Despite pleas from the U.S., the European Union, United Nations and Russia, Israeli officials say the country has decided to reject an immediate 48-hour pause in fighting. The decision came today after overnight meetings between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and France's foreign minister. Mike Sargent is covering this story for our partner, the BBC World Service, in Jerusalem.

Volleys of rockets and an economic blockade have made the Gaza strip a tense area. Israel reopened three border crossings and is delivering humanitarian aid despite continued mortar fire from Hamas. Yet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has hinted there may be a military offensive. Katya Adler, BBC correspondent, has the latest.

A six month ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza has expired and late on Thursday Hamas announced it would not be extending the truce. The Hamas spokesman, Fawzi Barhoum, says the Palestinian people don't feel they have anything to gain by keeping the ceasefire in place. In recent weeks, there has already been an upsurge in violence. Katya Adler, a BBC Correspondent in the Middle East, joins The Takeaway to discuss this troubling turn of events.

The State Department announced yesterday that it recommended that the U.S. drop Blackwater, the main private security contractor for American diplomats in Iraq. Blackwater has had an international reputation as the big Baghdad bully who is exempt from Iraqi law and U.S. oversight. All of that changed last year when its guards opened fire in Baghdad, killing 17 Iraqi civilians. Five Blackwater employees have since been charged with manslaughter. If the Blackwater contract is not renewed next year, the big question is, who will rush in to fill the security vacuum? Joining us for some answers is Washington Post foreign correspondent Steve Fainaru, who was embedded with thousands of private security contractors while researching his new book, "Big Boy Rules: America's Mercenaries Fighting in Iraq."

Five employees of Blackwater are indicted in the killing of 17 unarmed Iraqi civilians.

Retired Army General Eric Shinseki, the first asian four star general, is Barack Obama's pick to head the Dept. of Veterans Affairs.