* Dramatic new support for Red-Dead plan A group of Israeli and foreign businessmen and bankers are finally ready to build a $3 billion canal between the Red and Dead Seas.

* Wildlife populations ‘plummeting’ Between a quarter and a third of the world’s wildlife has been lost since 1970, according to data compiled by the Zoological Society of London.

* Blair: New PA troops will be far better The Palestinian security personnel currently being trained in Jordan are being prepared far more effectively than those that so signally failed to resist Hamas’s military takeover of the Gaza Strip.

* California lifts gay marriage ban California’s top court has ruled that a state law banning marriage between same-sex couples is unconstitutional.

* US agrees to help Saudi Arabia develop civilian nuclear program President George W. Bush and King Abdullah formalized new cooperation on Friday between the kingdom and the United States on a range of topics.

* Burma death toll jumps to 78,000 The official death toll for Burma’s cyclone disaster has jumped to almost 78,000 people.

* ‘Holy war until Palestine liberated’ Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden said in a new audio message released Friday that the terrorist organization will continue its holy war against Israel.

* Israel, US see need for ‘tangible action’ on Iran The United States and Israel agree on the need for “tangible action” to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

* Mass burials for China victims Chinese authorities are burying hundreds of people killed in a devastating earthquake in mass graves.

* The enemies within Sad and tired, wearing shabby clothes and with tears in his eyes, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt stood on the veranda of his luxurious home.