www.guysen.us 2010-02-08 , 25 Shevat 5770  
 
The IAEA expresses concern about Iran's plans

The IAEA expresses concern about Iran's plans
The Director General of the IAEA, Yukiya Amano, said he was concerned about Tehran's intentions to produce more enriched uranium.
 


Israel's Minister of Interior seeks to legalize Jewish property in east Jerusalem
By Jill Glass for Guysen International News

Interior Minister Eli Yishai said he will use his powers to thwart a court-ordered evacuation of Beit Yehonatan, a seven storey building owned by Jews in the predominately Arab east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. The interior minister said he would like to legalize the building.

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MIDDLE-EAST - POLITICS
A year after, popularity for Likud continues to rise
By Sharon Bloch for Guysen International News

The fact that there has been no breakthrough in peace talks with the Palestinians, a year after general elections, the public appears to be relatively satisfied with  Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, and the popularity of the Likud Party continues to grow, a poll conducted by the Smith Institute and Ynet reveals.
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INTERNATIONAL - DIPLOMACY
Students arrested after heckling Israel's Ambassador to U.S. at university lecture
By Blake Glick for Guysen International News

California police were forced to intervene and arrest students at a California university who disrupted and heckled Israel’s Ambassador Michael Oren who had arrived at the campus to deliver a lecture on U.S.-Israeli relations.
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MIDDLE-EAST - HEALTH
Abu Dhabi hospital specializes in treating falcons
By Nigel Rice for Guysen International News

Abu Dhabi has set up a special hospital dedicated to treating birds, especially falcons. Described as the only facility of its kind in the world, its German born directors says they treat anything from canaries to ostriches, and over 5,000 falcons a year.
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MIDDLE-EAST - RELIGION
A ''Marrano'' Rabbi returns to Spain to serve the Bnei Anousim
By Margot Dudkevitch for Guysen International News

For the first time since the expulsion of Spain's Jews in 1492, , Rabbi Nissan Ben-Avraham, a descendant of forcibly-converted Spanish Jews, who immigrated to Israel, and received rabbinical ordination, will return to his homeland and serve there as a rabbi.
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MIDDLE-EAST - DEFENSE / SECURITY
Iran announces production of drones capable of hitting Israel
By Nigel Rice for Guysen International News

Iran said it has launched two production lines to build unmanned aircraft with a distance capability of reaching Israel. The latest developments come days after the Islamic Republic announced the opening of two new missile production plants, as well as a decision to begin enriching its own uranium. None of the reports have been verified by the West.
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INTERNATIONAL - SOCIETY
NY Times Jerusalem bureau chief's job threatened because his son serves in the IDF
By Blake Glick for Guysen International News
 
The Jerusalem bureau chief for the New York Times found himself in a pickle, after the newspaper’s editors were divided in their opinions over whether to assign him elsewhere because his son is currently serving in the Israel Defense Forces. Readers and one of the paper’s editors, bowed to Palestinian pressure and called to relieve him of his current post. Others insisted he remain.
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Tuesday 9 February 2010
13:32  President Shimon Peres calls Ahmadinejad a corrupt dictator, who funds terror and kills people on the streets (Guysen.International.News)
"Ahmadinejad is an example of moral corruption and a dictator who kills people on the street, funds terror, calls on the destruction of another people and denies the Holocaust, " Israel President Shimon Peres said during a meeting with school pupils in Modiin.
12:30  FM Lieberman says Israel hopes to salvage ties with Turkey (Guysen.International.News)
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Tuesday Israel will strive to salvage its strained relations with Turkey despite Ankara's "weekly" condemnations. "Every week to sharply condemn Israel, to say Israeli military forces have carried out genocide, to call operations to protect our citizens 'a crime against humanity," Lieberman said . The Israeli minister made the statements at the beginning of his three day trip in Azerbaijan.
11:38  Avalanches in Afghanistan kill at least 28 people (Guysen.International.News)
At least 28 people are dead and another 1,500 are stranded following multiple avalanches in Afghanistan. The Defense Ministry released a statement saying another 70 people have been injured as rescuers continue to dig out hundreds of vehicles stuck on a snow-blocked pass north of Kabul.
11:15  Pro-Palestinian British. academics urge singer Elton John to cancel his summer performance in Israel (Guysen.International.News)
A group of British academics called on singer Elton John to cancel his scheduled performance in Israel this June. "Political or not political, when you stand up on that stage in Tel Aviv, you line yourself up with a racist state," the British Committee for Universities of Palestine wrote in an open letter to the singer.
10:41  Iran begins uranium enrichment in presence of IAEA representatives, it said (Guysen.International.News)
Iran began work on Tuesday to produce higher-grade nuclear fuel for a Tehran research reactor, an official said, a move that may increase pressure for new UN sanctions due to Western fears it wants to develop atom bombs. A spokesman for Iran’s nuclear facility Ali Shirzadian said “we started preparatory work at 9:30 am (0600 GMT) in the presence of (International Atomic Energy Agency) representatives.”
09:30  Toyota recalls 437,00 vehicles worldwide to fix faulty brakes, company president apologises (Guysen.International.News)
Toyota says it is recalling about 437,000 Prius and other hybrid vehicles worldwide to fix brake problems — the latest in a string of embarrassing safety lapses at the world's largest automaker. "I apologize for causing trouble and worries for many customers over the quality and safety of Toyota," President Akio Toyoda said at a press conference Tuesday in Tokyo."We sincerely acknowledge safety concerns from our customers," he said. "We have decided to recall as we regard safety for our customers as our foremost priority
08:22  Activists campaigning for Gilad Shalit's release protest Palestinian prisoner family visits (Guysen.International.News)
Activistsi seeking the release of Gilad Shalit demonstrated outside the Hadarim Prison, protesting the fact that Palestinian prisoners are entitled to receive family visits, while no one has had access to Shalit since he was abducted three and a half years ago. Hadar Miller, one of the events organizers, said, "It is absurd that the Palestinian prisoners in Israel have cellular phones, television with 12 channels, canteen services, and family visits, while the Israeli captive isn't even afforded the right of one visit for three and a half years."
08:12  Fearing Iran's plans to start producing uranium, IAEA says it is prepared to intervene as necessary  (Guysen.International.News)
Fearing Iran's plan to start producing higher-enriched uranium will damage chances to save a proposed atomic fuel supply deal between Tehran and world powers, the IAEA is prepared to intervene as necessary, its spokeswoman said. The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that Iran had notified them of its decision to begin refining uranium at a higher level ."IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano noted with concern this decision, as it may affect, in particular, ongoing international efforts to ensure the availability of nuclear fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor [via the IAEA-brokered draft deal]," spokeswoman Gill Tudor said in a statement
08:06  Israel to be represented in upcoming Vancouver Winter Olympics (Guysen.International.News)
Israel will be represented in the Vancouver Winter Olympics by Latvian born skier Mikail Renzhin. Four years ago he earned himself a spot at the Winter Olympics in Turin. The opening ceremony for the Vancouver Olympics is this Friday
08:04  California police arrest hecklers who disrupted a lecture by Israel's Ambassador Michael Oren (Guysen.International.News)
California police made 12 arrests on Monday after a speech by Israel's Ambassador to the U.S.Michael Oren descended into chaos. Hecklers interrupted Oren's lecture at Irving University in Los Angeles and shouted "killers" and "how many Palestinians did you kill?"
00:55  Qassam rocket fired at southern Israel, no injuries (Guysen.International.News)
Palestinjian terror cells in northern Gaza fired a Qassam orcket at southern Israel late Monday. The rocket exploded in an open field in the Eshkol region causing no injuries or damage.
Monday 8 February 2010
21:56  Amazon alligator kills girl (Guysen.International.News)
A four meter long alligator has reportedly attacked and killed a girl who was swimming in a Brazilian jungle river. Firefighters tell local media that 11-year-old Gigliane do Nascimento Bira was playing with friends in shallow water in the northern state of Rondonia, in the Amazon region.
20:30  Palestinian FM says renewed peace talks with Israel must focus on borders (Guysen.International.News)
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki said Monday that renewed peace talks with Israel under U.S. mediation must focus first and foremost on the issue of borders. "Proximity talks should focus on one issue only. That issue is borders," Malki said during a visit to Tokyo with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Other conflict issues such as water, security and Jerusalem must then be brought up for discussion, said Malki
20:15  Film stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie suing British tabloid that claimed they were splitting up (Guysen.International.News)
A London law firm says Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are suing a British tabloid that reported they were to split. Keith Schillings, of Schillings Lawyers, said in a statement Monday that the celebrity couple had begun legal proceedings against the News of The World newspaper.
19:07  Palestinian President Abbas decides to hold municipal elections in West Bank in July. Hamas opposes (Guysen.International.News)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' government decided Monday to hold municipal elections in the West Bank in July, the first voting since Abbas' Fatah movement was trounced by the militant Islamic Hamas in national polls four years ago. Abbas' rivals in Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, signaled they will not participate in the July 17 election, virtually guaranteeing that Fatah will reclaim key cities where Hamas won in the last round of local elections five years ago. But a Hamas boycott would also likely exclude Gaza from the voting and diminish the potential of the election to compare the present strengths of the bitter rivals.
18:35  Teheran cuts ties with British Museum for failing to lend them an exhibit (Guysen.International.News)
Iran said it will cut ties with the British Museum on Monday because of the museum's failure to lend Tehran an ancient Babylonian artifact described as the world's earliest bill of rights.
17:01  AL Qaida in Yemen calls to wage a war against Jews and Christians in the region (Guysen.International.News)
The Yemen-based wing of al-Qaida called on Muslims in the Arabian Peninsula to wage jihad, or holy war, against Christians and Jews in the region. "The Christians, the Jews, and the treacherous apostate rulers have pounced on you...you have no other way out from this plight other than to wage jihad," the wing's deputy leader, Saeed al-Shehri, a former Saudi inmate at the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, said in an audio tape posted on a website often used by Islamist groups.
16:30  Iran's FM: Israel is a crazy nation led by crazy people. (Guysen.International.News)
Israel is “a crazy nation led by crazy people,” Iranian Foreign Minister Manoucher Mottaki said Monday adding he does not take seriously Israel’s threats to attack Iran’s nuclear sites. “The Zionist regime is at its weakest point and holds the weakest positions for the past three years. This is the first time we see this regime facing two separate and important defeats and the seventh time Israeli forces tried to enter Lebanon and force war upon it,”Mottaki said in an interview with Al Jazeera Monday. Jeering at Israel, Mottaki said Israeli will never attack because it knows Iran will respond.
15:22  Hamas leader visits Moscow (Guysen.International.News)
A senior Hamas official is visiting Moscow as Russia seeks to expand its role in Middle East peacemaking. The Russian Foreign Ministry issued no information about Monday's meeting between Khaled Mashaal and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Moscow hopes to host a Middle East peace conference