Heavy fighting is reported in Gaza between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters after Israel launched its ground offensive on the territory.
Thousands of Israeli troops entered the Gaza Strip overnight with tanks and helicopters, accompanied by naval support and air strikes.
While the UN secretary general called for an immediate end to the operations, the Security Council failed to agree on a resolution calling for a ceasefire after an emergency meeting.
In the Gaza Strip, heavy artillery, tracer fire and rockets could be heard while reports said Israeli troops had reached the northern …

Angry protests against Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip have continued throughout the world, with two of the largest demonstrations taking place in London and in Sakhnin in northern Israel.
Other large demonstrations were staged in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir, Lebanon, Turkey and the West Bank.
Protesters in Kabul pumped their fists into the air and shouted slogans against Israel and the United States, while in Srinagar activists burned an effigy of Ehud Olmert, Israel’s outgoing prime minister.
In Ramallah in the West Bank, Palestinians seeking national …

Despite growing pressure on Barack Obama to speak out on the crisis in Gaza, the US president-elect has remained silent on the issue.
Obama, holidaying in Hawaii, has made no public remarks on Israel’s unrelenting military assault on the Palestinian territory, which has left more than 380 people there dead.
The former Illinois senator spoke out after last month’s attacks in Mumbai and has made detailed statements on the US economic crisis.

Israel has resumed air strikes after an unprecedented attack on the Gaza Strip killed at least 220 Palestinians and wounded 700 more.
Hamas said Israel bombed a mosque in Gaza City early on Sunday. Medics said two Palestinians were
killed in the attack.
Israel launched Operation Cast Lead on Saturday, destroying Hamas police stations and interior ministry buildings.
It was the deadliest day in Gaza for decades, with Israel continuing to attack sites into the night and threatening that the operation would widen if necessary.

UNITED NATIONS – On the same day Somali gunmen seized two more ships, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Tuesday to authorize nations to conduct land and air attacks on pirate bases on the coast of the Horn of Africa country.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was on hand to push through the resolution, one of President George W. Bush’s last major foreign policy initiatives.

(CNN) — The following is reaction by world leaders to the attacks in Mumbai, India.
Spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:
“The secretary-general condemns the rash of shootings and blasts in Mumbai today, which killed and wounded a large number of people. Such violence is totally unacceptable. The secretary-general reiterates his conviction that no cause or grievance can justify indiscriminate attacks against civilians. He calls for the perpetrators to be brought to justice swiftly.

The U.N. Security Council has approved the deployment of 3,000 more police and peacekeepers to reinforce the overstretched U.N. mission in eastern Congo. From United Nation’s headquarters in New York, VOA’s Margaret Besheer has more.
The council unanimously approved the secretary-general’s request for a temporary surge in peacekeepers. But the question now is who will contribute the troops and how soon will they arrive in the conflict zone.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today voiced his concern at new acts of piracy off the Somali coast this week amid reports of a series of attacks or attempting hijackings in recent days in a region already notorious for the practice.
Mr. Ban “reiterates his condemnation of all acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea, wherever they occur,” according to a statement from his spokesperson, which was issued just days after heavily armed pirates hijacked a Saudi Arabian oil tanker. The Indian navy is also reported to have sunk a suspected pirate …

Israeli President Shimon Peres has praised the king of Saudi Arabia for his Middle East peace initiative.
At an interfaith meeting at the United Nations, Mr Peres told King Abdullah he hoped his would be the “prevailing voice of the whole region”.
The Saudi plan, proposed in 2002, calls for Israel to withdraw from occupied land in exchange for Arab recognition.
King Abdullah organised the two-day conference in New York to promote a dialogue on religion and culture.

(CNN) — An emergency summit got underway in east Africa Friday in an attempt to halt an escalation in fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has displaced tens of thousands of people.
Regional leaders and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon are were meeting with seven African leaders in Nairobi, Kenya, in the latest diplomatic effort to tackle what aid agencies say is developing into a major humanitarian crisis.