It's 15 hours Universal Time and here is the news from the Voice of America.
I'm David Deforest from the VOA news center in Washington.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has again urged Israel to lift its blockade of Lebanon. At a news conference, with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Mr. Annan said lifting the blockade is necessary to help Lebanon recover from the month-long war.

"It is important not only because of the economic effect which has happened on the country, but it is also important to strengthen the democratic government of Lebanon."

The UN chief also called for the release of two Israeli soldiers. Their capture by Hezbollah guerillas triggered Israel's offensive into Lebanon. Israeli prime minister said Israel expects full implementation of the UN resolution that ended the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. He said that includes the release of the two captured soldiers.

Iraqi authority say more than 50 people have been killed and scores wounded in the latest violence in Iraq. In one of the attacks today, a bomb ripped through a busy market in Baghdad. South of Baghdad in Hilla, a bomb on a bicycle exploded in a crowd waiting outside an army recruiting center. In the Iraqi capital, gunmen shot and killed a Justice Ministry worker, her driver and the bodyguard. Also in Baghdad, three textile workers were gunned down and a separate bomb attack killed at least two. Five bullet-riddled bodies were found south of the capital in S/. North of the capital in B/, five family members were killed when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb.

News reports say Iran has begun enriching a new batch of uranium, defying major powers as an August United Nations deadline comes closer. News Agencies and the Washington Post newspaper are reporting that Iran has begun to enrich a small batch of uranium. The agencies and the newspaper quoted anonymous diplomatic sources.

International ceasefire monitors have blamed the Sri Lankan military for the massacre earlier this month of 17 aid workers. VOA's Patricia Nunan has more from New Delhi.

Ceasefire monitors said the Sri Lankan military was the only armed group in the eastern town of Muthur when the August 4th massacre took place. Therefore, the observers from the international Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission or SLMM say security forces have to be responsible for the deaths. The massacre was one of most brutal incidents in weeks since spread clashes between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels. The violence threatens to return the country to the civil war waged for 20 years over the rebels' demand for a separate homeland for the country's ethnic Tamil minority. The aid workers were with a French organization Action Against Hunger and most were ethnic Tamils. Fifteen were found lying facedown in the group's compound in Muthur. Witnesses say they were shot in the back of the head, execution style. Two others were found dead in a car, apparently murdered while trying to escape. The government has denied its forces had anything to do with the deaths and has begun its own investigation into the incident. Patricia Nunan, VOA news, New Delhi.

Protests continue in Pakistan's Baluchistan and Sind provinces following Saturday's killing of a Baluch national's leader Nawab Akbar Bugti. Police say demonstrators enforced strikes and blocked the main highway connecting the provincial capital K/ to the port city of Karachi in Sind province.

Three small pro-Kremlin parties have announced a merger they say, will create an imposing political force to United Russia, the country's dominant political party back by the Kremlin. VOA's Lisa McAdams reports.

Russia's government-controlled media hailed this week's formation of a new opposition political party in Russia but questions are being asked about whether their people really got a new political party. Many Kremlin watchers are trying to make sense of the announcement of a merger by three small political parties long allied with the Kremlin, the Party of Life, the Motherland Party and the Pensioners Party. In announcing the merger, the leader of the Party of Life and Federation Council speaker S/ said that in opposing United Russia, the new party would oppose the idea of a monopolizing political force. United Russia's spokesman L/ dismissed that goal, saying declaring a merger does not mean anything. The leader of the largest opposition group in Parliament / of the communists said his party would expose what he called a contrived creation. Lisa McAdams, VOA news, Moscow.

And in Washington, I'm David Deforest, VOA news.