Trilateral summit

      US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has denied that the United States told Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas it would refuse to deal with the future unity government, media reported. “Oh, we have given no such letter to president Abbas,” Rice told Al-Arabiya Saudi television. “In fact, we have said that we will wait until the government is formed and then we’ll make a decision about how to deal with that government.” Also, Russia expects Israel-PA summit to yield fresh peace talks. Israel and the Palestinians are likely to agree to restart peace talks when their leaders meet on 19 February, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today. “We expect this meeting will yield agreements about restarting talks on a definite framework for a conclusive resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” RIA news agency quoted Lavrov as telling Russian journalists.(23,09)