Hamas won 76 seats out of 132 contested in the Palestinian parliament. The Hamas victory surprised many, defying all polls. In the last few days, it was revealed the US pumped millions into Fatah's campaign. A Palestinian commented that since Israel and the US wanted Fatah to win, most Palestinians surmised that whatever the US and Israel want the Palestinians to do is usually the opposite of what's actually good for them, so they voted for Hamas instead.

Selections from Israeli and Palestinian sources, as translated by BBC Monitoring:

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) carries this Jan. 25 report on Tehran's accusations that the UK was behind the previous day's bomb blast in Iran's heavily Arab western district of Ahwaz. Of course, the NCRI's armed wing, Mujahideen-e-Khalq, is itself a likely candidate for the attackers. There is also an Ahwaz Revolutionary Council, seeking self-determination for the increasingly restive region, which saw a wave of unrest last summer...

Two Jordanian soldiers from the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) were shot dead and another was injured on Jan. 17 in clashes with unidentified armed assailants in the Drouillard neighborhood of Port-au-Prince's impoverished Cite Soleil section. One soldier died at the scene; the other died in the hospital. Another Jordanian soldier was killed Dec. 24 while patrolling Cite Soleil; a total of nine MINUSTAH soldiers and one police agent have been killed since the mission began in June 2004.

The Associated Press reports Jan. 24 the arrest of police officers in Basra by British troops. What is not reported is that move has prompted an official protest from the Basra Governate. First, from the AP:

British troops launched a crackdown Tuesday on Basra's troubled police, arresting several officers in a force long believed infiltrated by extremist Shiite militiamen with ties to neighboring Iran.

Curbing militia power is considered crucial to building trust among Iraq's rival communities and establishing government authority, but finding a way to do it has proven elusive.

Fourteen people were detained in the early morning raids, British officials said. Nine were released but five others - all policemen - were jailed for alleged roles in murder and other crimes "connected to rival tribal and militia groups," British spokesman Maj. Peter Cripps said.

The trial of Saddam Hussein continues to get more problematic. From the London Times, Jan. 24:

THE court trying Saddam Hussein has replaced its chief judge a day before the former dictator returns to the dock. The Iraqi Special Tribunal yesterday named Raouf Rasheed Abdel-Rahman, a Kurd from Halabja, where 5,000 died in a gas attack during an offensive by Saddam’s forces, to succeed Rizgar Amin.

Judge Amin, who is also Kurdish, quit after criticism of his handling of the dictator. Since the beginning of the trial Saddam’s tirades from the dock have delayed proceedings and angered many Iraqis, including senior politicians.

A victory for historical memory—doubtless motivated by the Turkish state's desire to gain EU entry. But as this Jan. 23 press release from Amnesty International makes clear, the greater victory will be when the law under which Orhan Pamuk was charged is repealed.

A glimmer of hope. But will the Supreme Court uphold it? From the Jan. 24 New York Times, via Mediachannel:

A federal judge has ordered the Pentagon to release the names and nationalities of hundreds of prisoners detained at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, rejecting the government's argument that it would be a violation of their privacy and expose them to retaliation by terrorist groups.

You can almost feel blood pressures rising on Wall Street and in corporate board rooms. From Dow Jones Newswire, Jan. 23:

Bolivia Pres Names Cabinet; Marxist In Energy Post
Bolivian President Evo Morales on Monday announced his 16-member Cabinet, which includes a Marxist journalist to drive Bolivia's energy policy and a street protest leader to head the new Ministry of Water.

The appointment of Andres Soliz Rada as Minister of Hydrocarbons could signal a tough fight for the multinational gas and oil companies operating in Bolivia.