Labor Party Chairman Ehud Barak called Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu's refusal to participate in an emergency government "a shame", adding that his party "will exhaust every opportunity to establish a stable government with the ability to function and achieve its goals."
Barak went on to say, "At this time Israel needs a national emergency government, not as a slogan but as a real national requirement. I was pleased to hear that Tzipi Livni, after being charged by the president with the task of assembling a government, also joined in the call for a national unity government."
Car plows into soldiers in Jerusalem; 19 hurt
Palestinian shot dead after ramming car into crowd of soldiers in Old City
JERUSALEM - A Palestinian rammed his car into a group of Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem on Monday, hours after Foreign Minster Tzipi Livni agreed to try to form a new government that can avert an election and forge a peace deal.
The man, who neighbors said lived in Jerusalem, was shot dead after injuring 15 of the soldiers and four others, under the walls of the Old City on a road that marks the dividing "Green Line" between Arab East Jerusalem and the Jewish west.
'J'lem terrorist was a Hamas member'
The terrorist who rammed his BMW into a group of soldiers at a central Jerusalem thoroughfare late Monday was a member of Hamas, according to the Palestinian Ma'an news agency.
Qassem Mughrabi, 19, from east Jerusalem's Jebl Mukaber, the same village that was home to the Mercaz Harav terrorist who killed eight students in March, wounded fifteen people before being shot dead by an off-duty IDF officer.
The assailant had no previous security record, police said Tuesday.
The 19-year-old had wanted to marry his cousin, and when she refused his offer, he decided to carry out a terror attack, Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said.
[Do I hear 'Dueling Banjos" in the background?--Amanda]
US report: Rise in violence against Messianic Jews and Christians
Violence against Christian evangelical and Messianic Jewish communities in Israel increased significantly during the period between July 1, 2007 and June 30, 2008, according to the US State Department's Annual Report on International Religious Freedom.
The report, released last week, put blame for the "tensions" on "certain Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities."
But except in one case, the report, which noted numerous incidents of discrimination or violence against Christian or Messianic Jewish communities or individuals, failed to prove that the perpetrators were Orthodox or ultra-Orthodox.
Israel ambassador to UN: General Assembly chief is an Israel hater
Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Gabriela Shalev on Thursday called the President of the UN General Assembly Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann an "Israel hater" for having hugged Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a vocal enemy of Israel.
Brockmann has incurred the wrath of the Israeli delegation before, when in his first speech as the president of the international body he said that "the greatest case failure of the United Nations is the lack of a Palestinian state."
Shalev voiced her outrage in an interview on Thursday, condemning Brockmann's gesture at the end of Ahmadinejad's address at the opening of the 63rd General Assembly on Tuesday, which was aggressive and anti-Israel.
Brockmann, a 75-year-old Catholic priest, was scheduled to dine alongside Ahmadinejad in a meal marking the end the Ramadan fast, organized by five American religious groups.
McCain 'Would Not Promote Israel-PA Talks'
(IsraelNN.com) A U.S. administration under John McCain would discourage Israeli-Syrian peace talks and refrain from actively engaging in the Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic process. That was the message delivered over the weekend by two McCain advisers – Max Boot, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Richard Williamson, the Bush administration's special envoy to Sudan – during a retreat hosted by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy at the Lansdowne Resort in rural Virginia.
Richard Danzig, a representative of Barack Obama, said the Democratic presidential candidate would take the opposite approach on both issues.
In an interview with the Atlantic magazine over the summer, U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) insisted that in his presidency he would serve as the chief negotiator in the peace process. But at the retreat this weekend, Boot said pursuing a deal between Israel and the PA would not be a top priority in a McCain administration.
Boot called the Bush administration’s renewed efforts to promote Israeli-PA talks "a mistake." He also claimed Israel's talks with Syria betray the stake that the United States has invested in Lebanon's fragile democracy. "John McCain is not going to betray the lawfully elected government of Lebanon," Boot said.
Williamson said that "Israel should not be dictated to in dealing with Syria or dealing with Lebanon," but added: "Hopefully as friends they will listen to us."
Oregon boy, 12, invents solar cell to help solve country's energy crisis
BEAVERTON, Ore. – A new invention could revolutionize solar energy – and it was made by a 12-year-old in Beaverton.
Despite his age, William Yuan has already studied nuclear fusion and nanotechnology, and he is on his way to solving the energy crisis.
...
Encouraged by his Meadow Park Middle School science teacher, the 12-year-old developed a 3D solar cell.
"Regular solar cells are only 2D and only allow light interaction once," he said.
And his cell can absorb both visible and UV light.
Nigeria: Cholera Outbreak Kills 97 in North
Local government officials say cholera outbreaks across Katsina, Zamfara, Bauchi and Kano states in northern Nigeria have killed 97 people in the past two weeks, making it the worst outbreak in the north for several years, according to an official from National Primary Healthcare Agency (NPHA) in Abuja.
More than 60 people have died in Zamfara state in the past two weeks, according to Tukur Sani Jangebe, Zamfara's state commissioner for religious affairs.
"It is quite alarming and it is quite unusual for northern Nigeria. If up to 100 people have died from cholera in just two weeks, you can only imagine how many more are affected by the disease," an official from the government-run NPHA who requested anonymity, told IRIN.
Finnish college gunman kills 10
A gunman has killed 10 people at a college in the town of Kauhajoki in Finland before shooting himself and later dying in hospital.
Media reports named the gunman as Matti Juhani Saari, 22, a trainee chef at the vocational college.
The suspect posted a video of himself on the internet last week firing a gun.
As a result of this, police interviewed him on Monday but decided they did not have enough evidence to revoke his licence, the interior minister said.
Copycat fears spark panic among students in Finland
KAUHAJOKI, Finland (AP) -- Bomb threats and a flurry of menacing mobile phone messages sparked panic Thursday among students in Finland, as fears grew that copycat attacks would follow the nation's second school massacre in less than a year.
Police have linked the attacks carried out by Matti Saari (left) and Pekka-Eric Auvinen.
At least one school was evacuated, police questioned two young men about violent Internet postings and a 15-year-old boy was reportedly detained for sending threats to another school.
CERN says collider will have to wait until spring
GENEVA: Scientists will have to wait until spring to use the world's largest particle collider for groundbreaking research because previously announced repairs will run into the normal winter shutdown, the operators said Tuesday.
China’s Top Food Quality Official Resigns
SHANGHAI — The chief of China’s food and product quality agency was forced to resign Monday in a growing scandal over the country’s tainted milk supply, which has already sickened more than 50,000 infants and killed at least three children, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
EU Bans Baby Food Imports From China Containing Milk Products
The European Union has banned imports of baby food that contains Chinese milk and is considering restrictions on other Chinese food products with powdered milk, as a tainted milk scandal in China takes on international proportions. Lisa Bryant has more from Paris.
The European Commission said in a statement it would ban all products for children that contained milk from China - regardless of how small the quantity. The European Union's executive arm also said authorities would test products coming from China that had more than 15 percent of milk powder.
Drought claims more of NSW
Expectations for this year's harvest in NSW now vary widely as drought now grips are wider area of the State.
Minister for Primary Industries Ian Macdonald says that some good rain has fallen in parts of central and northern NSW in recent days, farmers in the south continue to pray for the same good fortune.
Even so, the northen and central falls have done little to impact the latest drought figures, which have seen the area of NSW in drought increase from 66.2pc to 71.6pc.
Militants kidnap 155 workers building Afghan base
KABUL, Afghanistan: Militants stopped three buses carrying Afghan laborers through western Afghanistan and kidnapped everyone on board — around 155 people, officials said Monday.
The laborers were working on a military base for the Afghan army in the city of Farah, said Gov. Younis Rasouli. He said 156 Afghans were seized on Sunday, while Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said 155 were taken.
No one immediately claimed responsibility. Bashary said he knew of no demands from the kidnappers.
Death toll rises in Orissa floods
At least 17 people have been killed by floods triggered by monsoon rains in India's eastern state of Orissa.
Some 2.4 million people in Orissa have been affected, officials say. More than 200,000 people have been evacuated from the worst-hit areas to relief camps.
Nearly 1,850 villages are under water, in the worst floods in 50 years.
Myanmar government frees 9,000 prisoners
YANGON, Myanmar: The military government of Myanmar said it had freed 9,002 prisoners Tuesday, including the longest-serving political prisoner, Win Tin, and about six other members of the opposition.
The vast majority of those released appeared to have been convicted of crimes not related to political activity, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Myanmar, a group based in neighboring Thailand.
North Korea ousts U.N. nuclear inspectors
VIENNA -- North Korea kicked out U.N. weapons inspectors from a plant that previously produced weapons-grade plutonium and notified the International Atomic Energy Agency that it would restart operations as early as next week, the nuclear watchdog said Wednesday.
The moves mean that North Korea could be reprocessing plutonium in a matter of months.
They also kill what little hope remained that the Bush administration could complete a denuclearization deal in the president's remaining months in office. Although the government in Pyongyang has been warning for weeks that it would restart nuclear activities, the speed and extent of its moves have been discouraging to Washington.
Family barred from burying their dead stepfather on a Saturday ... because he isn't a Muslim
The family of a 75-year-old man have been refused permission to bury him on a Saturday because he is not a Muslim.
Harold Lemaire died last week and his family wanted the service to be held this Saturday to make it easier for far-flung relatives to attend.
But their plans were scuppered after the council said only Muslim and Jewish funerals are allowed on weekends and bank holidays.
Sheffield City Council offers the 'extended service' to Jews and Muslims because their faith and traditions require the dead to be buried as soon as possible.
But as Jews cannot bury their dead on the Sabbath – from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday – it means that effectively only Muslims can use the service.
Spanish soldier killed in car bombing
MADRID: A soldier was killed early Monday in a car bombing for which the authorities blamed the Basque separatist group ETA. It was the third attack in northern Spain within 24 hours, Interior Ministry officials said.
The bomb exploded around 1 a.m. outside a military residence in the town of Santoña in northern Cantabria Province. The soldier, Luis Conde de la Cruz, 46, was killed as the police evacuated the residence after receiving a phone call in the name of ETA warning of the attack, an Interior Ministry spokesman said.
Six people were wounded, including an army captain and a 70-year-old woman who was passing by the residence. They were reported to be in serious but stable condition.
Less than 24 hours before, a 100-kilogram, or 220-pound, bomb exploded outside the police headquarters in the Basque town of Ondarroa, wounding 10 people, and another outside a savings bank in the Basque city Vitoria, destroying the building's facade.
Gore urges civil disobedience to stop coal plants
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nobel Peace Prize winner and environmental crusader Al Gore urged young people on Wednesday to engage in civil disobedience to stop the construction of coal plants without the ability to store carbon.
The former U.S. vice president, whose climate change documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" won an Academy Award, told a philanthropic meeting in New York City that "the world has lost ground to the climate crisis."
"If you're a young person looking at the future of this planet and looking at what is being done right now, and not done, I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration," Gore told the Clinton Global Initiative gathering to loud applause.
[Maybe someone can go all 'civil disobedience' on his energy-hog private jet and mansion.--Amanda]
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