Clinton meets Abbas as Mideast peace deadline looms

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday amid "intense" talks with both Palestinian and Israeli officials ahead of Sunday's expiry of an Israeli freeze on new settlement construction.

"The discussions are pretty intense right now," said Jeffrey Feltman, US assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs. "We are urging Israel to extend the moratorium and we are also making clear to the Palestinians that we do not believe that it is in their interest to walk out of the talks." (Reuters)