- Making News: Syria to Withdraw Troops from Lebanon
Syrian soldiers in Lebanon reportedly are packing equipment and getting ready to move. This, after Presidents Bashar Assad of Syria and Emile Lahoud of Lebanon said they'd agreed on a pull-back to Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. Michael Young is Opinion Editor of the Beirut Daily Star, an English language newspaper distributed throughout the Arab world. Young is skeptical about the sincerity of Syria's proposed pull-out. - Reporter's Notebook: Italy Honors Intelligence Officer Killed by US Troops
In Rome today, Prime Minister Berlusconi and other leading officials attended the state funeral of Italian intelligence agent Nicola Calipari, who was shot dead over the weekend in Iraq after negotiating the release by kidnappers of journalist Giuliana Sgrena. The US says soldiers fired on their car when it failed to stop on the way to the airport. Sgrena says she might have been the intentional target. David Willey of the BBC discusses the possible consequences for one of the America's firmest European allies.
Text of Syrian President Assad, abbreviated and translated
Daily Star article on opposition's mixed reaction to Assad's proposal
UN Security Council Resolution 1559
Resignation of Bolivian President Carlos Mesa
Tobar's article on resignation of Bolivian President Carlos Mesa
Washington Consensus, Harvard University's Center for International Development on
BBC article on funeral of Italian intelligence agent shot by US in Iraq