Sir Prince William!

Oddly enough, there's lots of news. For a Tuesday.

Hamas and Israel agree to a cease fire according to the Beeb. CNN reports that a truce is near completion and would go into affect in as little as three days. The article on the BBC notes that Israel is still "looking to see if this is serious".

Hamas came to power after elections in January 2006 displacing Fatah. In June of the same year, Corporal Galid Shalit. a dual French-Israeli citizen, was abducted. After this, Israel threatened the Palestinians by saying that the "sky will fall" if he was harmed. Many negotiations have been made over the past two years. Even the Catholic Church of Gaza and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter have tried to negotiate for Shalit's release.

Since the rise of Hamas and the kidnapping Shalit, Israel has restricted supplies of gasoline, diesel and electricity to Gaza, limited the amount of food and other goods entering the strip and made it virtually impossible for manufacturers and farmers in Gaza to export anything to the outside world.

Israeli officials have said these measures are intended to pressure Hamas to stop its members and other factions from firing mortars and rockets into Israel.

Prince William has been made a member of the Most Noble Order of the Garter. His official title will be Royal Knight Companion. The Order was established in 1348 by King Edward III. The numbers of the Order are limited. There are only 24 Companions.

William is in the midst of completing two months of intense Naval training. Next Week he will begin to serve on the HMS Iron Duke in its patrols of the Carribean.

The President of France, Nikolas Sarkozy, has announced that France will rejoin the Command of Nato. Then President Charles de Gaulle pulled France out of the Command structure in 1966 in a bid for independence from the US dominated Western treaty. With this announcement comes also the news that 50,000 defense jobs will be cut and the Intelligence community will be boosted.

Special Effects master Stan Winston died yesterday. He had struggled with Mulitple Myeloma for the past seven years. He recently worked on Iron Man and was also contributing to projects such as GI Joe, Avatar, and a forth coming chapter in the Terminator series of films. Stan Winston was known for intergrating practical effects (sometimes known as in-camera effects) with the the more recently developed Computer Generated Images, or CGI. He has been awarded four Academy Awards for his efforts in such projects as Aliens, Terminator 2: Judgement Day and Jurassic Park.

Things heat up in Myanmar

The military regime has now begun to crack down on the largely peaceful monks who've been demonstrating foe several days now in Yangon. Two hundred monks were arrested in nighttime raids in Ngwe Kyaryan. Other sources have the number at 600. The government has also turned violent in the past couple of days using tear gas and firing at protesters in an attempt to clear the streets. This has resulted in 9 dead and 11 injured including a Japanese journalist.

The international community has voiced its support for the activists. The United States has come out with a call for sanctions against the impoverished nation. Many within the United Nations agree including France with French President Sarkozy stating "France will not accept the gagging of Burma's opposition". An emergency session was held Wednesday with the UN calling for the government to show restraint. Earlier today, China also condemned the government of Myanmar. However, China and Russia have said that sanctions would not help. Furthermore, China has also said that it is an internal matter.

Protests against Myanmar's embassies has also occured. In Bangkok and Seoul, protesters have thrown rocks at the buildings and chanted. It is no coincidence that the junta has now cracked down on the monks and other citizens have joined into the protest. With the UN calling restraint, it merely begs to be defied.

It is also notable that opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been silent. She can do nothing but be silent. She continues to be held in house arrest. During the march to Yangon, the monks were able to pass by her home that has been her prison for 12 years. The government won't let a repeat of her appearing at her gates. Security has been heightened around her home to discourage any demonstrators from contacting her. On this day in 1988, Aung San Suu Kyi was part of a rather violent protest that cost thousands of lives.

Back on this day in 1540, Pope Paul III founded the Society of Jesus. This highly organized religious order would be known as the Jesuits.

In 1821, Mexico gained its independence from Spain.

In 1886, Prophet John Taylor received a revelation that polygamy was no longer a viable practice within the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints. To this day, the church is still devided on this divisive issue.

Back 102 years ago in 1905, the Annalen der Physik journal published an article called "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?" by Albert Einstein. In this paper, Einstein postulated a famous equation E=mc². After this, Physics which was moderately assumed to be thoroughly complete in its study, was turned on its ear with the discovery of quantum physics. The world would be forever changed.

In 1985, Long Island, New York, was hit by hurricane Gloria.

In 1998, Google is founded.