Gaza
Israeli troops enter southern Gaza and launch attacks on bridges and a power station in an effort to find a soldier abducted Sunday. Arab officials across the Middle East condemn the operation, which Abbas calls "crimes against humanity." A Hamas official reiterates the demand for the release of Palestinian prisoners. It's an early and critical test for Olmert.
Iraq
Maliki says that attacks on US troops will not be pardoned under the new reconciliation plan, and the WaPo's Ignatius explains why listening to Khalizad's version of what's going on in Baghdad is much more useful than listening to the Washington version. Max Boot on why a troop drawdown sends the wrong message. And Richard Holbrooke notes in the WaPo the irony in Bush recently asking Kofi Annan and the UN to lobby for more international aid for Iraq:
Once again, an administration that has underfunded, undersupported and undermined the United Nations has turned to it, almost in desperation, for help.
Rice in Afghanistan and Pakistan
Condi reiterates strong support for Karzai in Kabul, after a trip to Islamabad, where she prodded Musharraf to hold democratic elections and to offer more support to Afghanistan in fighting the Taliban.
Africa
Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony, in a rare interview, denies that he has committed war crimes. In the current issue of FP, Olara Otunnu argues that the atrocities attributed to Kony's Lord's Resistance Army often overshadow the equally brutal crimes of the Ugandan government.
Whether UN peacekeepers go into Darfur or not, the AU mission there will end in September.
Elsewhere
A flag desecration ban failed to pass in the US Senate, and Sen. Pat Roberts asks for a damage assessment to US counterterrorism efforts caused by the NYT articles detailing secret wiretapping and financial tracking programs. The North Korea missile launch may not be imminent. Chinese officials disclose more than $1 billion in bank fraud at a state-owned bank, and one recent rural protest in China ends surprisingly - in concessions from officials.
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