The Thursday news...
-The US Treasury Department has frozen the assets of two Venezuelan nationals for alleged links with the radical Islamist group, Hezbollah.
-By a margin of 93 votes, the UK Parliament ratified the Treaty of Lisbon (aka the EU Reform Treaty), depsite being rejected by Irish voters on 12 June 2008. The treaty would set up institutional reforms aimed at streamlining the work of the enlarged European Union; and was drawn up to replace the draft European constitution, which was thrown out by voters in France and the Netherlands in 2005.
-Hours before a truce was to take effect, Palestinian militants fired 50 rockets and mortars toward Israel on Wednesday, and Israel responded with airstrikes in Gaza, illustrating how fragile the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas would be.
-Authorities say a teenager from a faith-healing family died from an illness that could have been easily treated, just a few months after a toddler cousin of his died in a case that has led to criminal charges.
