World Audio/Video - NPR

There are splits within the Palestinian community in Lebanon between those who support the Palestinian Authority and peace talks, and those who support Hamas and its rejection of Israel. But all the major Palestinian factions in Lebanon have made a point of working together during the Gaza conflict.

Some Egyptian ambulances have been allowed into the embattled Gaza Strip, presumably to pick up badly wounded civilians for treatment in Egyptian hospitals. Israeli warplanes and drones remain active along the frontier, drawing fire from Hamas militants.

The heaviest fighting in the Gaza Strip since the 1967 Six Day War is taking an enormous toll on the territory's civilians. The medical system is particularly strained. Medical personnel are struggling under dangerous conditions and with limited supplies.

Violence plagues the city, just over the border from El Paso, Texas. We meet with a a newspaper photographer, whose days are spent shooting crime scenes.

Helen Suzman, a member of South Africa's parliament from 1953 to 1989, died on New Year's Day at the age 91. Professor Glenn Frankel at Stanford University for more on the powerful life and political career of Helen Suzman.

Israeli forces launched a deadly ground attack against Hamas this weekend. The move is in response to Hamas firing rockets into southern Israel. Vivian Silver, of Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development in Israel, and Abu Sahmi, of the Palestinian Dialogue Center, discuss the conflict's impact and the divided argument on how peace can be achieved.

As Israeli forces pound Hamas fighters, civilian casualties mount. French President Nicolas Sarkozy is in the region to spearhead efforts for a cease-fire. Israeli troops have surrounded Gaza City and are in the third day of a ground offensive.

Verdicts are expected soon in the ongoing scandal over tainted milk in China. So far, the contaminated milk has killed six children and sickened nearly 300,000. The government last week announced details of a compensation plan. Some victims' families are questioning the plan, saying the amounts are too low.

Just like in 2006, Russia has shut off natural gas supplies to Ukraine and raised fears of an energy crisis in Europe. The crisis again is spotlighting Russia's huge gas monopoly Gazprom and its role in the Kremlin's foreign policy.

Even as the global financial crisis pummels the economy, Moscow says it's going ahead with plans for large investments in Gazprom, the world's largest producer of natural gas. The company lies at the center of the Kremlin's strategy to boost control over global energy supplies.

During his campaign for the White House, President-elect Obama was unequivocal about closing the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But the issue of what to do with the prisoners still there presents numerous difficult questions for Obama's team to answer.

Russia's state-controlled gas monopoly is the world's largest producer of natural gas. Despite recent financial setbacks, Gazprom still pumps billions of dollars into the government's budget and plans to continue plans to expand its global reach.

The Israeli ground attack on Gaza sparked protests on the streets of the Arab world and renewed diplomatic calls in Europe and elsewhere for an end to the violence.

Israeli tanks and infantry units pushed farther into the Gaza Strip on Sunday. Gaza medical officials say more than 30 civilians have been killed since Saturday night; Israeli officials say one Israeli soldier was killed and several dozen were lightly wounded.

U.S. Marines are trying a new tactic in Fallujah: cattle. They're providing dairy cows to 50 women widowed in the past few years of fighting. The hope is that the cows will provide a steady source of income for the women. Marine Maj. Meredith Brown and State Department worker Jennifer Vitela talk to host Guy Raz about the project.

Host Liane Hansen talks with NPR's Eric Westervelt, who was at the Israel border with Gaza, about the latest on the Israeli ground attack in Gaza.

What Palestinians on the West Bank say about the Israeli ground offensive and what needs to be done to reach a cease-fire. Are Palestinians blaming Hamas for the conflict?

Israeli troops overnight took control of a substantial portion of the northern Gaza Strip. Backed by tanks and warplanes, they appear to be attempting to surround the dense population center of Gaza City and to divide the territory in half.

Israeli troops backed by tanks and warplanes took control of significant areas of the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday, but they encountered stiff resistance from Hamas guerrilla fighters.

During the most violent year in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban, civilians often paid the highest price. Some 1,200 men, women and children considered non-combatants died in 2008. Many expect the toll to increase in 2009 as more U.S. troops arrive to fight a revived Taliban.

Chinese dairies linked to the tainted milk scandal that sickened thousands of children sent a mass text-message to mobile phone users. "We sincerely apologize and beg your forgiveness," it said.

For the last two years, James Fallows has followed China's astounding double-digit growth in a series of quirky essays for the Atlantic Monthly. His stories are now collected in a new book, Postcards From Tomorrow Square.

A Gaza City resident says he's been sleeping in his living room for the last three days because of fears an Israeli airstrike will hit a police building he can see from his bedroom window. Muhammad Shariff talks about what life is like inside Gaza as Israeli bombs rain down.

After a week of bombing strikes from the air, Israel sent ground troops into Gaza on Saturday. The operation penetrated the territory at several points and was designed to seize areas of north Gaza being used to launch rockets against Israel, Israeli military officials said.

Mark Regev tells NPR that Israel's ground operation in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip could "end tomorrow — if we can be assured that the civilian population in the southern part of our country will no longer be on the receiving end of these terrible Hamas rockets."

NPR's Mike Shuster responds to an interview with Israeli spokesman Mark Regev about the launch of a ground operation in Gaza after days of airstrikes. Shuster explains the reasoning behind Hamas' decision to end a cease-fire with Israel last month.

Israeli troops began moving into Gaza shortly after 8 p.m. local time on Saturday. The operation was designed to seize areas of north Gaza being used to launch rockets against Israel, Israeli military officials said.

Israeli air strikes have left more than 400 Gazans dead, and Hamas has continued its rocket fire into Israel. President-elect Obama moves to Washington while his old Senate seat remains the center of controversy in Illinois.

The Israeli military offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza has now been going on for eight days. But the strikes haven't stopped Hamas rockets, which have reached farther into Israel than ever before.

Over the last week, the focus of Israel's strikes in Gaza has been government offices, security compounds and tunnels allegedly used for smuggling along the Egyptian border. But partly because of Gaza's dense population, schools, clinics and residential areas have also been hit.

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian observer to the United Nations, says there must be an immediate cease-fire to end the violence in the Gaza Strip. He also wants an agreement on an international force to guarantee the cease-fire.

Israeli ground forces have crossed the border into Gaza in an escalation of a week-old offensive against Hamas.

As many Americans struggle to pay for health care or health insurance, hospitals in Mexico are expanding in hopes of wooing more patients from north of the border. Costs for procedures are often significantly cheaper due to lower overhead in Mexico.

Robert Malley, director of the International Crisis Group's Middle East program, and Martin Indyk, director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, discuss the possible challenges faced by the incoming Obama administration in the Middle East.

Israel seeks a new situation on the ground, says Sallai Meridor, Israel's ambassador to the United States. He says in order for Israel to agree to a cease-fire, the rocket fire from Hamas must stop and Iran should not be allowed to build a terror base on Israel's border.

Israel has not let up in its airstrikes against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip. Many civilians are among the casualties. Dr. Abdel Aziz Thabet, who works with community mental health programs in Gaza, is a British-trained psychiatrist working mostly with women and children. He talks about the effects of the Israeli bombing raids on Palestinian civilians.

Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, as well as Hamas rocket attacks against Israel, continue. Prospects of a cease-fire appear to have dimmed after the killing Thursday of a senior Hamas leader. Protests against the airstrikes spread to the West Bank.

It's day seven of Israel's bombing campaign on Gaza. Food and water shortages, power outages and sewage problems added to the chaos. In many cities across the Middle East, people took to the streets to protest the violence.

Cuban President Raul Castro and other government leaders celebrated the 50th anniversary of the ouster of U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista on Thursday. Castro predicted that Cuba's revolution would survive another half-century. But Cuba faces huge challenges.