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Fighting has resumed in Gaza following a three-hour ceasefire.

Two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike on the eastern Gaza City neighbourhood of Zeitun.
Bombing had been temporarily suspended to allow the passage of humanitarian aid into the territory.

Israel earlier announced that bombing would be suspended between 1pm and 4pm (11am-2pm Irish time).

Hamas responded by saying no rocket attacks would be made during the same period.

However, Israeli Defence Force spokesmen said later it would not happen 'each day', as had been reported earlier.

'I can confirm that there is a cessation of offensive activities at this time in order to facilitate humanitarian transfers and we will enable the population to resupply themselves and facilitate the work of the NGOs,' said an Israeli spokesperson.

However, an Israeli spokesperson warned the army would respond to any fire including rocket fire.

Israel pounded Gaza with artillery shells and air missiles again this morning.

An air strike killed a Palestinian man and wounded three others in Zeitun, where some of the heaviest fighting has occurred since Israeli troops invaded on Saturday.

Clashes occurred in Zeitun, and there were reports of air strikes on the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah.

Irish struggle to escape conflict

The Department of Foreign Affairs says it has been unable to help around 20 Irish citizens and their families to leave Gaza because of ongoing security concerns.

According to a spokesperson for the Department, it is issuing Irish visas to family members of Irish citizens in Gaza in an attempt to bring them to safety in Ireland.

One Irish citizen, five-year-old Basil Natil, is in Gaza with his mother and three sisters aged 10, eight and three.

His father, based in the UK, was concerned that visas were initially being offered to only Basil and his mother, but the DFA say that visas are now being offered to all family members in Gaza.

School strike totally unacceptable: Ban

The latest fighting followed Israeli strikes yesterday on three UN-run schools that killed at least 48 people, prompting growing calls for an immediate ceasefire.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was 'deeply dismayed' by the strikes on the schools and called them 'totally unacceptable'.

Egypt's President and veteran Middle East peace mediator, Hosni Mubarak, is pushing for an immediate ceasefire and has invited Mr Olmert for talks on his proposal in Cairo.

Mr Mubarak said Israelis and Palestinians need 'an urgent meeting to reach arrangements and guarantees that would not allow the repeat of the current escalation'.

Such guarantees would include 'securing the borders and ... opening of the border crossings and lifting the siege'.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country currently holds the UN Security Council presidency, said a resolution on Gaza would 'complicate' the task of achieving peace.

Libya later submitted a new draft resolution demanding an immediate and permanent ceasefire to be respected by both parties.

A Hamas delegation is already in Cairo for talks on the crisis.

Egypt brokered a six-month truce that ended on 19 December.

Hamas refused to renew the deal, accusing Israel of reneging on it by not relaxing the crippling blockade of Gaza it first imposed when the Islamists seized control of the territory in 2007.

Mr Olmert earlier said the rocket attacks and weapons smuggling from Egypt into Gaza must end before Israel halts its offensive.

RTE

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The Bank of England is expected to cut interest rates to their lowest level in its 315-year history when it makes its latest monthly decision later.

With rates currently at 2%, the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee is tipped to announce a reduction of between 0.5 and one percentage point.

This would be the first time since the Bank was founded in 1694 that rates have fallen below 2%.

It comes as the Treasury denied reports it was planning to inject more money.

A number of newspapers said the step was being considered once interest rates fell close to zero as a tactic to help both stimulate the economy and avoid deflation.

Treasury sources said that while the move had not been ruled out, it was not currently on the agenda.

'Balancing act'

While a rate cut is widely expected, there is debate as to how far the Bank will actually go.
Hetal Mehta, economic adviser to the Ernst & Young Item Club, said the Bank was facing "a balancing act".

"Six months ago, it was juggling slowing economic growth with soaring inflation," she said.

"But now the Bank has to tread a fine line between avoiding deflation and a further weakening of sterling, whilst doing all it can to soften the impact of the recession."
"Item believes a 50-basis-point cut in the interest rate would be appropriate. However, with survey data continuing to worsen, a larger cut of 100 basis points, taking the interest rate to 1%, is a distinct possibility."

It is not clear how much of any cut would be passed on to mortgage customers.

HSBC, Lloyds TSB/Cheltenham and Gloucester and Bristol & West are passing on the last one-percentage-point cut in full for those customers with variable rate mortgages.

But the UK's biggest lender, HBOS, is passing on only 0.25 of a percentage point.

Even those customers with tracker mortgages - which follow changes in Bank rate - may not see the benefit, as many mortgage providers have "collars" below which their tracker rates will not fall.

Meanwhile, any rate cut will mean that Britain's savers will see their interest earnings fall once more.

Quantitative easing

In an interview with the Financial Times on Wednesday, Chancellor Alistair Darling indicated the Bank would have to work "hand in hand" with the Treasury if it wanted to carry out "quantitative easing" - or printing money.

A central bank printing money to inject into the markets is a strategy known as quantitative easing, which was pioneered by Japan as a way of battling its deflationary problems in the 1990s.

Deflation - where prices regularly fall rather than rise - becomes a greater risk as interest rates head towards zero.

It can be a problem because if people believe that prices are going to fall, they have incentives to postpone buying anything they can, which means there is even less activity in the economy.

BBC

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Poor service could cost thousands of jobs in the recession, Britain's tourism chief has said.

Visit Britain chairman Christopher Rodrigues said he feared foreign tourists would be put off by low standards in hotels and restaurants.

Mr Rodrigues told the Independent that the downturn meant establishments could no longer get away with shoddy service.

He said poor standards could contribute to some of the 50,000 anticipated job losses in the industry this year.

'Threadbare towels'

Mr Rodrigues said: "We've had a period in which people could get away with not being of the highest quality.

"We're now in an environment where you have to do quality. Poor value for money and poor service costs jobs and will cost more jobs in a recession.

"Threadbare towels, a previously owned bar of soap and a grumpy person who says 'we don't do breakfast before 8am and we don't do it after 8.12am' - you don't get a lot of happy customers."

Mr Rodrigues, who represents tourism in England, Scotland and Wales, estimated earnings from tourism would fall by £4bn during the recession.

Visit Britain will launch a £6.5m campaign in April aimed at persuading overseas visitors that Britain can offer value for money.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Culture Secretary Andy Burnham are holding a summit with British tourism leaders on Thursday in Liverpool.

BBC

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One man is dead and a second is critically injured after a shooting in Dublin's north inner city last night.

The two men were shot as they sat in a car at the junction of Summerhill Road and Langrishe Place shortly after 8.30pm.

It is believed that both of the men were shot in the head by a gunman who was sitting in the back seat of the car.
The car they were driving then rolled across the road and crashed into the central median.

The killer got out of the car and made his escape through nearby Gloucester Place.

Gardaí who were called to the scene, of what they thought was a traffic accident, discovered the two victims unconscious.

Paramedics worked on the two men and they were taken to St James's and the Mater Misericordiae University hospitals but one of the men, Michael 'Roly' Cronin, was dead by the time he arrived to hospital.

In 1998, Mr Cronin was jailed for 13 years for heroin dealing.

However he was released four years ago. There had been at least three attempts made on Mr Cronin's life.

The area remains sealed off this morning as gardaí continue a forensic examination.

Meanwhile gardaí are investigating a separate shooting in north Co Dublin.

A man was shot in the leg and neck at Drynam Drive near Kinsealey.

He is said to be critically ill.

RTE

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The Taoiseach will hold the first of a series of meetings with the social partners later today in a bid to tackle the worsening economic crisis.

The €20bn public sector pay bill will be central to the discussions and pay cuts have not been ruled out.

The employers group IBEC will be briefed on the economic background today, while the ICTU will be briefed tomorrow.
Yesterday, the cabinet spent over six hours considering the latest Department of Finance projections which showed plummeting revenue, soaring debt and unemployment.

The aim of the briefings is to achieve agreement on a national strategy to get financial matters under control by the end of the month.

However, both Brian Cowen and Brian Lenihan have made it clear unpalatable choices lie ahead.

RTE