Thorvald Stoltenberg

Norwegian Foreign Minister Thorvald Stoltenberg arrived in Israel on Sunday night to discuss issues straining bilateral relations. Stoltenberg is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Foreign Minister Moshe Arens during his two-day visit and will also hold talks with prominent Palestinians, diplomats said.

Former Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance has confirmed that he will step down as U.N. peace negotiator in the Yugoslav region, and Norwegian Foreign Minister Thorvald Stoltenberg said Thursday that he has been asked to take over. "I plan to decide as soon as possible . . . before Easter," Stoltenberg, 61, said after returning to Oslo from New York, where U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali formally offered him the post Wednesday. U.N.

The U.N. high commissioner for refugees announced Friday he is resigning after only 10 months of a five-year term to become Norway's foreign minister. Thorvald Stoltenberg's resignation came as a shock to the agency, which is facing an unprecedented refugee crisis and has been recovering from low morale under its previous leadership. U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar will nominate a successor.

The U.N. high commissioner for refugees announced Friday he is resigning after only 10 months of a five-year term to become Norway's foreign minister. Thorvald Stoltenberg's resignation came as a shock to the agency, which is facing an unprecedented refugee crisis and has been recovering from low morale under its previous leadership. U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar will nominate a successor.

Former Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance has confirmed that he will step down as U.N. peace negotiator in the Yugoslav region, and Norwegian Foreign Minister Thorvald Stoltenberg said Thursday that he has been asked to take over. "I plan to decide as soon as possible . . . before Easter," Stoltenberg, 61, said after returning to Oslo from New York, where U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali formally offered him the post Wednesday. U.N.

Thorvald Stoltenberg, former Norwegian foreign minister, has taken up his new job as United Nations commissioner for refugees based in Geneva, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Thorvald Stoltenberg arrived in Jordan on Tuesday for talks with Foreign Minister Marwan Kassem, officials said. Stoltenberg is scheduled to open a Norwegian consulate in Amman before leaving for Syria.

Secret "Palestinian-style" peace talks between Croatian and Serbian officials in Norway reportedly suffered a setback Tuesday. The Yugoslav news agency Tanjug said Serbs from the breakaway Krajina enclave accused Croatian President Franjo Tudjman of undermining the internationally mediated negotiations. Tudjman reportedly sent guidelines to his delegation insisting that Krajina remain part of a Croatian state, Tanjug said.

International mediator Lord Owen said Wednesday that he hopes NATO's commitment to take on the peacekeeping job in Bosnia will persuade Muslims to agree to a peace deal to end the 17-month-old civil war. "I hope the message from this NATO meeting will be heard in Sarajevo by anyone who may have doubts," Owen said in Brussels.

Negotiations on what to do with the Vietnamese boat people scattered around Asia have come to a stalemate, a U.N. official said Friday. "We are exactly at the same point--I must be perfectly frank with you--as in January," said Sergio Vieira de Mello, who has been coordinating the negotiations for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. But High Commissioner Thorvald Stoltenberg has not given up hope and will continue to seek a solution, Vieira de Mello told a news conference.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Thorvald Stoltenberg arrived in Israel on Sunday night to discuss issues straining bilateral relations. Stoltenberg is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Foreign Minister Moshe Arens during his two-day visit and will also hold talks with prominent Palestinians, diplomats said.

Sadako Ogata, 65, a Japanese professor of foreign relations with experience in the U.N. Children's Fund, has been nominated as U.N. high commissioner for refugees, diplomatic sources said today. She would replace Thorvald Stoltenberg, who recently resigned to become deputy prime minister of Norway. The reported move could end a long and controversial search for the next refugee chief. Several developed nations, including the United States, have been at odds with U.N.

International mediators said the top leaders of Bosnia-Herzegovina's warring ethnic factions agreed Wednesday to attend a new round of peace talks and stay until a settlement is reached. There was no immediate confirmation from leaders of the war-torn republic's Serbs, Croats and Muslims that they have accepted the invitation to the Geneva talks, due to begin Friday. But a spokesman for the mediators--U.N.