Rioting engulfed Pakistan on Thursday hours after opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a gun and bomb attack as she left an election rally in the city of Rawalpindi. News of her death brought swift reaction from supporters in her native province of Sindh and its capital, Karachi. Disturbances quickly spread throughout much of Pakistan.

Analysis: Conspiracy theories abound over Benazir Bhutto slaying, by Yossi Melman
Analysis: The assassination of Benazir Bhutto, by Isaac Kfir
Murderous blow to Pakistan's stability, Financial Times editorial

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel on Sunday rejected overtures by Hamas for discussions about a temporary cease-fire. Olmert said that "counterterrorist operations will continue as they have for months" in response to the continued rocket fire directed at Israel from the Gaza Strip.

Ismail Haniya, the leader of the Hamas government in Gaza, had expressed a willingness, in a telephone call to an Israeli television reporter last week, to enter into talks with Israel for a mutual cease-fire. But Mr. Olmert said that Israel had "no interest in negotiating with elements" that did not fulfill the internationally approved conditions of recognizing Israel and renouncing violence.

The Palestinian team insisted that Israel should immediately halt construction of settlements in the territories, while the Israelis stressed the urgent need for the Palestinian Authority to start implementing security reforms in the West Bank.

Cluster bombs are not prohibited in warfare, but their use is criticized because they contain "bomblets" that explode over a wide area and may strike unintended targets. In addition, bomblets that fail to explode become, in effect, land mines that can be detonated by civilians long after fighting has stopped. More than 30 Lebanese are said to have been killed by munitions left behind after the monthlong war in 2006.

The underlying message of the poster is that Fatah, like Hamas, does not recognize Israel's existence. The emblem is in violation of Fatah's declared policy, which envisions an independent Palestinian state alongside, and not instead of, Israel.

For the first time since 2000 Christmas festivities in Bethlehem seem to have regained their traditional grandeur, as tens of thousands of tourists and pilgrims filled the town. The Palestinians hope that this year's celebrations would help revive the tourism industry in Bethlehem.

Hundreds of Christians in Gaza flocked to the heavily armed crossing with Israel on Monday after securing permission to leave the Hamas-run territory for Christmas. Most were hoping to pray on Christmas Eve in Bethlehem. Others were hoping to visit relatives in the West Bank, Israel or Jerusalem.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, meanwhile, said in Washington that if Iran wants U.N. sanctions lifted and avoid new ones, it must halt uranium enrichment and related activities that could make the ingredients for an atomic bomb. If Iran complies, Rice said she was "prepared to meet my (Iranian) counterpart any place and anytime and anywhere, and we can talk about anything." But "as long as the Iranians are talking and practicing enrichment, we're not getting anywhere," she said.

The U.S. National Intelligence Estimate released earlier this month, which judged "with high confidence" that Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003, has been met with skepticism among Israeli officials and experts, who say there are ample grounds to conclude that covert nuclear weapons development continues.

"The passage of this legislation would [mean] that we can't put any of these large amounts of money into funds that would directly benefit Iran," said state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Dist. 37). "It's our way in the state of New Jersey of making a statement, as well as putting our money where our collective mouths are on an issue of international importance."

"I just thought it was appalling," Klein said. "It went to every fiber of my being. We have to take care of the vulnerable in society, and she is one of the vulnerable."

Klein contacted Ald. Mary Ann Smith (48th), who contacted the Chicago Tribune's What's Your Problem?

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Exposing Iran's ruthlessness, by David Horovitz
Stupid Intelligence on Iran, by James Schlesinger
The Islamist war on Muslim women, by Jeff Jacoby
Victory at the U.N., Wall Street Journal editorial
The Palestinians: Between state failure and civil war, by Michael Eisenstadt
Media's two-faced Christmas coverage, by Aaron Klein
Bush's 'axis of evil,' six years later, by Charles Krauthammer
Fuel for Bushehr, New York Times editorial
Christian persecution in the Middle East, by Nina Shea