The latest Israeli air strikes happened around the southern Gazan town of Rafah. The Israeli military said it was targeting militants preparing to launch rockets across the border. They are believed to have been from a small group called the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The bulk of rocket fire, though, this weekend has come from another group, Islamic Jihad. Hamas, the Islamist movement, which governs in Gaza, has so far
refrained from
firing although Israel says as the ruling power Hamas will be held responsible for all attacks.
The Indonesian foreign minister, who's been visiting Burma, has described the reforms underway there as significant and says he's been assured that the process towards democracy is
irreversible
. In talks with the government and opposition figures, Marty Natalegawa had been assessing Burma's
readiness
to chair the Southeast Asian grouping Asean in 2014.
The United States is reported to be
drawing up
plans to increase its military presence in the Gulf after the final withdrawal of troops from Iraq later this year. The New York Times says the US is negotiating with Kuwait to station a standby force there and is considering sending more warships to the region. The paper says that the Pentagon had hoped to keep as many as 20,000 troops in Iraq beyond the end of this year and is now drawing up an alternative to deal with any possible deterioration in security in Iraq or a clash with Iran.