Monday, July 13, 2009

07/13/09

* PM to Palestinians: Abandon right of return ‪‪During State ceremony marking 105 years since Herzl's death, Netanyahu says Palestinians' must "recognize Jewish nation's right to its own state, relinquish desire to gradually eat away at Israel."‬‬

* Somalia urges Somali-Americans not to join rebels Amid the worsening conflict in his country, Somalia's president made a plea for Somalis living in the United States to stop sending their young men to fight.

* Fatah Official: “Our Goal is Not Peace, but Rather Palestine” "Our goal has never been peace,” says a Fatah official in a PA TV panel.

* Pakistan's displaced begin return The first of some two million Pakistanis displaced by the Swat valley conflict have begun to return home.

* Defeated Iran candidate: Islamic Republic may "collapse" A defeated candidate in Iran's disputed election has said the Islamic Republic may face "collapse" unless it embraces change, in unusually blunt language from a prominent establishment figure.

* EU: "Accept PA State as Full Member of UN" European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana is taking steps to move the establishment of a Palestinian Authority state through the United Nations, whether Israel agrees to it or not.

* European Parliament gets on its feet A new generation of MEPs will be trying to find their way around the famously labyrinth-like European Parliament building in Strasbourg this week as the constitutive session of the assembly gets under way.

* Wave of Iraq church bombings stretches into third day A church in Iraq was bombed Monday, the seventh Christian house of worship in the country to be bombed in three days.

* Turkey, EU nations sign Nabucco gas pipeline deal Five of the six parties to the Nabucco gas pipeline project signed on Monday an intergovernmental agreement on the transit of Caspian gas to Europe, skirting Russia.

* NKorea's Kim has pancreatic cancer North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has life-threatening pancreatic cancer.