A two-day conference on Iraq's future was declared a success, although a much-anticipated meeting of top U.S. and Iranian officials never materialized. "I'm very much encouraged by the successful outcome of the two-day meeting on Iraq," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in closing the conference. "The first meeting on the International Compact with Iraq was a great success."

New Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Friday in the Egyptian Red Sea resort Sharm El-Sheikh on the sidelines of an international meeting on Iraq's security.

An international conference on Iraq is in its second and final day in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Ministers are meeting to discuss ways Iraq's neighboring states can help reduce sectarian violence in the country.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has begun a session of talks with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallim, in one of the highest-level meetings between the two countries in years. Rice and al-Muallim met in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where they are attending a conference on Iraq.

A two-day international conference on Iraq opened today in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, with talks to focus on ways to end sectarian violence as well as a five-year plan offering Iraq financial and political support.

A two-day meeting on Iraq opens today at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Besides U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the foreign ministers of all Iraq's neighbors will attend, including Iran and Syria, two countries that Washington has shunned diplomatically because of what it views as support for terrorism and other bad behavior in the Middle East.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called on all countries today to forgive his country's foreign debts on the opening day of a conference on Iraq. In his speech opening a two-day conference on Iraq in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, al-Maliki also pledged to institute reforms that the United States and other governments have repeatedly called for.

Iran's agreement to attend the Sharm El-Sheikh conference on Iraq's security on May 3-4 puts an end to days of speculation over whether the summit will involve all of the major players in the increasingly regional crisis.