OLMERT TO DEAL WITH ABBAS

Story 1-Iran to Hamas,step up attacks against Israel. 2-Sumatra Quake again. 3-Visions of Atlantic free trade.4-fires in Arizona.5-Olmert to deal with Abbas.

Iranian Pres. to Hamas: Step Up Attacks Against Israel 09:45 Jun 12, '06 / 16 Sivan

5766 (IsraelNN.com) Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the foreign minister of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud A-Zahar (Hamas), to step up attacks against Israel.

According to a report published by Iran’s news agency, Ahmadinejad said that only violence can be used to oppose Israel’s occupation of Arab land, and that such action must be intensified.

Earthquakes rattle Indonesia s Sumatra Island

A powerful earthquake struck off the western coast of Indonesia's Sumatra Island on Monday, there were no immediate report of injuries or damage. The 5.9-magnitude quake was centered 530 kilometers southwest of Lampung provincial capital of Bandar Lampung, reported The Jakarta Post online news, quoting report from the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency. Lampung is located on the southern tip of Sumatra island, about 250 kilometers northwest of Jakarta.

Earlier on Sunday, two mild quakes rattled Padang Sidempuan mayoralty and Gunung Sitoli -- the capital of Nias regency -- in North Sumatra province. The 3.2-magnitude earthquake that shook Padang Sidempuan was centered some 9 kilometers inland from the town and about 2.1 kilometers deep. Meanwhile, a 4.2-magnitude quake that rattled Gunung Sitoli on Nias Island was centered on the sea some 42 kilometers northwest of the town and 33 kilometers deep.

Indonesia is prone to earthquakes because of its location on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin. On May 27, a 5.9 magnitude earthquake devastated regions in Central Java province and Yogyakarta, killing more than 5,800 people. (Source: Xinhua)

Visions of Atlantic free trade

The Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, would like to turn the whole of the North Atlantic into one big free-trade zone based on the model of the EU's inner market. He unveiled his plan at Berkeley, University of California, on 12 June.Much of the globalisation debate may well revolve around the ever fiercer competition faced from China and India but we would do well not to overlook the fact that the biggest and most dominant economic factor is still the link between the EU and the USA, Rasmussen told Jyllands-Posten.Between them, the USA and the EU account for two-fifths of world trade and that this trade generates 12-14 million jobs. In addition, 85% of all US overseas investments are in the EU.

Rasmussen expects his idea will meet resistance in both America and Europe but he remains an advocate of free trade at global level. He is not promoting free trade between the EU and the USA as an exclusive club for the rich but as a potential driving force for progress within the World Trade Organisation where negotiations on free trade appear to be grinding to a halt.The Prime Minister took part in a summit of the Baltic Sea States in Iceland en route to the USA. Next weekend he will travel to a meeting of the Nordics PMs on Svalbard, so his first-hand knowledge of the North Atlantic is certainly up to date.

Crews defended containment lines Monday around a 2,800-acre wildfire and resulting spot fires 10 miles northwest of Heber, in northern Arizona. (AP)

Caused by wind throwing embers some distance from the fire's north front, two spot fires were estimated to be a combined size of 40 to 50 acres. Four Hotshot crews worked overnight Sunday to construct containment lines, said Julia Faith Rivera, a spokes woman for the Apache Sitgreaves National Forest. Firefighters will continue to conduct burnout operations in hopes of preventing the fires from spreading.

About 165 people were battling the lightning-caused fire, which was 30 percent contained. Two helicopters and three airtankers also were on hand. A Type 2 incident management team, used for more complex fires, will take over Monday. Burning mostly pinyon and juniper, the wildfire is 5 miles from the subdivision of Chevlon Retreat. While no structures have been threatened, crews continue to use air tankers to protect a high-voltage power line that lies within the fire area.

Olmert to deal with 'irrelevant' Abbas Under global pressure, convergence becomes bilateral By Ryan Jones, June 13, 2006

Under pressure from the international community to surrender Israel's biblical heartland in coordination with the Palestinian Arabs, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is set to transform his convergence plan from a unilateral affair into a bilateral deal with PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas.That despite the fact Olmert and his foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, have branded Abbas irrelevant to the peace process by virtue of Hamas' control of nearly every facet of Palestinian government.

The terms of any final status agreement concluded with Abbas, Livni has argued in the media, would have to be implemented by the ministries controlled by Hamas, which has vowed to maintain its rejection of Israel's sovereignty and to continue seeking the Jewish state's ultimate demise.

But the perceived necessity to appease Israel's Western "allies," it would seem, has trumped Olmert's and Livni's recognition of this uncomfortable fact.According to Ha'aretz, which cited senior government officials, the Prime Minister's Office and the Foreign Ministry are in the midst of drafting a proposal for the establishment of an interim "Palestinian" state in all of Gaza and 90 percent of Judea and Samaria.That state's provisional borders will roughly follow the path of Israel's yet-to-be-completed security fence, with the understanding that the fence's route does not represent the borders of a final status agreement.

Israel hopes to present the proposal as an implementation of Phase II of the US-backed Road Map peace plan, thereby satisfying American and European demands that it resume negotiations with that part of the Palestinian Authority still loyal to Abbas.Ha'aretz noted that this is being done despite the fact that the "Palestinians" have yet to even begin implementing their Phase I obligation - the dismantling of terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.European Union envoy Mark Otte told the leftist newspaper that Israel should sweeten the deal by handing over control of the Jordan River Valley to European monitors, as it did with the Gaza-Egypt border. That concession, which Israel was strong-armed into accepting by Washington, permitted the smuggling of vast quantities of terrorist weapons into Gaza.