AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner
Israeli youths release balloons during a rally in support of the Israeli army following a deadly raid by Israel's navy on an aid flotilla bound for the blockaded Gaza Strip and calling for the release of his son, in Jerusalem, Wednesday, June 2, 2010.
In a stunning reversal that illustrated the severity of the diplomatic fallout from its bloody raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla, Israel on Wednesday dropped plans to prosecute dozens of the captured pro-Palestinian activists, moving instead to deport all of them quickly.
The turnabout came as international condemnation intensified over the raid Monday on the high seas in which nine people were killed and dozens wounded, with Israel resisting calls for an independent inquiry.
AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, left, shares a word with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi during the Republic Day military parade, in Rome, Wednesday, June 2, 2010.
AP Photo/Hassan Ammar
South African kids play soccer in open field as sun sets in Soweto, South Africa, Wednesday, June 2, 2010. The Soccer World Cup 2010 is to be kicked of on June 11.
AP Photo/Andrew Medichini
Pope Benedict XVI waves as he is driven through the crowd during his weekly general audience, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Wednesday, June 2, 2010. Benedict XVI says he is anxiously following the news about the deadly Israeli raid on aid ships for the Gaza Strip and worries about its consequences for Middle East peace. Benedict on Wednesday told pilgrims in St. Peter's Square that violence will generate more violence and have ''dramatic consequences.''
AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel
A Russian Soyuz TMA-17 space capsule lands about 150 km (80 miles) south-east of the Kazakh town of Dzhezkazgan, Wednesday, June 2, 2010. The Soyuz capsule, which carried the three astronauts, safely returned to Earth on Wednesday after a half-year stint on the international space station, with a landing on the Kazakh steppe.
AP Photo/Michel Spingler
USA's Serena Williams reacts after being defeated by Australia's Samantha Stosur during a quarter final match for the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Wednesday, June 2, 2010.
AP Photo/Vincent Thian
Pakistani boys look on as they attend a daily class to learn verses of the Quran at a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, June 2, 2010.
AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel, Pool
Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi bites into an apple shortly after the landing of the Russian Soyuz TMA-17 space capsule about 150 km ( 80 miles) south-east of the Kazakh town of Dzhezkazgan, Wednesday, June 2, 2010. The Soyuz capsule, which carried the three astronauts, safely returned to Earth on Wednesday after a half-year stint on the international space station, with a landing on the Kazakh steppe.
AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye
A man watches a news broadcast about Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's decision to step down, at Yamada Denki LABI electric shop at Tokyo's Shimbashi district Wednesday, June 2, 2010. Embattled Hatoyama resigned Wednesday to improve his party's chances in an election next month, after his own popularity plunged over his broken campaign promise to move a U.S. Marine base.
AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, testifies before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, Wednesday, June 2, 2010, in New York.
AP Photo/Hussein Malla
A Hezbollah supporter, sits on an electric pole and waves Hezbollah and Turkish flags in front an Israeli army position, during a demonstration at the Lebanese-Israeli border, in Kfar Kila village, southern Lebanon, on Wednesday June 2, 2010. About 5,000 people took part in the demonstration that was organized by Hezbollah to protest the Israeli attack on ships carrying activists who tried to break a siege imposed by Israel on Gaza.
AP Photo/ddp/ Philipp Guelland
Baby eels wriggle out of a bucket when they were released into river Elbe near Bleckede, Germany, Wednesday June 2, 2010. Up to 130,000 young eels were released by the regional chamber for preservation of the countryside to increase the number of fish in that river.
AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza
Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, right, talks with Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani during a press conference at the Moncloa Palace in Madrid on Wednesday June 2, 2010.
AP Photo/Dave Martin
Mary Smith of Theodore, Ala., watches over her grandchildren as a large crew of clean up workers walk along the beach in Dauphin Island, Ala., Tuesday, June 2, 2010. Oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster has started washing ashore on the Alabama coast.
AP Photo/Giorgos Nisiotis
Greek police and firemen are seen at the entrance of a bank pulling out a man who set himself on fire, apparently to protest his financial situation, in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, on Wednesday, June 2, 2010. Police said the man, who entered the Piraeus Bank branch with a can of fuel and set himself ablaze, was taken out unconscious and hospitalized with non life-threatening burns on his arms. Greece is in the midst of a debt crisis, and many people have trouble repaying bank loans.
AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan
A street seller offers merchandise in the colours of the South African flag for soccer fans at an intersection in Johannesburg, South Africa, Wednesday, June 2, 2010. The World Cup soccer will start on June 11.
