A cloud of smoke billows from the Gaza Strip following an Israeli strikes as seen from the Israel-Gaza border, 15 Jan 2009

GAZA - DIPLOMACY: An Israeli envoy is in Cairo today for talks on an Egyptian-brokered truce plan for the Gaza Strip. Representatives of Hamas met with Egyptian mediators in Cairo on Wednesday. Hamas official Salah al-Bardawilm said the group does not reject the broad outlines of the plan, but stopped short of accepting it. He said Hamas had given its views, and would wait for Israel's response. Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is in Israel today as part of his regional trip to address the Gaza conflict. Mr. Ban says the death toll from fighting has become "unbearable."

Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik addresses news conference in Islamabad, 15 Jan 2009

PAKISTAN - INDIA: A top Pakistani official says authorities have arrested 124 people in a crackdown on a group blamed for the November terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India. Pakistani Interior Ministry official Rehman Malik announced the arrests today. Last week, India gave Pakistan evidence it says proves the Mumbai attacks were carried out by Pakistanis who were part of the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group. Tensions have run high between Pakistan and India since the assault, which killed more than 170 people. Separately today, Pakistani police say they raided a militant hideout in the southern city of Karachi, detaining more than a dozen Islamic militants.

Sen Max Baucus

US - TRANSITION: Today's confirmation hearing for U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's nominee to head the Treasury Department has been delayed until next week. Democratic Senator Max Baucus, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, announced the delay Wednesday, after some Republicans asked for more time to consider the nomination of Timothy Geithner. Geithner told committee members Tuesday that he failed to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes between 2001 and 2004. He said he paid more than 30-thousand dollars in past-due taxes after learning of the mistake.

Former South Korean president Kim Dae-Jung speaks at a luncheon meeting with foreign correspondents in Seoul, 15 Jan 2009

NOKOR - NUCLEAR: A South Korean delegation led by senior nuclear envoy Hwang Joon-kook is due in North Korea today to discuss the possible purchase of unused fuel rods from the North's plutonium-producing facility. Before leaving South Korea Wednesday, Hwang told reporters his team will inspect the Yongbyon reactor and discuss what to do with its unused fuel rods. Pyongyang has acknowledged it still houses 14-thousand unspent fuel rods at the facility. Seoul has expressed interest in buying the unused rods if they can be adapted to work at South Korea's nuclear power plants.

Thai PM Abhisit Vejjajiva at Parliament House in Bangkok, 12 Sep 2008

THAILAND - PM: Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has promised to end his country's political divisions by placing national reconciliation and economic recovery at the top of his government's agenda. Speaking at a dinner for foreign correspondents in Bangkok Wednesday, Mr. Abhisit said new government policies are designed to end, what he called "artificial divisions" between urban and rural areas, as well as political divisions. He also expressed hope that the government's economic recovery program will help fight the global recession.

Philippines

PHILIPPINES - KIDNAPPING: Three workers with the International Committee of the Red Cross have been kidnapped in the southern Philippines by suspected Islamic militants. Philippine Senator Richard Gordon, the head of the nation's Red Cross, says the trio were seized today while traveling to a jail on the island of Jolo. They were on Jolo for a relief and medical mission. Jolo is a stronghold of Abu Sayyaf, an al-Qaida linked terrorist group notorious for kidnappings. No one has claimed responsibility for today's abductions. The three workers have been identified as Andreas Notter from Switzerland, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Jean Lacaba of the Philippines.

Staff of the Khmer Rouge tribunal, known officially as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia

CAMBODIA - TRIBUNAL: Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal met today to set a date for the long-awaited trial of the first of five former Khmer Rogue leaders accused of atrocities in the 1970s. Former Khmer prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, is expected to be the first suspect to stand trial for crimes committed by the regime. He will appear in court during the two-day session to determine his health condition and readiness to stand trial. Duch is one of five Khmer Rouge leaders who have been detained by the court for their alleged roles in the regime on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Protesters in Sofia, Bulgaria demonstrate against government over gas cut-off, 14 Jan 2009

RUSSIA - EUROPE - GAS: Russian and Ukrainian authorities say they will meet Saturday in an attempt to find a solution to the stalemate that has cut gas supplies to much of Europe. Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and her Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, agreed to hold the talks in Moscow during a telephone conversation early today.  Russian President Dmitri Medvedev expressed hope the meeting would facilitate a way out of the crisis that has left much of Europe freezing without adequate heat European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso has called the standoff unacceptable and incredible.

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