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after holding talks in the West Bank with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday.
• She'll be meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in her attempts to help piece together a deal that would satisfy the two foes after eight days of fighting.
• Clinton is due to travel later to Cairo, which is mediating in the crisis.
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• YARABAIKASY, Russia (AP) -- When Eduard Mochalov tried to have the people who stole his cattle and pig farm brought to justice, he spent eight months in jail on charges he says were cooked up. He appealed to Vladimir Putin and even set himself on fire outside the Kremlin in protest, but still couldn't draw attention to his cause as his farm slowly fell into disrepair.
• Now, Mochalov has found a new life as a crusading journalist investigating corruption in his native region, fueled by tips from disgruntled businessmen and government workers. Undeterred by a system where the law is selectively used to protect the powerful and crack down on critics, Mochalov has quickly earned cult status -- not to mention the ire of countless local officials -- throughout the small province of Chuvashia.
• Roughly once a month, he publishes a free newspaper called Vzyatka, or The Bribe, which rails against what it calls "Chuvash kingpins" who steal from the province's budget. Headlines include "The Governor of Chuvashia's Family Business" and "If Nobody's Been Found Guilty, That Means They're Already In Power." The paper has proved so popular that with a print run of 20,000 he has trouble meeting demand.
• Frustration with corrupt officials has skyrocketed under President Putin's rule. Twenty-nine percent of Russians believe that civil servants only care about using public funds to enrich themselves, a more than nine-fold increase since Putin took power in 2000, according to the Levada Center, an independent polling agency.
• Corruption was a key motivation behind the unprecedented series of mass protests against Putin in Moscow last winter and spring, and remains a key rallying point for the opposition. Recently, the Kremlin has attempted to siphon off popular anger by launching a major crackdown on corruption, which has cost several high-level officials their jobs.
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