Tuesday, March 20, 2007

03/20/07

* Conflict with Iran inevitable, Ya'alon says "The question of who won the war in Lebanon has yet to be determined," former Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon said.

* Gulf Governments Plan Oil Pipelines Gulf governments are planning oil pipelines that would bypass the world's most vulnerable energy choke point, the Strait of Hormuz.

* Report: Russia gives Iran ultimatum Russia has warned Iran that it will not supply the Islamic country with fuel for its new nuclear reactor unless it agrees to suspend nuclear enrichment.

* Palestinian sanctions to remain The European Union and the United States have agreed to withhold recognition for the new Palestinian unity government, sworn in on Saturday.

* New Palestinian high-school textbooks reject existence of Israel, peace New textbooks for 12th-grade Palestinian students reject the existence of Israel and make no attempt to educate students about peace or coexistence.

* Former Iraq vice-president hanged Former Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan has been hanged on the fourth anniversary of the US-led invasion which overthrew Saddam Hussein.

* EU begins countdown to 50th birthday carnival Member states are gearing themselves to varying degrees of festivity this week as the EU approaches its 50th birthday.

* Israel won't receive Norwegian envoy The Foreign Ministry canceled a planned Tuesday meeting with a top Norwegian government official in a sign of displeasure.

* Egypt backs constitutional change Egypt's parliament has approved a set of constitutional amendments despite a boycott by the opposition, which calls the changes a blow to democracy.

* Meshaal: Deal with whole government The political leader of Hamas has told Al Jazeera that foreign powers must deal with the whole Palestinian national unity government rather than individual officials.