Kremlin News Blog @newzblogz.com

LONDON (AP) ? The Quartet of Mideast peacemakers meets Tuesday to assess the Israeli-Palestinian situation for the first time since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip, and U.S. officials said the group was expected to make Tony Blair its chief envoy.

Several officials said Monday that discussions about naming the outgoing British prime minister to the post had been completed and the issue was on the agenda of the Quartet ? the United States, European Union, Russia and the United Nations.

The officials, who agreed to discuss the matter only if not quoted by name because of the sensitivity of the negotiations, said everyone but the Kremlin backed Blair. One official said the Kremlin had reservations.

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DaimlerChrysler AG's chief executive said "the next years will be good" for the newly unbound Daimler AG and indicated that the risk of a takeover has diminished, according to an interview published Monday. DaimlerChrysler agreed last month to sell 80.1 percent of its stake in money-losing U.S. unit Chrysler to the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP, paving the way for a streamlined Daimler to concentrate on its luxury Mercedes brand and truck business. "The next years will be go...

ECONOMY: S.C. governor signs workers' comp law

South Carolina's new workers' compensation law encourages businesses to hire more employees and could help lower costs for new homes, Gov. Mark Sanford said Monday as he signed the bill into law. "This bill really is about the working man," Sanford said as he signed the bill. "If you look at the numbers, about 25 percent of that house right there that the working man will one day buy, goes into costs associated with an out-of-control workers' comp system. And that is a real tax on working people...

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KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine -- They are stocking up on Stolichnaya Elite vodka and caviar from the Caspian Sea at Hurricane Restaurant on Dock Square.

At the town offices on Elm Street, the secretaries and clerks are signing up for a Putin potluck lunch, featuring such Eastern European favorites as cherry-pear compote, eggs baked in butter and sour cream, and fiery chicken paprikash.

But at his post inside a shingled attendant's booth at the busy Dock Square parking lot, Calvin Bryant was in no mood to whip up a batch of borscht just because President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia is scheduled to arrive Sunday for talks with President Bush on the issues that bedevil the US-Russian relationship.

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He stirs the pot with idea of fill-in warming seat until he returns

12:00 AM CDT on Monday, June 25, 2007

From Wire Reports Peter Finn, The Washington Post

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