* UN says Gaza facing food shortage UN food aid to about 860,000 people in the Gaza Strip will have to be suspended within days if Israel’s blockade continues, the UN has warned.

* Israeli satellite launched from India After several delays, the TecSar reconnaissance satellite was successfully launched Sunday overnight.

* ‘Gaza blackout is a Hamas deception’ Israeli officials claimed Monday that the Gaza blackout was deliberately instigated by Hamas, in a bid to present the appearance of a humanitarian crisis.

* Day after Gaza blackout, PM says ‘Gazans can walk’ Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pledged Monday that Israel would not allow the Gaza Strip to slide into a humanitarian crisis in the wake of the decision to halt fuel supplies over ongoing rocket fire on the Negev, but later said that gas-deprived Gaza residents “can walk.”

* Statistics: Jewish Population Flourishing in Judea and Samaria The Jewish population in Judea and Samaria is rising steadily despite Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s stated freeze on building in the expanding Jewish communities in the stony green hills that carpet the region.

* Survey: Muslims, West see divisions deepening Most people in Muslim and Western countries believe divisions between them are worsening and each side believes the other disrespects their culture, according to a poll released on Monday.

* Israeli Jews: No Voice for Diaspora Jews on Status of Jerusalem The vast majority of Jewish Israelis believe that Diaspora Jews have no right to make decisions about Jerusalem, according to a new poll commissioned by the Shalem Center’s Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies.

* Bolton: US intelligence has become politicized The 2007 US National Intelligence Estimate, as well as the skewed reporting around it, is a sign of the “illegitimate politicization” of the American intelligence establishment, according to former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton.

* Global shares tumble on US fears Global stock markets have tumbled amid growing fears of a recession in the US, and despite recovering slightly in the afternoon, were heading for big losses.

* Nationalist ahead in Serbia poll Hardline nationalist Tomislav Nikolic has won the first round of Serbia’s presidential election, but will face a run-off poll, officials say.