Obama: Gitmo Likely Won't Close in His First 100 Days  —  Closing Guantanamo Bay More Difficult Than People Realize, President-Elect Says  —  President-elect Barack Obama said this weekend that he does not expect to close Guantanamo Bay in his first 100 days in office.

IAF targets 20 smuggling tunnels along Philadelphi Corridor  —  IAF planes on Sunday afternoon attacked at least twenty smuggling tunnels along the Philadelphi Corridor, on Gaza's southern border with Egypt.  The tunnels were being used to smuggle weaponry into Gaza, according to the IDF.

Notes From the Chairman  —  Once upon a couple of weeks ago ...  I'm in a crush in a Dublin pub around New Year's.  Glasses clinking clicking, clashing crashing in Gaelic revelry: swinging doors, sweethearts falling in and out of the season's blessings, family feuds subsumed or resumed.

Vandals deface three local synagogues  —  Vandals spray-painted the words “Death to Israel” on two synagogues and a Jewish school early Saturday in three separate incidents police say could be linked and are being investigated as hate crimes.  —  In each case, the vandals — at times donning masks …

Peace Is No Longer in Sight  —  At the end of the 10th day of Israel's operation in the Gaza Strip, I was zapping between Israeli, Arab and international TV channels.  The pictures grew more gruesome from moment to moment.  Then a friend called to tell me that Mezzo, a French concert channel …

An Early Drubbing For Obama  —  It was not lost on anyone that the president-elect of the United States, riding the crest of his popularity, and the Democratic leadership of the U.S. Senate were outsmarted last week by a state politician who won his last election almost 20 years ago.

DATE OF PUBLICATION: … SYNOPSIS:  —  The Israeli-Hamas War, and there is little else that it can be called, has now lasted two weeks.  Israeli jets have flown some 800 strike sorties, and the IDF has pushed deep into Gaza.  Israel also continues to report tactical gains.

Revealed: the environmental impact of Google searches  —  Physicist Alex Wissner-Gross says that performing two Google searches uses up as much energy as boiling the kettle for a cup of tea  —  Performing two Google searches from a desktop computer can generate about the same amount …

Public Servant's Private Stint at Issue  —  WASHINGTON — Chiquita was facing the prospect of federal charges for paying protection money to Colombian terrorists to safeguard its banana crops, and the company needed help.  It turned to Eric H. Holder Jr., an elite Washington lawyer well versed in the ways of the Justice Department.

Manufacturing Disaster  —  It is commonly said that by storing weapons in mosques and firing rockets and mortars from residential areas and school yards, Hamas is using human shields in Gaza, a war crime.  But the truth is really worse than that.  Hamas doesn't endanger civilians in hopes …

Analysis: GOP urging restraint in stimulus debate  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Out of power, Republicans appear to be retreating to familiar old ground.  They're becoming deficit hawks again.  —  GOP lawmakers didn't seem to mind enjoying the fruits of government largesse for the past eight years …