With U.S. efforts to revive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians still not producing tangible results, reaction in the Mideast to President Barack Obama winning this year’s Nobel Peace Prize has not been entirely enthusiastic.

Israeli President Shimon Peres says that his Russian counterpart has promised to reconsider the planned delivery of top-range air defense missiles to Iran. Peres said Wednesday that the sale of the S-300 missiles would tilt a delicate balance of forces in the Middle East.

The mother of an American freelance journalist missing in Iran says she is concerned for the “safety and welfare” of her son and two other Americans. Shane Bauer’s mother, Cindy Hickey, says her son is one of the three Americans believed to have been arrested by Iranian authorities last week on a hiking trip in northern Iraq.

President Barack Obama says he is “not reconciled” to the idea of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon within a year.

Pope Benedict XVI says he hopes the Catholic church can play a role in the Middle East peace process.

President Barack Obama says he expects Israelis and Palestinians to make “gestures of good faith” within months.

A new customer is about to call at the Port of Charleston. The National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia is starting a new service between Charleston and several ports in the Middle East and India at the end of this month.

An Israeli official says Palestinian militants fired on Israeli soldiers from the courtyard of a U.N. school where dozens of people died in fiery explosions.

About the time Barack Obama was learning of his victory, Tuesday night, Gazan militants were firing rockets into Israel. That is in addition to the ongoing war in Iraq, and Obama will have his hands full in the Middle East. Phil Black gives us the view from Baghdad.