Today's Update

- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will visit Gaza on Tuesday, as Israel pledged to withdraw all its forces in the area before the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Obama. Total Palestinian casualties from the war were reported at 1,300, with at least 700 civilians among the dead.

- Russia and Ukraine reached an agreement over natural gas flows through the latter nation, allowing gas supplies to flow to the rest of Europe after a 2-week energy impasse

- Negotiations over a power-sharing arrangement between Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai are being mediated by the South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, while the nation-wide cholera crisis continues

As peace talks in Egypt continue, the death toll in Gaza passes 1,000, approximately half of those being civilians.

A very worthwhile article from this week's Economist magazine regarding the long and torturous history of Arab-Israeli conflict in Palestine and why it continues to this day.

Another piece from the Economist concerning China's continued trade surplus in the face of declining exports. On a related note, the morning Post reported that China has now officially overtaken Germany for the world's third-largest GDP.

Finally, Sri Lanka this week made a significant breakthrough in its fight against the Tamil Tiger rebels.

Daily Update

- While the U.N. Human Rights Council drafted a resolution condemning Israel's military offensive against Hamas in Gaza, while Egypt and Jordan fear that the breakdown of the 2 State Plan, which proposes the peaceful coexistence of Israel and Palestine, will transfer the responsibility of providing Gaza with humanitarian aid to Egypt and Jordan; both states are reluctant to open their borders to an influx of refugees

- President-elect Barack Obama pledges to shut the Guantanamo Bay detention center down within the first week of his presidency; more than 200 prisoners remain detained (down from 700 at the height of George W. Bush's "War on Terror"), and they are likely to be released, transfered to other countries, or to the U.S. to stand trial

- The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), more commonly known as the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka, are under siege by the Sri Lankan military, and the Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa expects victory over the separatists within the year

The Washington Post reports that Iranian operatives are employing subterfuge to obtain parts for IED's and bombs, some of which are turned right around for use against US forces in Iraq.

A report by Griff Witte on how the current Israeli war versus Hamas is being portrayed in Israel. Israelis see themselves as "the victims and the victor," with the Israeli media highlighting the damage Hamas has done to Israel while most of the world press denounces Israel's actions as being too destructive to the civilian population in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Israel has issued warnings that its fight in Gaza may escalate, likely extending to operations within Gaza City proper and several refugee camps. Such operations would be militarily prudent for Israel but could have significant political costs in diminishing an already dim world opinion of its actions.

Luckily for much of western Europe, Russia and the Ukraine have agreed to restart the flow of gas from Russia through Ukrainian pipelines.

Daily Update

- Russia's order that struggling energy giant Gazprom cut natural gas supplies to Ukraine leaves hundreds of thousands in the cold across the Balkans and draws heavy criticism from western European leaders, whose nations are significant consumers of Russian energy

- Ghana has peacefully elected opposition candidate John Atta Mills as the nation's new president; Mills seemed to invoke U.S. President-elect Obama when he declared that "There is no NPC Ghana, there is no NPP Ghana...There is one Ghana."

- The Los Angeles Times has an article that explores the possibility of Hezbollah being drawn into the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict

- The Economist briefly examines the ever-worsening effects of mankind's actions on the health and biodiversity of the oceans in "Troubled Waters"

- Faced with scandals, riots, and rising extremism, the Greek government "reshuffles", although Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis keeps his job for himself

Daily Update

- Oil prices surge due to Mideast violence, but Kuwait's cancellation of a major petrochemical deal with Dow Chemical Co. sent stocks falling as the cancellation was interpreted as an indication of the severity and staying power of the current recession. As the Israeli airstrike against Hamas targets continues to day three, widespread protest against Israel in Egypt, Iraq, and Iran have been reported

- 7,000 Iranian college students are said to have registered to fight Israel at the behest of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Kamenei's proclamation that those who die in defense of Gaza against Israel will be considered martyrs

- ex-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed of Bangladesh has won the country's first democratic election since a military interim government took power in 2007; her political party, the Awami league, also won a parlimentary majority

- Look who's coming to dinner: a Chinese special envoy, the British High Commissioner, and Iranian President Ahamdinejad have all reached out to Pakistan to defuse escalating tensions between it and neighboring India

- Somalia's President Yusef has resigned as the country's Islamist Militants declare war on one another

Daily Update

- Israel's attack on the Gaza Strip continues for a second day. Over 240 Palestinians have died in the response to Hamas's rocket attacks. While many had expected Israel to use military force during the US presidential transition, Iran, not Hamas, was the expected target. The attacks have been described as the harshest in decades.

- The Bush Administration has been unwavering in its support for Israel and continues to blame Hamas for the violence in the Gaza Strip.

- India is hailing the election returns from Kashmir and Jammu as good signs for democracy and Indian national unity. In the wake of the Mumbai attacks, the elections were held under high security.