* Ahmadinejad: Israel a ‘stinking corpse’ Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that the state of Israel is a “stinking corpse” that is destined to disappear.

* UN to resume Burma food flights The World Food Program says it will resume aid flights to Burma on Saturday, despite a row over the local authorities impounding deliveries.

* ‘Messer will complicate Olmert’s case’ Uri Messer’s testimony will cause difficulties for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

* Gun battles break out in Beirut Gun fire broke out in downtown Beirut on Thursday after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said recent government actions amount to “a declaration of open war.”

* PA: Olmert misleading the public Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is misleading the Israeli public by declaring that “significant progress” has been achieved in the peace talks with the Palestinians.

* German foreign minister favours EU army Germany’s foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, has indicated he would like to see a European army established.

* US pushing hard for border agreement Israel and the Palestinians need to “draw a map and get it done,” according to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

* Who’s pulling Lebanon’s strings? The key to solving the sectarian clashes between Hezbollah fighters and Sunni Muslim gunmen loyal to the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora in the Lebanese capital Beirut can only be found in the context of a larger Middle East solution.

* ‘We won’t cut Iran or Hizbullah ties’ Syrian President Bashar Assad rejected Israel’s demand that Syria cut its ties with Iran and Hizbullah.

* Serbs go to polls divided over EU path Serbian voters will go to the polls on Sunday (11 May) for what is being billed as decisive elections for the country’s EU future.