Israel's decision to completely seal off Gaza Strip crossings has intensified the suffering and privation faced by Gaza residents. Gaza hospitals say they are forced to bury Palestinians killed in IDF strikes draped in flags and bed sheets because of a shortage of burial shrouds. Cement is only available on the black market and its price leaped five-fold, bringing a halt to all construction. UN food aid cannot get through—leaving the more than one million Palestinians who rely on it, about two thirds of Strip residents, facing imminent hunger. The Strip's sole power station, already at 45% capacity—meaning frequent black-outs—has enough fuel to supply electricity only until Sunday morning.

Further evidence of the humbling of the neocons comes in George Bush's hailing of the new Iraqi law allowing former Baath Party members into public life. The party was declared illegal by the US-led administration after the invasion of 2003 when the noecons were riding high, and thousands of its members lost their jobs—contributing to the rise of the insurgency and the collapse of law and order. Now Bush says of the law reversing this policy: "It's an important step towards reconciliation. It's an important sign that the leaders of that country understand that they must work together to meet the aspirations of the Iraqi people." (BBC, Jan. 13) However, high-level Baathists are still barred under the new law. (NYT, Jan. 13) From clandestinity, Baath Party spokesman Abu Mohammad issued a statement dismissing the new law as just "changing the name of the first law" and "an attempt to beautify the nature of fascism... This will not change the objective of the Baath Party of continuing the resistance hand in hand with other resistance factions." (Uruknet, Jan. 12)

A woman carried out a suicide bombing near a Shi'ite mosque in Iraq's Diyala province Jan. 16, killing at least eight people. The attack provoked local Shi'ite militia fighters to use mortars against a nearby Sunni village in retaliation. Shi'ite worshipers in the village of Khan Bani Saad were preparing for Ashura festivities. (NYT, Jan. 17) On Jan. 17, a suicide bomber killed eight and wounded 14 near a Shi'ite mosque in Baquba, Diyala's capital. (Reuters, Jan. 17)

Hundreds of Islamic militants armed with mortars and rocket-launchers overran a fort at Sararogha, in Pakistan's tribal borderlands Jan. 15, killing some 20 paramilitary troops of the South Waziristan Scouts and taking several more captive. The Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (Taliban Movement of Pakistan) issued a statement that it had carried out the attack. (NYT, Jan. 17) The following day, Canadian opposition leader Stephane Dion called for NATO "intervention" in Pakistan if President Pervez Musharraf's government failed to stop the cross-border flow of militants into Afghanistan. After a two-day visit to Afghanistan, Liberal Party leader Dion said: "We are going to have to discuss that very actively if they are not able to deal with it on their own. We could consider that option with the NATO forces in order to help Pakistan help us pacify Afghanistan." (Pakistan Daily Times, Jan. 18)

From Amnesty International, Jan. 15:

Iran: Death by stoning, a grotesque and unacceptable penalty
As nine women and two men in Iran wait to be stoned to death, Amnesty International today called on the Iranian authorities to abolish death by stoning and impose an immediate moratorium on this horrific practice, specifically designed to increase the suffering of the victims.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Jan. 16 he believes NATO forces currently deployed in southern Afghanistan "don't know how to do counterinsurgency operations." Most of the NATO troops in the south are British, Canadian and Dutch, while those in the north are US. Washington has just announced the temporary deployment of 3,200 Marines to southern Afghanistan to quell the rising number of attacks. (LAT, Jan. 16) The day before Gates' remarks, Trooper Richard Renaud, 26, of Quebec was killed by a roadside bomb in Kandahar's Zhari district, leaving behind a pregnant wife and a 4-year-old stepson. His death brings the Canadian death toll in Afghanistan to 78, including one diplomat. (Toronto Star, CanWest, Jan. 16) The UK has lost 86 troops in Afghanistan; the Netherlands have lost 14. Total coalition fatalities stand at 760, with 480 from the US. 2007 was by far the bloodiest year, with 232 fatalities. (Coalition Casualty Count, Jan. 16)

In a victory for Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda after weeks of bitter partisan struggle, Japan's Diet Jan. 11 approved legislation reauthorizing the naval refueling mission that the Self-Defense Forces launched in 2001 in support of US-led military operations in Afghanistan. Tokyo ordered its ships home after the original law expired in November and the opposition blocked an extension. The mission is to resume in February.

Hamas has called for a general strike throughout the Palestinian territories Jan. 16 to mourn those killed in today's Israeli raids in the Gaza Strip that left 19 dead and scores injured. At a press conference in Gaza City, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said "the Israeli massacre in the Zeitoun neighborhood was carried out with the encouragement of US President George W. Bush to expand the war against the sector." He called on the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah to halt all meetings with Israel, saying they have consistently proved a failure. (Ma'an News Agency, Jan. 15)