Politics in other countries

(AP) "Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told a powerful parliamentary panel on Monday that Israel rejects "no options" to block Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, a meeting participant said."

(This language can't be politically separated from the "peace talks" with the Palestinians. Tough language against Iran might help Olmert assuage the hardline elements of his coalition.)

Hawkish Israeli lawmaker Avigdor Lieberman, head of the Yisrael Beiteinu Party, has threatened repeatedly to pull out of Olmert's coalition if the government begins discussing the three questions at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Olmert's government would still command 67 of parliament's 120 seats if Yisrael Beiteinu's 11 lawmakers were to leave. But the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, which has 12 lawmakers, has also threatened to leave the coalition if Jerusalem comes up for discussion.

And, of course, the Israelis helped the negotiations along by bombing a car in Gaza killing three.

In Saudi Arabia, the Saudis are disowning Bush's Iran threats, (AFP) "Saudi Arabia is a neighbour of Iran in the Gulf, which is a small lake. We are keen that harmony and peace should prevail among states of the region," Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal.

And, in Pakistan, (AP) Nawaz Sharif slams Musharraf while Bhutto's party swings around to say they might work with Musharraf after the election.