To address Israel's fears of smuggled weapons, the Europeans are also offering to station EU inspection teams at Gaza's gates.

ECONOMIST: Europe and Gaza

Your correspondent was stopped several hundred metres away from the entrance to one of them, Sera, and was taken to a police station for brief questioning and inspection of documents before being released.

ECONOMIST: Our correspondent reports from Tibet

But on closer inspection, neither the president nor his vice president is really promising to leave troops on station in Iraq indefinitely.

NPR: Hiding the Implicit Timetable in Iraq

That determination needs to be made before the installation of a new station module, scheduled for Monday, because the module would be in the way should closer inspection of the wing be needed, NASA officials said.

CNN: Endeavour docks with space station