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27 Jan 12

‘Israel to Give Obama 12 Hours Notice on Attacking Iran’
The Netanyahu government also will not coordinate with the United States an attack on the Islamic Republic, according to the report, the latest in a number of suposed scenarios concerning cooperation or lack of it between Jerusalem and Washington.  

Barney Frank Is Getting Married
A wedding date has not been set, according to a New England Cable News report, and a spokesman for the 16-term Massachusetts congressman declined to provide CNN with any additional details about when the couple will tie the knot. Frank, 71, has no plans to say anything about the event, spokesman Harry Gural said.  

Meet the ‘Preppers’ — The Americans Stockpiling Food & Water for a Possible Collapse
The world’s a scary place. Wars, famines, corrupt politicians, terrorism, imploding economies — the list goes on. There are plenty of issues worth fearing, which is why a subset of the nation is preparing for what they see as impending calamity. These individuals, dubbed “preppers,” are stocking up on food, guns, water and other items that they may need should the economy erupt or a massive natural disaster strike. With so many possibilities for problematic occurrences, these individuals want to ensure that they can live beyond any tragically defining moments.  

Turkey 1st Muslim nation to show 'Shoah'
We should acknowledge the courage and determination of the Turks," said Lanzmann, who spent 11 years working on the documentary. "Turkey is a country people don't know and understand very badly." Turkey's broadcast of the film is the culmination of work by the Aladdin Project, a Paris-based group which tries to improve Jewish-Muslim relations.  

Bus-Size Asteroid to Give Earth Close Shave Friday
The newfound asteroid 2012 BX34, which is about the size of a city bus, will pass within 36,750 miles (59,044 kilometers) of Earth at about 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT) Friday, astronomers with NASA's Asteroid Watch program announced via Twitter. The space rock is about 36 feet (11 meters) wide, making it much too small to pose a threat to Earth.  

PA officials say Israeli border proposal a non-starter
Palestinian officials said Friday that Israel's presentation of its ideas for border and security arrangements of a future Palestinian state at a meeting in Amman on Wednesday was a non-starter, envisaging a fenced-off territory of cantons that would preserve most Jewish settlements. Israel's envoy to the talks, Yitzhak Molcho, outlined Wednesday night for the Palestinians the principles and parameters that will guide Israel's policy on border issues, an Israeli government official said.  

Hamas quietly quits Syria as violence continues
The leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, has effectively abandoned his headquarters in the Syrian capital, Damascus, diplomatic and intelligence sources said on Friday. Damascus is isolated following a bloody, 10-month uprising against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad and is not secure, the diplomat said, adding that Meshaal was no longer able to receive international visitors there.  

Corruption scandal shakes Vatican as internal letters leaked
Vigano, currently the Vatican's ambassador in Washington, said in the letters that when he took the job in 2009 he discovered a web of corruption, nepotism and cronyism linked to the awarding of contracts to outside companies at inflated prices. In one letter, Vigano tells the pope of a smear campaign against him (Vigano) by other Vatican officials who wanted him transferred because they were upset that he had taken drastic steps to save the Vatican money by cleaning up its procedures.  

Survey: Record number of Israeli Jews believe in God
Fully 80 percent of Israeli Jews believe that God exists - the highest figure found by the Guttman-Avi Chai survey since this review of Israeli-Jewish beliefs began two decades ago. The study also found that 70 percent of respondents believe the Jews are the "Chosen People," 65 percent believe the Torah and mitzvot (religious commandments ) are God-given, and 56 percent believe in life after death.  

Palestinians don't want two-state solution, they want to eliminate Israel
Mitt Romney said on Thursday that the Palestinians are not interested in a two-state solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict, rather that they are interested in the elimination of the State of Israel. The Republican presidential candidate was prompted by a question posed by a Palestinian-American Republican at a CNN-sponsored debate in Jacksonville, Florida on Thursday night.  

Outside Syria's capital, suburbs look like war zone
When Arab League observers headed to the suburbs of Damascus on Thursday, Syrian security refused to accompany them to most areas, because they are no longer in control there. In some towns no more than a 15-minute drive from the capital, the governor of rural Damascus warned that gunmen were walking the streets.  

Dempsey: Strike against Iran would be 'premature'
The US is committed to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and is prepared to use force to that end, but a military strike against the Islamic Republic would be "premature" at this juncture, Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an interview with the National Journal on Thursday.  

Arab League to call for UN backing on Syria plan
The Arab League is to ask the United Nations Security Council to back its plan to end the violence in Syria. On Sunday, the League called for the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, to step down and hand power to his deputy.  

Spain unemployment total passes five million
Spain's unemployment figure passed the five million mark in the last quarter of 2011, official figures show. The National Statistics Institute said 5.3 million people were out of work at the end of December, up from 4.9 million in the third quarter.  

Portugal and Greek concerns weigh on world stocks
World stocks fell from a 5-1/2 month high on Friday as gains spurred by the Federal Reserve's pledge of low interest rates gave way to concerns about Portugal, seen as the next domino in the euro zone crisis, and uncertainty over Greek debt talks.  

Magnitude 5.3 quake off Greek islands, no injuries
Greek authorities say an earthquake with preliminary 5.3-magnitude has shaken the southern Aegean Sea islands, but no injuries or damage have been reported.  

Taxpayers still owed $132.9B from bailout: report
A government watchdog says U.S. taxpayers are still owed $132.9 billion that companies haven't repaid from the financial bailout, and some of that will never be recovered.  

26 Jan 12

Ban Ki-moon to visit Israel, Palestinian territories
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will visit Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan in a Middle East tour supporting the peace process, Ban said Wednesday. "My visit comes at an important moment," the UN chief said at the United Nations headquarters in New York.  

Anti-Semitism still haunts Germany
What on Earth does the Jewish community in Germany make of the flurry of headlines this week that described substantial anti-Semitism, and how have they reacted to plans to publish extracts from Mein Kampf?  

'Cloaking' a 3-D object from all angles demonstrated
Now, Andrea Alu and colleagues at the University of Texas at Austin have pulled off the trick in "free space", making an 18cm-long cylinder invisible to incoming microwave light. "What we do is different; we realise a shell that scatters [light] by itself, but the interesting point is that if you combine the shell with the object inside, the two counter out and the object becomes completely invisible," Prof Alu told BBC News.  

Obama, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer Share Tense Tarmac Moment
Brewer, who was on the tarmac to greet Obama, hand-delivered a letter before engaging the president “intensely” for several minutes, including pointing her finger directly at him, according to Politico’s Carrie Budoff Brown, acting as a pool reporter for other media outlets.  

Obama’s Former Faith Adviser: ‘I, Frankly, Am Glad American Civil Religion is Dying’
Shaun Casey, the religious affairs adviser to presidential candidate Barack Obama in 2008, said at a discussion on Tuesday about “God and Politics” that the demise of religious society in the United States is a good thing.  

Halt in Iran oil could push crude up by 30 percent
If Iran halts exports to countries without offsets from other sources it would likely trigger an "initial" oil price jump of 20 to 30 percent, or about $20 to $30 a barrel, the IMF said in its first public comment on a possible Iranian oil supply disruption.  

‘Massive’ Blockade Needed to Stop Iran Threat, Israel’s Steinitz Says
The gravity of a potential nuclear-armed Iran is such that stronger action is needed, he said. A “massive blockade,” so that “no one can even go out,” stands some chance of success, he said.  

Death Valley's Big Bang: Volcano "Potentially Active"
The new study, though, suggests the massive blast occurred more recently, when Death Valley was very much as it is today—which could mean that conditions are still ripe for an eruption.  

Federal Mortgage Insurer Headed Toward Collapse
“We are watching—in not-so-slow motion—the same gradual descent into insolvency that occurred with Fannie and Freddie a little more than three years ago,” reads the outlook for FHA authored by Edward Pinto, an executive vice president and chief credit officer for Fannie Mae until the late 1980s, and Peter J. Wallison, a general counsel of the U.S. Treasury Department during the Reagan administration.  

Iran 'will not be hurt by oil embargo' Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vows
Speaking to state television, Mr Ahmadinejad declared: "Once our trade with the Europe was around 90 percent but now it has reached to 10 percent and we are not seeking this 10 percent... experience has shown that Iranian nation will not be hurt," "For the past 30 years the Americans have not been buying oil from us. Our central bank has no relations with you," he added.  

Palestinians: Peace negotiations with Israel have ended
The time frame that the Palestinians have allowed for talks with Israel in Amman under Jordanian auspices expires on Thursday. According to diplomatic sources associated with the Middle East Quartet - the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia - last-minute efforts are underway to head off the talks' collapse, but the prospects seem slim.  

Fiji declares a state of disaster over severe flooding
Fiji has declared a state of disaster over flooding and landslides that have killed at least six people and displaced thousands. Officials say that at least 3,500 people are now in temporary shelters. The state of disaster has been declared in the western regions of Fiji's largest island of Viti Levu, where the flooding impact is worst.  

Fed not to raise US interest rates until late 2014
The Federal Reserve has said it does not now expect to raise interest rates in the US until late 2014. The surprise move sent the dollar sharply lower in markets, and caused US government borrowing costs to fall. In its regular policy statement, the central bank said it saw "significant downside risks" to the economy, and said inflation had fallen back to a level in line with its mandate.