International Glance
More than 2,600 housing units are under construction in West Bank settlements, including units in more than 1,000 new buildings, Peace Now contends in its semi-annual report.
The upshot of its latest report, says Peace Now director Yariv Oppenheimer, is that "Israel is erasing the Green Line through intensive construction intended to create territorial continuity between settlement blocs and isolated settlements in the heart of the West Bank, with this construction approaching Palestinian cities such as Bethlehem and Ramallah."
TVNL Comment: American tax money at work.
Russia's parliament voted unanimously Monday to urge the president to recognize the independence of Georgia's two breakaway regions, stoking further tensions between Moscow and the small Caucasus nation's Western allies.
An Israeli security plan presented to the United States demands that any future Palestinian state not have defense forces or weapons.
Russian forces are advancing towards Tbilisi, according to the Georgian government, despite a fragile ceasefire being agreed by the two sides.
"I don't think you can control all the world from one centre," Gül told the Guardian. "There are big nations. There are huge populations. There is unbelievable economic development in some parts of the world. So what we have to do is, instead of unilateral actions, act all together, make common decisions and have consultations with the world. A new world order, if I can say it, should emerge."
Shaul Mofaz, a leading candidate to succeed Ehud Olmert as Israel's prime minister, will halt the current peace negotiations with the Palestinians if he gains top office, a close aide has said. 
