In news from the Middle East, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza are enduring a fifth day of power blackouts. The power outages began after the European Union suspended its funding of Gaza’s main electricity plant. Gaza has been under a siege since June when Hamas seized full control of the area. The United States, Israel and other countries have attempted to completely isolate Gaza in an effort to turn the population against the democratically elected Hamas leadership. Aid agencies are warning that if Gaza doesn’t receive more fuel by Thursday, the strip’s main sewage and water treatment plant would be forced to shut down.