An Israeli Uri Brodsky was arrested in Poland in June on a warrant issued by German court and extradited on Thursday. He is accused of forging the German passport allegedly used in the murder of the Hamas commander. Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was found dead in a Dubai hotel on 20 January. The UAE police have said they are 99% sure that members of the Israel's intelligence agency, Mossad, was involved in the killing, though Israel insists there is no proof. Forged passports from several Western countries were used by the 30 suspects identified, leading to a series of diplomatic scandals with Israel.
Bbc.co.uk

The US government has announced it intends to sell Kuwait its latest Patriot anti-ballistic missile system to meet "current and future threats". The Defense Security Co-operation Agency told Congress that Kuwait was planning to buy as many as 209 of the MIM-104E Patriot Guidance Enhanced Missile-T (GEM-T) interceptors. The deal is valued at $900m. "This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a major non-Nato ally which has been, and continues to be, an important force for political stability and economic progress in the Middle East," bbc.co.uk quotes the DCSA’s website as saying.

An Israeli man who had been jailed in Libya has been released. Rafael Hadad was detained on suspicion of spying in March. A dual Tunisian-Israeli citizen, Mr Hadad is reported to have worked in Libya for an Israeli group devoted to preserving the history of Libya's vanished Jewish community. He was arrested while taking pictures of Jewish sites in Libya. According to Israeli media, after release Rafael Hadad was flown to Vienna where he was met by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. Libya and Israel are technically at the state of war. Israeli nationals are banned from visiting the Muslim country. Mr Hadad was travelling on his Tunisian passport when he was detained. Bbc.co.uk.

The Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, has urged the United Nations mission in Darfur and foreign humanitarian organisations to "support government authorities" or face expulsion. "Any aid group or UN or African Union agency, even Unamid, their mandate is to support government authorities," Aljazeera.net quotes Bashir at a gathering of Darfuri leaders in Khartoum as saying. "I tell my brothers, the governors of Darfur, that anyone who exceeds these boundaries or their mandate can be expelled the same day," Bashir added.

According to Saudi officials, a deal to prevent a ban on the Blackberry services in Saudi Arabia is "in sight". Saudi Arabia was to ban the smartphone on Friday because the manufacturer Canadian RIM uses an encrypted message service that cannot be monitored. Several other countries such as India and the UAE have expressed national security concerns over the Blackberry system. It is believed a special server for the messenger system will be set up in Saudi Arabia as part of the agreement. Blackberry services were reported to have stopped functioning for four hours on Friday but then resumed.
Bbc.co.uk.

The only power plant in the Gaza Strip has been shut down. The reason for such a decision is a fuel dispute between the territory's de facto Hamas government, the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA) and Israel. It was the third time the plant, which supplies 25 per cent of Gaza's power, has shut down since January. The Gaza Power Authority said the PA hadn’t paid Israel, through which the Gaza plant's diesel fuel is transported. But the PA authorities blamed the rival Hamas, saying that Gazans are allowed to avoid electricity bills. Fuel imports into Gaza have dropped since November, when responsibility for buying Gaza's fuel transferred from the European Union to the PA.
Aljazeera.net.

According to the UAE state-run news agency, Japanese tanker damaged last week in the Strait of Hormuz was the target of a terrorist attack. The M Star was carrying two million barrels of crude oil from Qatar to Japan. Remains of home-made explosives had been found on the hull of the tanker, the UAE said. Two days ago, an al-Qaeda linked group took a responsibility for the explosion. The crew of the ship witnessed an explosion shortly after midnight Wednesday last week, injuring one crew member. Bbc.co.uk

Saudi Arabia's Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) has ordered mobile operators to halt BlackBerry services starting August 6. "Saudi Telecom Co, Mobily and Zain Saudi Arabia was asked to stop immediately the BlackBerry service in the country starting Friday. The reason for suspension is reported to be “not meeting regulatory requirements”. But sources from Saudi Telecom said the ban was caused by security concerns. The United Arab Emirates also threatened on Sunday to ban some BlackBerry services unless its maker, Canadian Research in Motion (RIM), gives it access to encrypted information. Aljazeera.net.

Egypt said on Wednesday that "Palestinian factions" were behind this week's rocket attacks on Eilat and Aqaba. "Egypt will never, under any circumstances, tolerate the use of its lands by any party to harm the country's interests," middle-east-online.com quoted the official source as saying. On Tuesday, Egypt launched a wide security sweep of the Sinai peninsula, after a senior Jordanian official said his country had proof the deadly rocket had been fired from Egypt. "Following the Jordanian comments, Egypt has launched a wide security sweep of the Sinai peninsula," an Egyptian anonymous official said the media.

Lebanese and Israeli soldiers have exchanged fire on Tuesday along the border between the two countries leaving one injured on the Lebanese side and two on the Israeli side. Lebanese army sources said, the incident had taken place near the eastern end of the border. This is the first border clash between Israel and Lebanon since a war in 2006. The fire exchange comes a day after rockets hit the Israeli resort of Eilat, with a stray rocket killing one in the nearby port of Aqaba in Jordan. Bbc.co.uk.