JERUSALEM (CNN) — Israeli troops began moving into Gaza on Saturday night, intent on taking out Hamas rocket-launching sites, after a week of airstrikes into the Hamas-controlled territory, Israel Defense Forces said.
“We have just a short while ago launched the second stage of the operation against Hamas infrastructure,” IDF spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovich told CNN.
“The goal is to try and take over some of those launching areas that were responsible for the many launches — the thousands of launches, in fact — toward the Israeli civilians,” she said.

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Islamic insurgents appeared to be scrambling for power Saturday, taking over several police stations in the capital as Ethiopian troops who have been propping up the government began to pull out, witnesses said.
Many fear the Ethiopian pullout — and last month’s resignation of Somalia’s president — will cause Islamic militant groups to fight among themselves for power, bringing even more chaos to this beleaguered Horn of African nation.
”We have to show commitment to do our part in security, we want to help people feel secure,” Abdirahim …

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Sri Lankan air force jets and helicopters bombed a series of rebel targets in the north and northeast, the military said Saturday, as soldiers pressed deeper into Tamil Tiger territory a day after capturing the rebels’ de facto capital.
The fall of Kilinochchi on Friday dealt a devastating blow to the insurgents’ 25-year campaign to create an independent state for ethnic minority Tamils. It has squeezed them into 620 square miles (1,605 square kilometers) they still hold in the northeast.
Rebel-affiliated TamilNet Web site said the Tamil …

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israeli warplanes and gunboats blasted more than two dozen Hamas targets Saturday, including weapons storage facilities, training centers and leaders’ homes as Israel’s offensive against Gaza’s Islamic militant rulers entered a second week.
There were tentative signs that the current phase of fighting may be nearing an end. Most of the airstrikes targeted empty buildings and abandoned sites, suggesting Israel may be running out of targets.
Ground troops massed on the border, waiting for a signal to invade Gaza, but international cease-fire efforts were also gaining …

JERUSALEM — Israel stepped up its diplomatic activity on Thursday, possibly to try to gain more time for its rolling military offensive against Hamas in Gaza while keeping up airstrikes against the radical Islamic group’s infrastructure for a sixth day.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni left for a brief visit to France where she was to meet with President Nicolas Sarkozy and other French officials for “an exchange of opinions and ideas” and to share information about Israel’s intentions and plans, an Israeli official said. France is seeking ways to promote …

(AP) Taliban militants are beheading and burning their way through Pakistan’s picturesque Swat Valley, and residents say the insurgents now control most of the mountainous region far from the lawless tribal areas where jihadists thrive.
The deteriorating situation in the former tourist haven comes despite an army offensive that began in 2007 and an attempted peace deal. It is especially worrisome to Pakistani officials because the valley lies outside the areas where al Qaeda and Taliban militants have traditionally operated and where the military is staging a separate offensive.
“You can’t …

LI-ON, Israel: Many Israelis feel that the walls – and history – are closing in on their 60-year-old state, much as they felt in early June 1967, just before Israel launched the Six-Day War and destroyed the Egyptian, Jordanian and Syrian armies in Sinai, the West Bank and the Golan Heights.
More than 40 years ago, the Egyptians had driven a UN peacekeeping force from the Sinai-Israel border, had closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping and air traffic and had deployed the equivalent of seven armored and infantry divisions …

Israel has rejected calls for an immediate temporary ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip after five consecutive days of aerial assault.
Yigal Palmor, a foreign ministry spokesman, said it was unrealistic to expect Israel to agree to a plan “with no mechanism to enforce the cessation of shooting and terror from Hamas”.
Israel’s security cabinet met on Wednesday to discuss the proposal made by France, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union.
“That proposal contained no guarantees of any kind that Hamas will stop the rockets and …

Shin Bet Chief Yuval Diskin briefed the cabinet Wednesday on the progress of Operation Cast Lead.
According to Diskin, “Hamas has been attacked like it has never been attacked before. It has suffered significant damaged and its rule over Gaza has been compromised.”
Diskin also noted that large numbers of Hamas operatives are hiding in hospitals and that some are posing as medical staff. “Some are also hiding in mosques and some of those have been turned into headquarters, since they assumed Israel won’t attack them there. Their weapons’ labs have been …

Israel says it is ready for “long weeks of action” as it continues its fiercest air assault on Gaza for decades to stamp out militant rocket attacks.
Palestinian officials say 10 people died in the latest attacks, taking the death toll to over 360 since Saturday. Four Israelis have died in rocket fire.
Israeli Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit rejected any ceasefire until the threat of rockets was removed completely.
A UN human rights monitor accused Israel of “shocking atrocities”.