace process which it is meant to foster, a group of aid agencies says.

MAGADAN, Russia (Reuters) – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev laid flowers at a memorial to victims of the Soviet prison camps on Wednesday, a gesture campaigners said may mark a new readiness to confront Russia’s past.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko vowed on Wednesday his country would be undeterred in its bid for NATO membership despite Russian opposition.

KAMENICA, Bosnia (Reuters) – Forensic experts said on Wednesday they had unearthed the remains of 362 Muslim victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre from a mass grave in eastern Bosnia.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s West Bank barrier is fuelling attacks by East Jerusalem Arabs who feel isolated from fellow Palestinians and are increasingly likely to lash out independently, Israel’s domestic spy service said on Wednesday.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the UN General Assembly Tuesday that a few “bullying” world powers are trying to thwart Iran’s peaceful nuclear program.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Managing Director of the National Iranian Petrochemical Company (NIPC) Gholam Hossein Nejabat said that 20 subsidiaries of the NIPC have been earmarked for privatization.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Tehran and Islamabad agreed on Tuesday to float a joint company to raise funds for a multi-billion-dollar pipeline which is due to take Iran’s rich gas reserves to the energy hungry Pakistan and India.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Officials in Thailand have freed a high-ranking Iranian air force officer wanted in San Diego on charges of trying to export US missile parts to Iran.

TEHRAN (FNA)- The next US president should speak out for better relations with the Muslim world in his inaugural address, a diverse coalition of 34 former US officials and civic leaders said in a report issued Wednesday.