One More Year Of The Same ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS) by Jim Lobe - January 30, 2008 - 5:47pm With just less than one year left in his presidency, George W. Bush remains as focused as ever on the Middle East and Iraq and appears reluctant to take on any major new foreign policy challenges in the time that he remains in power. That appears to be the consensus of most analysts here in the wake of Bush's last State of the Union address, which was delivered in the stately Capitol building Monday night. » Read more

Better U.s. Image Abroad: How To Attain It? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Howard Lafranchi - (Opinion) January 30, 2008 - 5:45pm Hillary Rodham Clinton would send prominent emissaries to world capitals the day after being elected president. John McCain would close the Guantánamo detention facility and renounce the use of torture. Barack Obama would speak to all foreign leaders, even America's worst enemies. » Read more

Bush's Delusions Die In Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Salon.com by Gary Kamiya - January 30, 2008 - 5:44pm It was a heart-wrenching story. Hundreds of thousands of people, trapped for endless years in an open-air jail and recently subjected to an airtight siege, blew up their prison wall and poured out to freedom. » Read more

Egypt-hamas Tensions Rise Over Border ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press January 30, 2008 - 5:42pm Movement across the Gaza-Egypt border slowed to a trickle Tuesday as security forces made progress in sealing off breaches and cold, rainy weather discouraged travelers. The focus of the weeklong crisis shifted to growing tensions between Egypt and the militant Hamas rulers of Gaza, who are now demanding a role in overseeing the border. » Read more

Gaza Crisis Talks Start, Hamas Seeks Say Over Border ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Alaa Shahine - January 30, 2008 - 5:40pm Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas began crisis talks with Egypt on Wednesday about restoring order at the breached Gaza border, facing a challenge from his Hamas rivals for control of the frontier. Hamas Islamists, who seized control of Gaza in June after routing Abbas's secular Fatah forces, blasted open the Egyptian border last week in defiance of an Israeli blockade, letting Gazans pour into Egypt to stock up on goods in short supply. » Read more