* Poland pressed on EU treaty deal Germany’s chancellor is stepping up efforts to broker a compromise with Poland over a draft treaty to replace the failed EU Constitution.

* Lebanon army starts camp ‘clean-up’ Sporadic gunfire and explosions could still be heard around a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon on Friday.

* Lieberman slams Olmert’s plan to aid Fatah, Abbas Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman opposes Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s plan to transfer an assistance package to the Palestinians.

* Israel: Quartet Plans Jerusalem Meeting Envoys from the United States, European Union, Russia and the U.N. will meet Tuesday in Jerusalem for the first time since Hamas militants seized control of the Gaza Strip.

* Report: IAF preparing for Iran strike The Israeli Air Force (IAF) has been training on long-range flights in preparation for potential strikes against Iranian nuclear targets.

* Hamas: Abbas won’t be able to wipe out Hamas’ sovereignty Hamas spokesman Salah Bardawil on Friday denounced the summit planned for Monday between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

* Iran enriches 100 kg. of uranium Iran has produced 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of enriched uranium, the country’s interior minister was quoted Friday as saying.

* ‘Mile-wide UFO’ spotted by British airline pilot One of the largest UFOs ever seen has been observed by the crew and passengers of an airliner over the Channel Islands.

* Gays celebrate ‘victory’ in Jerusalem Members of gay and lesbian community say fact pride parade was successfully held in capital despite protests and petitions against it.

* Take back Gaza now For far too long, Israel has been trying to run away from the Gaza problem, and that has gotten us nowhere.

* Blair in Europe: a false messiah? As Tony Blair prepares to attend his last European Union summit as prime minister, William Horsley, a long-time observer of Europe’s political scene, says Mr Blair made powerful enemies.

* PM to attend 4-way summit in Egypt Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will travel next week to Sharm e-Sheikh to meet with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Jordanian King Abdullah II, and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

* EU leaders to discuss new treaty EU leaders are preparing to meet in Brussels to discuss a treaty to help the union work more effectively.

* 75% of Palestinians favor elections Seventy-five percent of Palestinians support holding early elections.

* Abbas accuses Hamas of coup plot Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has accused Hamas of trying to establish its own state in Gaza.

* Oil likely to top China-Iraq talks Jalal Talabani, the Iraqi president, is in Beijing for talks with his Chinese counterpart which are expected to focus on Iraq’s vast oil resources.

* Iraqi politicians agree deal on sharing oil, says Kurd minister Iraq’s Kurdish leaders said last night they had struck an important deal with the central government in Baghdad.

* Right-wing activists plan to rebuild Homesh Right-wing activists plan to rebuild the evacuated West Bank settlement of Homesh.

* Jerusalem braced for gay parade A controversial Gay Pride parade is to march through Jerusalem later today with an expected 5,000 participants.

* Syria ready for peace, FM says Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid Moallem reiterated his country’s interest in renewing peace talks with Israel without preconditions.

By: Arnaud de Borchgrave – The Washington Times

The law of unintended consequences continues to throw up more consequences that were not intended.

Read more….

* Hamas calls for PA gov’t of technocrats A senior exiled Hamas leader on Wednesday called for the formation of a new Palestinian Authority goverment made up of independent technocrats.

* Warning to EU members over treaty European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has told EU members not to block progress towards an EU treaty.

* Blair may become Quartet’s envoy Tony Blair could soon be appointed the Middle East Quartet’s envoy.

* Palestinian mediators bring hope of ceasefire to Lebanon The end may be in sight for “Lebanon’s worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war.”

* Wheel of misfortune The law of unintended consequences continues to throw up more consequences that were not intended.

* Anti-Pride Parade Protests Take a Turn Leading hareidi-religious rabbis say that anti-Gay Pride Parade protests should be put on a low burner.

* Abbas calls Hamas ‘murderous terrorists’ Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, addressing his people on TV Wednesday, harshly criticized the Islamic Hamas.

* Dichter: ‘Kadima ready to replace PM’ Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s comrade in Kadima, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter, said Kadima must be prepared to move on without him if necessary.

* ‘New PA situation makes two-state solution possible’ Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was upbeat Tuesday evening after a lengthy three-hour meeting with US President George W. Bush in the White House.

* Up to 20 Sudanese reach Israel daily The pace of refugees seeking asylum in Israel has doubled in the past six months.

* Bush to Olmert: ‘All options are on the table’ regarding Iran “All options are still on the table regarding Iran,” US President George W. Bush said before a meeting Tuesday with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at the Oval Office.

* ‘Christians must accept Islamic rule’ Christians can only continue living safely in the Gaza Strip if they accept Islamic law.

* Carter: Stop favoring Fatah over Hamas The United States, Israel and the European Union must end their policy of favoring Fatah over Hamas, or they will doom the Palestinian people to deepening conflict between the rival movements.

* Food convoy finally enters Gaza The first food aid delivery for eight days has arrived in Gaza from Israel, following last week’s fighting.

* Hamas official wants dialogue with Fatah Facing growing international isolation, the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday called for a “national dialogue” with their vanquished Fatah foes.

* EU officials, leaders make last-ditch effort to reach treaty deal EU officials are to make a last-ditch bid later today to narrow differences over a European treaty of reforms.

* Car bomb kills 75 in crowded Baghdad square A truck bomb ripped through a crowded square in the capital Tuesday, killing at least 75 people and wounding 204 others.

* The world will end in 2060, according to Newton His famously analytical mind worked out the laws of gravity and unravelled the motion of the planets.

* Millions of shekels transferred from Saudi to Hamas According to two indectments served Monday, millions of shekels have been transferred from a Saudi organization to Hamas operatives in Jerusalem.

* Syria denies secret talks, calls for new negotiations with Israel Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations on Monday dismissed rumors of secret Syrian-Israeli talks.

* Key powers back Abbas government Key international powers have publicly backed the new Palestinian Authority government, offering aid and support to an administration without Hamas.

* Lebanese forces battle militants The Lebanese army has resumed shelling a besieged Palestinian refugee camp, a day after it said important militant positions had been destroyed.

* U.S. and Iraqi Troops Begin Big Offensive American and Iraqi troops began major military operations north and south of Baghdad today, while deep in the south near the Iranian border, a ferocious battle between American troops and Shiite militants left at least 20 dead and wounded scores more, Iraqi and American officials.

* Barak sworn in as defense minister; Peretz says goodbye Newly-appointed Defense Minister Ehud Barak was sworn in at the Knesset Monday evening, taking the reins from outgoing Amir Peretz.

* Abbas to Bush: Now is time to resume peace talks Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas told U.S. President George W. Bush in a phone call Monday that now is the time to resume Middle East peace talks, Abbas’ spokesman said.

* Push for Blair as new EU president Tony Blair, the British prime minister, could end up swapping Downing Street for a job as the first full-time European Union president, under a plan being actively touted by Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president.

* EU to resume Palestinian aid The EU is to resume direct aid to the new Palestinian emergency government, said Javier Solana, the EU’s foreign policy chief, ending its 15-month aid embargo following Hamas’s election victory.

* Jerusalem Police Stand Firm on Gay Parade for Thursday Protestors hurled rocks at an Egged bus Monday morning in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramot, damaging the vehicle. No one was injured.

* We must unite against Hamas, Livni tells Arab paper In optimistic article published in Arab world’s leading newspaper, foreign minister writes, ‘Israel has a strong interest to find a stable and prosperous Palestinian partner’; says Israel was wrong for not cooperating sufficiently with regional elements ‘in order to help us build Israeli-Palestinian peace’.

* EU treaty rifts remain after deal on name and symbols EU foreign ministers have agreed on how the new EU treaty should be presented – it should not be called a constitution, and not contain symbols such as an EU flag – but key divisions on the substance of the text remain unresolved.

* Fatah militants storm parliament Fatah gunmen have stormed the Hamas-controlled Palestinian parliament building in Ramallah in the West Bank.

* Gates pushes Iraq’s leaders on reconciliation U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates met Iraqi leaders for talks in Baghdad on Saturday to tell them Washington is disappointed with their efforts.

* US forces in new Iraq offensive US forces in Iraq have launched a major security offensive around Baghdad.

* Lebanese army unleashes barrage of shells on camp Lebanese troops unleashed an intense artillery bombardment Saturday against positions of Islamist fighters who have been holed up inside a refugee camp for almost a month.

* Report: PA premier denies completing gov’t’s formation Newly appointed Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad hasn’t completed the formation of his new government yet.

* Crowd loots Gaza home of Arafat A crowd on Saturday looted the home of longtime Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, destroying one of the strongest symbols of the Fatah movement in the Gaza Strip.

* Hamas threatens to expand fighting against Fatah to W. Bank Hamas on Saturday threatened to retaliate against Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ forces in the West Bank.

* Berlin avoids adding voting issue to EU treaty review list Berlin has identified seven outstanding problems to be discussed at next week’s EU leader’s summit .

* US debate over Iran strategy erupts A debate on US strategy regarding how the country plans to deal with Iran’s nuclear program within President George Bush’s administration has broken out.

* Secret new plan for EU superstate Tony Blair wants to hand the European Union radical new powers in his last act as Prime Minister.

* Abbas appoints Salam Fayyad as new PA prime minister Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas appointed former finance minister Salam Fayyad as the new PA prime minister on Friday.

* Olmert appoints Barak defense minister The government unanimously approved the appointment of newly elected Labor Party Chairman Ehud Barak as Israel’s next defense minister.

* Fighting flares at Lebanon camp Four Lebanese soldiers have been killed in renewed clashes with Islamist militants entrenched in a Palestinian refugee camp, officials say.

* US to continue training Abbas’ guard The United States will continue financing the Palestinian Authority’s presidential guard.

* Final ‘surge’ troops arrive in Iraq The US military has said it completed the deployment of extra troops to Iraq as part of the “surge” aimed at curbing sectarian violence.

* ‘Multinational force must fight Hamas’ A proposed multinational force deployed along the Gaza Strip’s border with Egypt must be willing to fight Hamas to stop weapons smuggling in the area.

* Turkey president calls referendum Turkey’s president has called a referendum on plans to for the head of state to be elected directly by the public rather than by parliament.

* Arab Media Reports Syria Making Preparations for War with Israel A Qatari newspaper, Al Watan, reported Friday that Syria is making concrete preparations for war with Israel.

* The fall of Gaza First Hamas won at the ballot box, now it has won again, with bullets.

* US sticks to European missile shield plan NATO and Washington have poured cold water on Moscow’s offer to use a Russia-operated radar base in Azerbaijan.

By: Daniel Howden – The Independent

Scientists challenge major review of global reserves and warn that supplies will start to run out in four years’ time

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By: Daniel Pipes – The Jerusalem Post

Barring a “catastrophic development,” reports Middle East Newsline, George W. Bush has decided not to attack Iran. An administration source explains that Washington deems Iran’s cooperation “needed for a withdrawal [of US forces] from Iraq.”

Read more….