Weekly News Roundup:July 3rd - 8th

The main political coordinates of this week have been evolving around the disputes regarding the North Korean missile test-firings, the Israeli military operations in Gaza, the latest attacks in Afghanistan and Iraq, the one year anniversary Great Britain commemorated in remembrance of the victims who died in last year's London terrorist attacks and the never ending Iranian nuclear issue.

On Monday, Israeli forces launched a second military incursion into the northern part of Gaza, yet according to military officials, the activities of tanks and bulldozers belong to small-scale operations and will not represent any threats to Palestinian civilians, the BBC informs.

However, the military transfer of Israeli troops into the Palestinian territories, albeit small, was decided upon in order to speed up the release of the young Israeli soldier abducted by Palestinian factions over a week ago. The respective units have the mission "to conduct pinpoint operations to find tunnels and explosive devices", officials said. This would be the first Israeli incursion into northern Gaza ever since Gilad Shalit was kidnapped. On the other hand, Hamas had much to comment on these military operations, sending a warning to Israel that it would begin attacking targets inside the country if the troops do not halt the offensive and do not retreat.

According to Bolivian elections unofficial results, the population seemed to favor constitutional reform and the empowerment of the poor, indigenous majority of the country, two of the most important promises of president Evo Morales, whose party, the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) won 135 seats in the National Assembly of a total of 255, which represents an almost two-thirds majority, the one needed to possess total control of the government.
The elections were also coupled up with a referendum asking the population about the increase in the regional autonomy of four of Bolivia's nine provinces against the authority of the central government, an action which represented the president's first test since January, when he formally accepted the presidential office.

As far as Morales was concerned, he had campaigned for a "no" vote regarding this issue, bringing forward the argument that only big businesses would actually gain if the autonomy had been enforced. As projected results show, 56% of the vote nationwide was indeed "no", prompting political analysts to state that this development might place Morales in conflict with the Santa Cruz province, a rich and powerful one, who has lobbied for autonomy up to now, plus more political negotiations with other political opponents, such as the former president Jorge Quiroga's Podemos party.

Amid a tense political background created by the abduction of an Iraqi female legislator Tayseer Mashhadani and seven bodyguards that were protecting her in Baghdad, near a checkpoint on Saturday, the Sunni political bloc, one of the largest in the country, announced through Adnan Dulaimi, head of the Iraqi Accordance Front, that it would start boycotting the Iraqi parliament, by suspending their participation within it. The reason for this, they say, is that the Iraqi government and the American troops conduct useless missions since criminal gangs continue to scare the population with their attacks.

The Iraqi political scene was also shaken by the near kidnapping attempt of a Shiite Muslim lawmaker, while a third one escaped an assassination attempt. In the first case, according to Iraqi police, Liqa Yassen and her driver managed to escape a group of insurgents who tried to abduct her south of Baghdad. Eight of her bodyguards were not so fortunate though, since they were taken hostage.

In the second case, Iyad Jamaluddin, an official from the Iraqiya state was being transported to Parliament when a car bomb exploded and hit the official convoy. In an interview with Al Arabiya TV station, Jamalludin stated that he had not been harmed but a group of men that were working for him as bodyguards had been severely injured.

In spite of Tokyo administration's repeated warnings not to approach the pack of Dokdo isles, as they are called in South Korea, or Takeshima in Japan, situated in the southern part of the East Sea or Sea of Japan, a 2,500 ton South Korean ship with a crew of around 20 people on board, left Busan on Sunday night for a maritime survey, announced a South Korean official quoted by Reuters. The ship is scheduled to investigate the water temperature, currents and salinity around the islands till middle of July.
The reason of this apparently scientific survey is actually economic: the isles are within a rich fishing ground which, according to the South Korean authorities and the country's gas company, is located in an area that contains fresh gas hydrate deposits that need to be exploited.

On the one hand, South Korea took on the scientific side of the explanation stating: "It is the basic right and prerogative of this country to conduct any scientific research within our exclusive economic zone area" knowing that it maintains police forces to control the area. On the other hand, Japan advised prudence on the part of South Korea, reminding it that the control over this territory continues to be disputed.

On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert rejected the ultimatum given by the Palestinian factions, whose militants announced yesterday that they would kill Cpl Gilad Shalit if Israel did not begin the release of around 1,500 Palestinian soldiers by this morning, 10 p.m. CDT. The fighters also blamed the Israeli government for the current critical situation, a fact which was also dismissed by the latter.

While in Damascus, Syria, Ehud Olmert stated that his cabinet cannot and will not be accused of the soldier's capture nor will it give in to the extortion of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. After the Palestinian announcement was issued, Amir Peretz, the Israeli Defense Minister stated that he would place part of the responsibility of the current situation on the Syrian president Bashar Assad, for allowing Khaled Meshal, the political chief of Hamas, live in Syria.

Spain continues to be shocked following a train derailment in Valencia, as two carriages derailed and crashed soon after in a tunnel while approaching Jesus station, leading to the yet unofficial death toll of 41 civilians, the BBC informs. 47 people were wounded, out of which 12 are still in hospital. Two of them have been reported to be in a very serious condition.

Spanish police authorities released an official announcement, stating that the potential causes of the crash may have been related to high speed or a train wheel that had collapsed. The announcement was met with suspicion by Spanish trade unions, which declared that authorities are going too far with speculations and that it is too early to determine a specific cause of the accident.
Suspicion is looming with regard to the exact number of the casualties, as well, because the search and identification of the bodies by the police is extremely difficult.

The train, made up of four carriages, was using Valencia's Number One underground route and derailed between Plaza de Espana and Jesus stations. It had undergone a rigorous safety check a week before.

Iranian officials announced that their country would not halt the uranium enrichment program, reiterating the fact that the Islamic republic would continue its nuclear agenda. In turn, this would mean that no breakthrough would be recorded on Wednesday, when Iranian nuclear top negotiator Ali Larijani is expected to meet Javier Solana, the European Union foreign policy chief in Brussels. Moreover, this type of declaration might mean that no direct talks between the Bush administration and Iran would be recorded either, as the latter offered if Iran had cooperated on this issue.

According to a European Union diplomat, Solana will inform Larijani that Tehran needs to officially comply with the entire package of nuclear incentives by July 12th, when the UN Security Council foreign ministers, meaning the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China, as well as Germany, will meet in Paris, in order to discuss the Iranian nuclear problem.

The recent massive wave of bombings which has occurred in Baghdad, displays the fact that the so called "war of attrition" the Iraqi government has launched against the terrorist organization al-Qaeda and all of its armed factions, through the tough security measures it has been enforcing for a while now, may have little or no effect upon them.

Some of the deadliest attacks to ever happen in Baghdad occurred on Saturday, in the Sadr City part of the Iraqi capital, where 66 civilians died and at least 100 were seriously injured. It is known that Sadr City represents a large part of Baghdad whose population is almost entirely Shiite, and where the so called Mahdi Army of Moqtada al-Sadr organization, as well as other Shiite militia groups, activate and receive support. The bombing was followed by another wave of insurgent attacks that left at least 10 people dead behind.

Many speculate that these events will consequently have major effects on the Nouri al-Maliki Iraqi and US-supported government, acting as powerful blows that will erode the credibility of the cabinet in controlling all allied extreme Sunni insurgent groups, whose capabilities of carrying out major attacks is increasing, instead of decreasing.

According to diplomatic sources, Greece and "its allies" have managed to block a United States and Britain-supported Security Council initiative which allegedly stipulated Turkey and Greece meet and discuss the Cyprus issue and eventually agree on an official diplomatic compromise solution, both in political, as well as economic, terms.

The statement of the Security Council presidency allegedly stated that the initiative supported an official visit by Ibrahim Gambari, the undersecretary general of the United Nations for political affairs, in Turkey, Greece and Cyprus, to mediate the political, economic and territorial claims stated in the Cyprus affair. Gambari's role was also intended to bring about a potential reunification process.

However, Greece, aided by Russia and France, some American diplomats claimed, managed to hinder the release of the Security Council statement. On one hand, it is a widely known the fact that Russia has been quite close to Greece and Greek Cypriots in political and economic fields. On the other hand, France is known for its rejection of Turkey's accession to the European Union. "That presidency statement would have helped Gambari, and it didn't happen. So it's more difficult for Gambari now to return from the region with a tangible result", one analyst was quoted to have said.

British government released an official statement, in which it reviews the role of the British troops in Afghanistan and admits to the fact that military commanders stationed in that region have asked for further reinforcements in Kandahar, the southern Afghan province, which has always been the most dangerous in terms of deadly insurgent attacks.

Tom Watson, the junior Defense Minister conducted a discussion with several members of the British parliament, in which he stated that commanders requested more resources, especially of the "enablers and engineering equipment" type, which are allegedly needed for the "hearts and minds" of the Afghan people. Watson explained that this may mean that these resources are used for improving the psychological infrastructure state of the Afghan civilians, persuading them that the British troops have a beneficial effect, providing essential help in rebuilding the country.

Although Watson admitted that the infantry and aircraft departments have not yet made official requests for reinforcements, he did state that the government expected them in the near future. The term "combat elements" would mean that they have to be taken seriously and provided for immediately.

On Wednesday, Japan and the United States have publicly expressed their anger with regard to the recent North Korean missile tests, resorting to public condemnations.

On one hand, the Japanese foreign minister Taro Aso stated that the possibility of his country imposing very strict economic sanctions on North Korea is very high at this point. Moreover, the Japanese embassy in Beijing released an official statement, labeling the nuclear missile launch as a "grave problem" in terms of Japanese foreign policy and national security realm. On the other hand, the Bush administration in Washington stated through the White House press secretary Tony Snow, that the United States profoundly condemns the missile launches, while affirming that through them, North Korea publicly and internationally proved its "unwillingness to heed calls for restraint from the international community". "We are consulting with international partners on next steps", he added.
South Korea and Australia also publicly condemned the tests. The security policy adviser of the South Korean president Roh Noo-Hyun, Suh Choo-Suk declared: "North Korea must stop provocative activity, immediately return to six-party talks and join international efforts for nuclear non-proliferation."

In an interview with CNN's "Late Edition" program on Sunday, the Israeli deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres declared that all 8 Palestinian ministers, as well as 20 other politicians, seized by the Israeli troops in connection with the kidnapped Israeli soldier, will be convicted by Israeli law and thus, prosecuted, for actively taking part in this terrorist act directed not only against Israel but also against the government of their own people.
In the meantime, the Hamas government was gravely shaken when Israeli troops fired missiles, striking many offices of the Palestinian Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh. Moreover, Palestinian officials announced that negotiations between the Israeli side and the Palestinian factions that had kidnapped Cpl Gilad Shalit more than a week ago, have come to a standstill, throwing peace negotiations into air and bringing the threat for a humanitarian crisis erupting in the Palestinian territories, closer.

The Spanish police authorities released an official statement containing the first results of the preliminary inquiries regarding the tragic train derailment which shook Valencia on Monday, killing 41 civilians, as two carriages smashed into a tunnel wall.

According to the initial technical analysis of the underground train's so called "black box", issued yesterday, the four carriages had been going at an incredible speed just before the crash near the Jesus station, confirming eye witnesses' reports. The spokesman for the Valencia rail union, Jose Aroca, stated that the train was going "at 80 kilometers per hour on a bend where the limit is 40 kilometers per hour".

A potential explanation for this unusual occurrence was provided by the regional transport minister, Jose Ramon Garcia Anton, who commented upon the fact that the officials were intrigued by this strange element of the story and reasoned the driver, who died in the crash, may have suffered from a certain physical ailment that made him collapse before the actual collision of the train with the tunnel wall. Investigations are nevertheless carried on.

The 16 brand new shiny cars of Train 27 Special Express, the one which makes the 2,500 mile connection between Beijing, in the heavily industrialized eastern part of China, to the Tibetan plateau, completed its first maiden voyage, on the longest railway in the world in 47 and a half hours, bringing hundreds of Chinese citizens to the sacred city of Lhasa in Tibet, home of the Dalai Lama.

The Chinese government hailed the maiden voyage of the train as an impressive success, which is part of the country's "Great Leap West" campaign to improve conditions of the populations living within the flatlands of the Xinjing province, but also in the mountainous region of Tibet, bringing together all ethnic minorities of the country and integrating them within a sense of national feeling.

On the other hand, a nephew of the Dalai Lama, Khedroob Thondup, labeled the construction of the railway and the train's first voyage yesterday as symbols of the second invasion of their homeland, adding that Tibetans will thus come to be "an endangered race", since the major influx of Chinese migrants would permanently erase the culture of Tibet.

The Iraqi deputy electricity minister, Raad al-Harith and 19 of his bodyguards have been kidnapped in a busy street in Baghdad, by a group of men wearing camouflage uniforms, Reuters informs. The strange thing about this kidnapping was the fact that, according to Interior Ministry sources, after only 12 hours, al-Harith and seven guards were released, without any conditions, yet without any details regarding the condition of the rest of the hostages.
In the meantime, the Bush administration, faced with the possibility that the al-Maliki led Iraqi government may not be able to stand up to the challenges risen by all factions and insurgent groups in Iraq, even though it tries hard to implement the provisions of the national reconciliation plan, saw fit to use the National Day of 4th of July in order to revamp nationalism and thus, domestic support for a totally unpopular war.

George Bush made a fiery speech yesterday, while on an official visit in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, declaring that the US troops would not leave Iraq until their missions there are over.

However, this highly patriotic and determined affirmation was somehow downplayed by the US Ambassador to Iraq, Zalmany Khalilzad, in an interview with the BBC, commenting grimly on the fact that the death of al-Zarqawi last month did not bring any major improvements for the Iraqi security.

Great Britain draws near to an anniversary, which it rather not had ever celebrated, not only because it brought so much sorrow and pain along with it, but also because it highlighted a rather disturbing fact, that this country is just as vulnerable as all the others, when it comes down to terrorist attacks.

One year ago, London was confronted with the deadly bombings of two groups of British Muslim citizens, and things do not appear to have changed for the better, but on the contrary, for the worse, as Islamist terror has seemingly proven it had increased. The chief of the Metropolitan Police's Anti-Terrorism Branch, Peter Clarke's statement yesterday that at least 70 terrorist attempts are currently under investigation at this point, is just the proof for the fact that this so called war on terror is not making any progress.

Moreover, a recent poll conducted on a national level in Britain by Populus alleges that, while many citizens of Muslim descent do not approve of terror, a tragic number of them do so, or at least share the extremist views that in turn lead to such acts. Thus 13 per cent of the 1.6 million Muslims in Britain believe that the bombers who plotted the July 7th 2005 attacks in London are martyrs. In addition to that, between seven and 16 per cent of them believe suicide attacks on British targets are justified, and two per cent are actually proud if one of their family members ever joined al-Qaeda.

Macedonian citizens began voting in a round of parliamentary elections which has been heavily disputed in political terms, but also plagued by worries regarding any fraud attempts that had become quite a common in past polls, Reuters informs. The Macedonians hope these election polls would be devoid of such past mistakes so that the country is able to follow its course to the desired destination, which is membership of the European Union.
Following recent attacks of various politicians in Skopje and on party offices in the Albanian west, all political leaders have urged for the organization of democratic and free voting rounds. Furthermore, the European Union, as well as NATO, has cautioned Macedonian officials with regard to this issue, declaring that Macedonia's accession to both economic and strategic partnerships would be put on hold, if irregularities within the voting process occur, just as they did in the local elections of March 2005.
Speaking from a partisan confrontation point of view, political analysts stated that the ruling Social Democratic party faces a quite difficult challenge released by the opposition VMRO-DPME coalition, which promised to efficiently deal with the high unemployment rate and the wages issue, two departments which the former has not managed to improve all along the years that passed since the country broke off from former Yugoslavia.

On Thursday, it was reported that Japan, Britain and the United States had met within the United Nations Security Council the night before in order to discuss over delivering a firm answer regarding the test-firing of seven ballistic missiles by North Korea yesterday, in violation of the 1999 moratorium on this issue. To make matters worse, North Korean officials announced yesterday that more tests would follow.

Ambassadors from the above mentioned countries were thus summoned for an emergency meeting of the Security Council to find a potential compromise solution, since the situation is all the more serious since Western governments released very aggressive responses. They managed to draft a UN resolution that urges the Pyongyang administration to "immediately cease the development, testing, deployment and proliferation of ballistic missiles" in compliance with the 1999 moratorium provisions.
Moreover, the resolution calls on all countries which are members of the United Nations to cease all supply shipments to North Korea, that are related to commodities and know-how and that may be used for the missile program the country develops.

Israeli officials stated they will step up their Gaza campaign in the days to come, following the Palestinian bombardment of a school in the centre of Askelon, a town near the Gaza border, for two nights in a row.

Although no injuries have been reported, the Israeli cabinet approved a provision that stipulates the re-occupation of certain parts of the Gaza Strip. In an interview with the Associated Press, the Israeli army would allegedly create a sort of "security buffer zone" there. Regarding this issue, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert labeled the Hams rocket that hit the town of Askelon as a "major escalation" of the Israeli-Palestinian war and promised his country would harshly retaliate.

In spite of existing tensions, local hospitals in Gaza reported no casualties, yet groups of gunmen were dispatched in northern towns in preparation for the upcoming Israeli military retaliations. Palestinian military sources declared that the gunmen have attempted to engage the tanks and armored carriers after they were transferred from border regions to other positions that were near to the settlements which had been evacuated by Israel 10 months ago and near the town of Beit Lahiya.

According to governmental sources and preliminary results of the Macedonian parliamentary elections conducted yesterday, it looks like the Macedonia opposition managed to win quite a victory.

Early Thursday polls displayed the fact the Macedonian premier's party conceded defeat while the coalition leading opposition party, Gruevski's nationalist VMRO-DPMNE will control 55 out of the total of 120 seats in the future parliamentary configuration. During a late night conference held in Skopje, Vlatko Gorcev, the main opposition party's spokesman, stated "Nikola Gruevski will be the next prime Minister".

Nevertheless, if the figures provided by the opposition party, which already started celebrating the yet unofficial results, are proven correct, then VMRO-DPMNE would still need a coalition partner or several others, in order to gain six more votes in parliament, and thus the required majority it needs.
Again, according to VMRO spokespeople, Premier Vlado Buckovski's Social Democratic party SDSM and its other political partners would control only 32 seats, thus having no possibility of actually gaining a majority, while the rest of the seats are going to be given to minor parties.

It was also reported that Wednesday was the third and final day of the World Summit of Religious Leaders, conducted in Moscow, which was organized in order to bring together representatives of religious communities from around 49 countries in the fight against extremism and the use of religion for extremist purposes.

The meeting, which began on Monday with a powerful speech delivered by Russian President Vladimir Putin cautioning against the controversial "clash of civilizations" between people of the Christian and Muslim faiths, was attended by around 300 leaders and representatives and thus, represented the largest gathering of this kind in decades. A quite notable presence was that of the Vatican delegation, which was larger than others', prompting many to speculate that relations between the Catholic faith representatives and the Russian Orthodox Church have gradually softened ever since Benedict XVI was elected as Pope.

The ones who came up with the summit idea were the Patriarch Aleksy II of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Interreligious Council that reunites representatives of the Orthodox Church, Judaism, Buddhism and Islam, Russia's so called "traditional religions".

The formation of the new Ukrainian parliament has reached yet another political obstacle, this time created by opposition Party of Regions, which keeps on disagreeing with coalition majority propositions, Russian news and information agency RIA Novosti informs.

Party of Regions officials have issued a statement, in which they are claiming that around 15 members of the pro-Russian parliamentary organization of Viktor Yanukovych would continue to block the work of the parliament until the issue regarding the parliamentary representation is solved.

Lyudmila Kirichenko explained that the coalition had offered them the opportunity to form just a few commissions with controlling functions, instead of actually giving them the presidency of at least 10 parliamentary committees as previously agreed and as the principle of parliamentary proportional representation stipulates.

Another member of the same party, Taras Chernovol, commented upon the fact that the recently nominated Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is not respecting the agreement elaborated upon Tuesday, when a meeting of the three coalition parties, the opposition parties and president Yushchenko was held, labeling her current actions as a deliberate challenge of the rest of the political partners.

On Friday, amid the much disputed North Korean missile launches crisis, US President George Bush issued an official statement, declaring that the only solution to this issue is diplomacy, yet that would take a considerable amount of time.
In a press conference organized at the White House, following telephone conversations with the presidents of China, Japan, South Korea and Russia, Bush stated: "We want to solve this problem diplomatically, and the best way to solve this problem diplomatically is for all of us to be working in concert. "Diplomacy takes a while. We're taking time... making sure that our voice is unified", he added, following an official meeting with Stephen Harper, the Canadian Prime Minister.

The latest discussions within the Security Council, in which Japan proposed economic sanctions to be imposed to North Korea as a result of the utter violations of the 1999 moratorium, ended without a firm conclusion, as all political partners highlighted their differences in approaching this problem.

Noam Shalit, the father of the 19 year old Israeli tank gunner kidnapped almost two weeks ago by armed factions of Hamas, decided it was high time he came out in front of a television station and pleaded for the life of his son. He asked the abductors to solve the current Middle East crisis and reduce the pain and suffering of his family as well as of the entire Palestinian people.

Furthermore, Noam Shalit criticized Israel for the decision it took to launch the massive military incursions in Gaza and thus, threatening the life of his son. However, he expressed his confidence in the fact that the government would ultimately make the right decision, acknowledging the release of his son would cost very dearly on many departments both from Israeli and Palestinian sides.

Moreover, Noam told the group which kidnapped his son, to bring their demands to the Egyptian mediators, who currently deal with this conflict, and to allow an Egyptian, French or Red Cross representative to see in what condition his son is, without revealing the location where he is kept. He also added that he believes Khaled Meshaal, the Hamas chief, as well as Syrian President Bashar Assad, his host, are two of the few "key" people who can actually bring this crisis to an end.

Shahzad Tanweer, one of the most important men who helped Mohammad Sidique Khan, the suicide bomber who terrorized the British capital exactly one year ago, released a video message in which he acknowledges the fact that al-Qaeda was behind the attack.

The so called "video testament" of Tanweer resembles Khan's, issued in September last year, since many crucial elements in both these videos are identical: both feature a statement of Ayam al-Zawahiri, the second in command in al-Qaeda, after Osama bin Laden and both bear the logo of the al-Qaeda production branch. Moreover, the video made by Tanweer is said to include a contribution from an American, Adam Gadahn, who actually runs all propaganda operations of the group.

On the other hand, there are many who have already speculated on the fact that this video may be a hoax planned by al-Qaeda, in the sense that the terrorist organization may have appropriated the independently made video, in order to boast their public image. Suspicions arise from the fact that there is no clear evidence to point that al-Qaeda has actually masterminded the London attacks a year ago, aside from maybe training these men so that they are able to organize attacks themselves.

As far as the actual content of the video is concerned, Tanweer's message is that terrorist attacks will surely continue, until all troops are withdrawn from both Iraq and Afghanistan and Britain no longer supports Israel and the US.

Iran may have performed quite a change of its foreign policy regarding the nuclear issue, in the sense that it altered the manner by which it approaches this problem through diplomatic relations.

Thus, Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, who previously voiced Iran's oppositions and rejections of the different deadlines expressed by Western and Asian countries alike, would not comment at all now on Iran's view, and potential answer, to the international package of incentives offered by six important nations, Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany, a while ago. Moreover, he would not say a word on whether the Tehran administration would actually provide a reply to these proposals by July 15th, like the United States and the European Union prompted the Islamic Republic to do, or not.

In order to speed things up, Javier Solana, EU's chief on foreign relations, met with Larijani, who is also secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, in Brussels, the night before. Tehran and the European Union are also scheduled to hold a round of negotiations on Tuesday, which will be followed by consultations among the six states that elaborated upon the package of incentives, on Wednesday. Iran is not expected to participate at these consultations.

The Spanish agriculture ministry issued an official statement announcing that Spain has been confronted with its first confirmed case of the deadly H5N1 bird flu case that was detected in a great crested grebe, found dead in the province of Alava, in the northern part of the country, the BBC informs.
Samples from the bird, discovered in the marshes of Salburua Lake, situated in the vicinity of the Vitoria city, were sent to a specialized laboratory on Thursday and preliminary results came in this morning. The agriculture ministry added that a 3 kilometer so called "protective area" was established around the spot where the dead bird was found.
Authorities added that this case should not alarm or worry the population since the case is contained and thus would not disrupt the poultry consumption. Moreover, Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez De La Vega declared that this case is "strictly veterinary" and that it would not harm people in any way.

On Saturday, Israel military officials have launched yet another military offensive in the northern part of Gaza yesterday night in order to force Palestinian organizations release the 19 year old Israeli soldier they had captured on June 25th, the BBC informs.

According to Palestinians officials and doctors, the new incursion into Gaza occurred near a stronghold of Palestinian militant organization Hamas situated near the Karni commercial crossing in Gaza City and involved quite a large number of Israeli tanks and helicopters. The Israeli troops had entered Gaza City through the Shejaya neighborhood in the eastern part of the area. As a result of the clash, a number of Palestinian gunmen were wounded. However, in an interview with Reuters news agency, a spokesman for the Israeli army stated that the exchange of fire was not a large-scale one, even though it resulted in the wounding of Palestinians.

In an official statement early yesterday, Hamas released the first vital information regarding the condition of Gilad Shalit, kidnapped almost two weeks ago. The statement said that he is alive and that he has been treated humanely. Moreover, the interesting part of this official statement is that Hamas appeared to soften its demands regarding what it wants in exchange for Shalit, urging Israel to free only the Palestinian women and children it holds in its jails, and not the 1,000 Palestinian important militant leaders that it demanded a week ago.

IntelCenter, a private company working for several intelligence agencies, including the CIA, released images from a video, purportedly showing an English-speaking member of terrorist network al-Qaeda speaking about the involvement of two of the four suicide bombers, Shehzad Tanweer and Mohammad Sidique Khan, respectively, who planned the London attacks one year ago.

The images of the speaker portray a man identified as "Azzam al-Amriki" (Azam the American), a name which has been used in other videos of al-Qaeda by a man named Adam Gadahn, an American from California who converted to Islam and who allegedly became the chief of the al-Qaeda media production branch, As-Sahab.
Azzam speaks of the fact that both Tanweer and Khan spent quite a considerable amount of time in an al-Qaeda training camp, planning what later became the terrorist attacks on the three London subway trains and a bus. The information revealed in this video are part of a larger criticizing lecture Azzam is directing against British and American involvement in the Middle East and Asian, highlighting the fact that no Muslim should cry for Western victims of al-Qaeda attacks.

East Timor president Xanana Gusmao released an official statement, telling reporters that Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos Horta will be the next Prime Minister of the country, Reuters informs. The nomination follows intense discussions with the members of the largest parliamentary organization in the country, the Freitilin party.
Horta had been chosen a spokesperson for East Timor aboard in its constant attempts to free the nation from Indonesian occupation, at first, and then, as foreign minister, to bring peace and international support for his war-torn politically unstable country.
Ever since former East Timorese Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri resigned from his office, on June 26th, following massive popular protests against him for his mismanagement of the national crisis, Horta has been acting as temporary coordinating minister.
As far as Rui Araujo is concerned, his previous office was that of the Health Minister, while da Silva was Agriculture Minister and important parliament member representing the Freitilin party, which has 55 seats in the 88-seat East Timorese parliament.

French daily newspaper Le Monde an interview with Paris police chief Yannick Blanc, who stated that France may be on the verge of granting amnesty to thousands of immigrant families, whose children were registered in French schools.
According to Blanc, 2,300 such families were given appointments to prepare their legalization papers, and more are still to come, yet he warned that not all illegal immigrants would actually fit the criteria imposed.

This political decision is not new at all, since Nicolas Sarkozy, the French Interior Minister announced in the senate that around 750 families of illegal immigrants have actually received legalization papers.

This decision comes amid intense disputes over the illegal immigrants' status in France, placing the French government, which initially wanted to strike a decision to expel thousands of illegal immigrant families who had their children in French schools, on one side, and left-wing politicians, media outlets and various VIPs from the world of sports, supporting the other tens of thousands of people who signed a petition calling for the protection of immigrants from the political "manhunt" unleashed by the cabinet. Protests were organized by The Education Without Borders Network, which reported that between 50,000 and 100,000 children of the illegal immigrants are studying within the French educational system.