Country experiences economic recovery

JERUSALEM (AP):

In the four months since hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to power, West Bank Palestinians have enjoyed an economic recovery and Israel has experienced a period of relative calm.

That progress is the backdrop for a fresh round of US diplomacy aimed at getting Palestinian-Israeli peace talks started again. But there is a major sticking point. Palestinians are refusing to resume negotiations unless Netanyahu heeds the US demand to stop all construction in Israeli settlements on lands they claim for their future state.

Heat wave causes wildfires in Athens

Greece (AP):

Firefighters contained wildfires on the outskirts of Athens and other parts of Greece yesterday, as officials issued fire warnings for large parts of the country following a weekend heat wave. More than 150 firefighters aided by water-dropping planes and helicopters battled two big blazes fanned by strong winds in the Aspropyrgos and Ano Liosia areas northwest of the capital, officials said. No homes were threatened, and the fires were under control late yesterday.

Officials said two firefighters were lightly injured when their truck overturned on the way to a smaller blaze east of the capital. It was soon extinguished.

Cuts to child-welfare programmes

California (AP):

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger made additional cuts to child-welfare programmes, medical care for the poor and AIDS prevention efforts yesterday as he signed an $85-billion compromise spending plan that he called "the good, the bad and the ugly".

Schwarzenegger used his line-item veto authority to save an additional $656 million that will let the state restore a reserve fund he says is needed for tough times.