New York  - Israeli President Shimon Peres on Wednesday invited Arab leaders for a peace summit in Jerusalem and said he expected a comprehensive peace deal with the Palestinians to be in place by next year.

Peres said the initial goal of reaching a peace agreement this year on the creation of a Palestinian state was unlikely, "but I believe it can be accomplished within the next year."

New York  - Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao on Wednesday gave the world a view of what his country is like following the successful hosting of the Summer Olympic Games, stressing that it trails 100 countries in per capita income and its rural regions remain underdeveloped.

"Tens of millions of people lack adequate food and clothing," Wen said in his first address to the UN General Assembly in New York.

New York  - The government of Myanmar should release all political prisoners after deciding to set free several of them this week, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday.

Among those released was U Win Tin, who spent 19 years in jail, and six members of the National League for Democracy, which is headed by Aung San Suu Kyi.

Suu Kyi has been put under house arrest for more than 10 years by Myanmar's military government for challenging the military leaders to undertake democratic reforms. The UN has been calling for her release to no avail.

New York/Moscow  - A meeting of world powers this week to explore slapping fresh sanctions on Iran over its nuclear activities has been cancelled, top diplomats said Wednesday.

Russia was the first to pull out, citing Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's busy schedule on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice later agreed that more time was needed before the senior-level meeting.

New York  - Ailing US car manufacturer Chrysler unveiled electric versions of three of its models and said it had lost 400 million dollars so far this year, US business daily the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Despite cost cuts, Chrysler still was in the red and registered a 1.6-million-dollar loss for 2007, the paper quoted traders present at a Chrysler conference in Auburn Hills, Michigan, as saying.

According to the report, chief executive Robert Nardelli told businessmen that Chrysler had 11 billion dollars in cash.