Israeli warplanes have struck the south of the Gaza City in the besieged Gaza Strip, wounding five Palestinians, medics say.

Israeli warplanes pounded the coastal enclave in the night between June 17 and 18, AFP reported. According to medics women and children are among the wounded. One of the strikes targeted a workshop in the town of Rafah near the Egyptian border, and the other hit an area south of Gaza City. The Israeli military frequently bombs the Gaza Strip, saying the actions are being conducted for defensive purposes. However, disproportionate force is always used, in violation of international law, and civilians are often killed or injured. Human rights organizations have called for an end to the attacks, but to no avail. Gaza has been blockaded since 2007, which is a situation that has caused a decline in the standard of living, unprecedented levels of unemployment, and unrelenting poverty.

George Bush threatened to topple former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith if he failed to back Tony Blair over the Iraq War, Alastair Campbell has claimed. - Mr Campbell, who was No  10’s director of communications at the time, said the US President made the extraordinary threat during frantic diplomatic exchanges in the final hours before war in March 2003. He also revealed how Jack Straw, then Foreign Secretary, was so infuriated by the ‘arrogant and bullying’ Americans that he begged Mr Blair not to send British troops into action, and instead restrict their role to post- conflict humanitarian work. Mr Blair refused.

Wayne Madsen: How many others did Bush and Cheney "get rid of?" Robin Cook comes to mind.

(Robin Cook – The Convenient Heart Attack)

A top pro-government warlord in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal agency has banned vaccinations in the region, saying the healthcare drive was a cover for U.S. spies. - According to The Express Tribune, warlord Hafiz Gul, who has a non-aggression treaty with Pakistani authorities, made the announcement. Gul believes that the U.S. is playing host to the Haqqani network- the deadly Taliban group blamed for most violence in neighbouring Afghanistan. "As long as drone strikes are not stopped in Waziristan there will be a ban on administering polio jabs," said a pamphlet distributed in Miramshah, North Waziristan's main town. The pamphlet, titled Mas'ul-o-Khadimul Mujahideen, stated that the people of Waziristan do not require help from the U.S., which on the one hand, is spending billions of dollars in eradicating polio, but on the other hand, is killing innocent tribesmen. The pamphlet also cited the case of Dr Shakil Afridi, who was sentenced to 33 years of imprisonment by a Pakistani court after he was found 'guilty' of helping the CIA track down Osama bin Laden through a vaccination drive in Abbottabad, last year.

Boston.com: CIA doctor who ran phony vaccination program is kept from leaving Pakistan
AWIP: US to press for release of Pakistani doctor who ran a fake vaccination programme, as part of CIA's "hunt for Osama bin Laden"

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has announced that its candidate Mohamed Morsi has won the country’s run-off presidential election. - At a pre-dawn press conference on Monday, the Brotherhood officials declared their victory over ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister Ahmad Shafiq in the election. The officials said that the results from 98 percent of the polling stations showed that Morsi won 52 percent of the vote. Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has announced that its candidate Mohamed Morsi has won the country’s run-off presidential election. At a pre-dawn press conference on Monday, the Brotherhood officials declared their victory over ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister Ahmad Shafiq in the election. The officials said that the results from 98 percent of the polling stations showed that Morsi won 52 percent of the vote.

Jason Ditz: Egypt Junta Grants Itself Massive New Powers
Al Ahram: Egypt Brotherhood 'Wins' Powerless Presidency
Turkish Weekly: Military Council in Egypt to Continue Dominance Despite Elections

Johannes Stern: Egyptian presidential elections marked by mass abstention and fraud - In the run-offs over the weekend, Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister under ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak faced Mohamed Mursi, the candidate of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood (MB). Both Shafiq and Mursi are right-wing representatives of the Egyptian ruling class, hostile to the social and democratic aspirations of the Egyptian revolution and widely discredited amongst the Egyptian masses. No official results and numbers about the voter turnout have been announced yet. However, media reports suggest that the turnout was even lower than in the initial round of the elections three weeks ago.

French President Francois Hollande's Socialist Party and its allies won an absolute majority in the National Assembly, exit polls showed, paving the way for them to pass legislation without the aid of other members of parliament. The Socialist bloc won 314 out of the 577 seats, pollster CSA said, with 289 needed for a majority. Former President Nicolas Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement party and its allies have 228 seats, CSA said, and the anti-euro National Front won two seats.

Greece's two traditional political rivals are in a race to forge an unprecedented coalition as the state's cash dwindles, bank deposits flee and Europe demands renewed austerity pledges before releasing more emergency aid. Greece will run out of money in mid-July, the Syriza party, which placed second in yesterday's election, said on June 13 after being briefed by Acting Finance Minister Giorgios Zanias. Caretaker Labor and Social Security Minister Antonis Roupakiotis refused to offer assurances pensions will be paid in August, Athens News Agency reported the same day.

The pro-bailout New Democracy party has come out on top in Greece’s parliamentary elections, having gained 29.6 per cent of the votes. With nearly all the votes counted, the anti-austerity leftist Syriza party is trailing on 26.9 per cent.

The results have kept fears of Greece’s imminent exit from the eurozone at bay for the time being. “The Greek people today voted for Greece to remain on its European path and in the eurozone,” New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras said after his party had won, AP reports. He added that voters had chosen “policies that will bring jobs, growth, justice and security.” Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras has conceded the election and has reportedly called Samaras to congratulate the conservatives on their victory. The party that comes in first secures an extra 50 parliamentary seats, which will be crucial to its chances of forming a new government. The center-left party, Pasok, which is heading for 33 seats according to early results, is a potential partner for conservative New Democracy in a possible pro-bailout coalition government. Pasok leader Evangelos Venizelos has proposed a four-party coalition, saying that that Greece should form a government tomorrow and that Syriza should also be in it. However, Syriza officials have said they would not join a New Democracy-led coalition. The results, if confirmed, may give both parties enough support for them to team up to form a government with a majority of 159 seats in the 300-seat Greek parliament.

MSM Monitor: Greece's Rigged Election
James Petras: Greece: What Can be Done?