* Kremlin official confirms PM’s trip A senior Kremlin official confirmed Wednesday to the Russian paper Kommersant that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu did indeed make a clandestine trip to Russia on Monday.

* Gas Bonanza Investors Ready to Dive in Dead Sea for Black Gold An oil drilling consortium which includes companies that found billions of dollars in natural gas off the Haifa coast will begin in October to look for black gold in an area along the Dead Sea.

* Lebanese PM-designate resigns after failing to form cabinet Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri said Thursday he is abandoning efforts to form a new government.

* Iran: We won’t discuss nuclear program Just a day after Iran presented world powers with a proposal for new talks, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, suggested on Thursday that any negotiations with Western powers would not address the Islamic republic’s nuclear program.

* U.S. Says Iran Could Expedite Nuclear Bomb American intelligence agencies have concluded in recent months that Iran has created enough nuclear fuel to make a rapid, if risky, sprint for a nuclear weapon.

* 80% of Europeans against Iran strike European support for the US president’s handling of foreign policy has soared since President Barack Obama took over from former President George W. Bush.

* Ya’alon: Right to build ‘indisputable’ Vice Premier Moshe Ya’alon continued to place himself at odds with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday when he spoke in favor of settlement development and against territorial concessions.

* Afghan fraud ballots invalidated The Afghan Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) has for the first time invalidated some ballots from the presidential election because of fraud.

* Barroso Nears Second EU Term as Socialists Fail to Block Vote European Commission President Jose Barroso headed for a second term after his Socialist opponents failed to block a parliamentary confidence vote next week.

* Russia, Venezuela sign package of oil deals Russia and Venezuela signed on Thursday a package of deals, including one to develop the Latin American country’s Orinoco oil belt.

* US Admits Iran near ‘Breakout Point’ for Nuclear Bomb The United States has confirmed long-time Israeli intelligence reports that Iran is close to achieving the ability to produce a nuclear bomb.

* PM’s ‘military installation’ tour was ‘secret trip to Russia’ The reason for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s mysterious 10-hour disappearance from the media radar on Monday was a clandestine trip to Russia.

* PA Calls Building for Jews ‘Incitement’ The Palestinian Authority official who oversees the “settlement portfolio” has charged that Israeli building of homes for Jews in Judea and Samaria is “incitement”.

* Hamas, Fatah set to reconcile by 2010 Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal’s recent visit to Egypt has brought the Islamist movement and Fatah closer to ending their differences.

* Transport Minister promises to invest millions in Jewish Hebron Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud) on Tuesday visited the West Bank city of Hebron, where he promised settlers he would invest millions of shekels to improve the road connecting Kiryat Arba to the Tomb of the Patriarchs.

* EU Criticizes Israeli Settlements The European Union has expressed concern about Israel’s decision to approve new settler homes in the occupied West Bank.

* The Emerging Axis of Iran and Venezuela The diplomatic ties between Iran and Venezuela go back almost 50 years and until recently amounted to little more than the routine exchange of diplomats.

* Market crisis ‘will happen again’ The world will suffer another financial crisis.

* Underwater laser pops in navy ops US military researchers are developing a method for communication that uses lasers to make sound underwater.

* Top defense official: Syria losing clout over ‘Hezbollahstan’ Syria may not be able to curb Lebanon’s Hezbollah guerrillas, a senior Israeli defense official said on Tuesday.

By: Hillel Fendel – Arutz Sheva

The Jewish Community of Hevron marked the 80th anniversary of the 1929 pogrom, in which 67 Jews were slaughtered with axes and otherwise by their Arab neighbors, at a public ceremony in the City of the Patriarchs on Monday. Survivors and descendants of victims of the carnage were present, as were Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin (whose mother’s cousins were among the victims) and Minister Yuli Edelstein.

The massacre not only destroyed the Hevron Jewish community, but was also part of a series of lethal Arab violence that shook the entire Jewish populace, known as the “yishuv,” in pre-State Palestine. An early formation of the ‘Hagana’ defense forces prevented the massacre of the Jews of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa, and also held at bay thousands of Arabs who had come to kill the Jews of Hulda, near Rehovot. However, Jews were killed in Motza and Tzfat (Safed), and were evacuated to safety from Gaza – thus ending the long-time existence of the Jewish community there.

Former Knesset Member Elyakim HaEtzni, a Kiryat Arba resident and expert in Hevron history, told Arutz-7 that two main population sectors were seriously shaken by the massacres:

“The first group shocked by the murders was the ‘Old Yishuv,’ i.e., Jews who were either anti-Zionist or were not part of the pro-Zionist camp. According to their own accounts, these Jews had been living peacefully with their Arab neighbors in Hevron for generations, and had even received promises from them that nothing bad would happen to them. The Jews were convinced that the murderous Arab opposition was aimed only at the Zionists and Zionism, and they never prepared any defense against this violence, thinking that they were not part of the dispute. They also did not wish to upset the Arabs by giving them the impression that they didn’t trust them.”

“The second group traumatized by the massacres,” continued HaEtzni, “was the Zionists. The depth of their trauma can only be appreciated by studying the Zionist ethos of that period. The Zionists believed that as soon as a Jew set his foot on this soil, new rules would apply to him. The Zionists felt that the conditions of the exile simply did not apply here. But if you compare the accounts of the 1929 Arab massacre of Jews in Hevron to the accounts of the Kishinev pogroms 25 years earlier, you will be startled by the parallels. The fact that a pogrom could take place here, simply did not jibe with the Zionist worldview.”

One of the survivors of what has become known as the Tarpat Slaughter in Hevron (Tarpat is the Hebrew equivalent of the Jewish year 5689, in which the massacre occurred) was Rabbi Dov Cohen, who was a 17-year-old student in the Yeshiva of Hevron, Knesset Yisrael-Slobodka at the time. He spoke to Arutz-7 on the 70th anniversary of the massacre.
Asked if he remembers any warning signs of what was about to happen, Rabbi Cohen said:

“Until that time, in Hevron, the Jews lived in peace and quiet with the Arabs. There was tension in the country for a whole a week or two before the massacre. Not only in Hevron, but all over the country, although in Hevron it was a bit worse. As I said, relations with our Arab neighbors, prior to that night, were very good. After a day of studies, the yeshiva boys used to go for long walks on the outskirts of the city, even very late at night, and feared nothing…”

Arutz-7: Did the Arabs also attack the yeshiva in Hevron on the night of the massacre?

Rabbi Cohen: Not exactly. Allow me to explain: On Friday, Arab youths started to throw rocks at us in our part of the city. Late that afternoon, a young student named Shmuel Rosenholtz went to the yeshiva before the rest of the students. He was there alone, and some time later, Arab rioters broke into the yeshiva and murdered him. After Shabbat began, we were informed that Shmuel had been murdered, and that he was lying dead [in the study hall]. We were instructed not to go to the yeshiva over Shabbat.

Anyhow, that night, the son of Rabbi Slonim, who was the manager of what later became Bank Leumi, went from house to house, telling people that, upon his father’s instructions, whomever was concerned for his own safety was invited to stay in his home. Rabbi Slonim was highly regarded in the community and even had a gun. I was personally not so worried about the danger, and so I did not go to the Slonim home, although many people did. In the course of that Shabbat, the Arabs murdered more people in that house than anywhere else.

On Shabbat morning, almost the entire Jewish population gathered at the police station, Beit Romano. Everyone recounted what had happened in his home the previous night. We prayed the morning service. There was no Torah there from which to read, just a Bible. After completing the Mussaf service, we prepared to recite the Kiddush prayer. All of a sudden, we began hearing noises outside the building; masses of Arabs were gathering on the streets outside of the police station. I looked out the window, and saw that thousands of Arabs were descending from Har Hevron to the valley below – all shouting “Itbach el Yahud! (Kill the Jews!)” At one point, some of them tried to break down the door of the police station.

[Ed. note: The survivors remained in Beit Romano for three days. The Arabs sacked their houses and destroyed their property. A religious quorum of ten men was allowed to participate in the funeral for the murdered Jews, held at night, in the ancient Jewish cemetery in the city. The surviving Jews were taken to Jerusalem – exiled from their homes and from the city of the Patriarchs. For the first time in hundreds of years, Hevron had no Jewish residents.]

Arutz-7: What do you think today of the Jewish settlement in Hevron?

Rabbi Cohen: I am very happy …but I am still sad that we were exiled from Hevron, I still have a heavy heart when I think of it. When there wasn’t a Jewish community there at all, it was painful. It is a little bit of a consolation [that a Jewish community exists there today]…but it is still impossible for Jews to reach certain neighborhoods where we used to live…

Arutz-7: There is a portion of the Israeli population that believes that Jews there are guilty of harming the relations with the Arabs.

Rabbi Cohen: Why? The Jews have no right to live there? The Jews, who were bequeathed the city from the patriarchs? And who lived there hundreds of years?!

By: Michael Schuman – Yahoo News

The Great Recession hasn’t been great for free trade. As unemployment rose and consumer demand dried up throughout much of the world, governments have been more focused on protecting their own industries and workers than making the compromises necessary to promote international commerce. The U.S., typically an enthusiastic trade promoter, included “Buy American” clauses in its stimulus package and propped up its flailing auto industry with handouts that in better times would have been criticized as unfair subsidies. Although a meeting of ministers in New Delhi in early September promised to restart long-stalled World Trade Organization negotiations aimed at reaching a new, global consensus on freer trade, wide differences remain between the developed and developing world that make a final deal difficult.

Yet against this dim backdrop, the part of the world that was hit hardest by the trade crash – Asia – has been actively opening up its regional markets. According to the Asian Development Bank, the number of free-trade agreements (FTAs) signed by Asian countries has grown from just three in 2000 to 56 by the end of August. Nineteen of those FTAs have been made among 16 major Asian economies, a trend that could help Asia become a powerful trading bloc on par with the one created by the North American Free Trade Agreement. “Asian integration is sort of a dream, but it is much more realistic than it was before,” says Ganeshan Wignaraja, an Asia Development Bank economist. “There is a move toward making a better business environment in Asia. The momentum is quite strong.” (See pictures of the global financial crisis.)

That can be seen clearly in the continuing stream of agreements tying together regional powers. In August, India inked two FTAs in a week, with South Korea and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Meanwhile, ASEAN and China are expected to bring most of the final tariff reductions of an FTA signed in 2004 into full effect in 2010. More deals are likely to come. Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou has made his No.1 policy priority reaching a “comprehensive economic framework” with China that would reduce tariffs on Taiwan goods entering the Chinese market. Yukio Hatoyama, likely the next prime minister of Japan, has stressed the need for greater integration in Asia, even proposing the establishment of a euro-style common currency.

Although this trend has been in place for several years, the drive to lower trade barriers has taken on fresh urgency amid the recession. Fears of an extended slump in spending by U.S. consumers – primary buyers of Asia’s manufactured goods – have prompted policymakers to look to China, India and other countries in the region as customers for exports. “This whole notion of being able to export yourself [into] a recovery and aiming at the U.S. market I think is not possible anymore,” Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak told CNN in August. “So we do need to configure a new economic model.” As manufacturing networks in the region become more intertwined – and as Asian consumers become wealthier and freer spending – trade within Asia is now seen as critical to future economic expansion. Asia’s nascent recovery has shown the potentially huge benefits. Intra-regional trade last year made up 57% of total Asia trade, up from just 37% in 1980. “In the past Asia produced for America and Europe,” Philippines President Gloria Arroyo said in a recent CNBC interview. “Now, Asia is producing for Asia.”

Of course, Asia is still dependent on sales to the West. But regional free-trade agreements could reduce the region’s exposure to the U.S. by giving Asian companies preferential treatment in selling to Asian companies and consumers. These benefits could come with downsides for the world as a whole, however. Companies in countries left out of the trade pacts – for example, the U.S. – could face competitive disadvantages when trying to tap fast-growing Asian markets. This, in turn, could have a negative impact on efforts to rebalance excessive debt and deficits in the U.S. and excessive savings in Asia. Bilateral FTAs “create a non-level playing field with advantages for Asian countries,” says Eswar Prasad, professor of trade policy at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. “If the most dynamically growing part of the global economy gives the U.S. restricted access, that has an impact on the whole rebalancing movement.”

Some analysts also worry that intra-Asian trade pacts could hinder WTO trade negotiations. Asia’s FTAs are a clear expression of how frustrated Asian governments have become with the WTO process – with fewer parties at the table, bilateral agreements have proven easier to attain than a sweeping, global consensus. But “the world will not be better off if we separate into different trading blocs,” says Edward Leung, chief economist at the Hong Kong Trade Development Council.

Richard Baldwin, professor of international economics at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, believes that Asia will remain heavily reliant on demand from the West for years to come. Tariffs in Asia have already come down so significantly, he says, that the additional benefits of FTAs don’t give Asian firms that much of an edge over foreign rivals. “So far the margins of preference are low and so the degree of discrimination is low,” he says. Some analysts also see clear limits to how closely Asian nations are willing to tie themselves together. Continued political and economic rivalries, especially between the big economies of north Asia (China, South Korea and Japan), place high hurdles in the path of a true Asia trade bloc. “The notion that there is going to be a ‘Fortress Asia’ is really not correct,” says Vinod Aggarwal, director of the APEC Study Center at the University of California-Berkeley.

Still, the attraction of the benefits from greater regional integration could prove powerful enough to eventually overcome the roadblocks. ADB’s Wignaraja foresees Asia becoming a NAFTA-style free-trading zone within the next 10 years. “In Asia, the only thing everyone agrees upon is business,” he says. “In the end, pragmatism will prevail.” If so, the world economy will never be the same.

By: Yedioth internet

Iran is set to Islamise humanities studies in universities after supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei charged that Western teachings make students question religion, state news agency IRNA reported on Sunday.

“The Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies was tasked by the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council to revise the human sciences curriculum,” the agency said.

“In our country a large part of the syllabus… is not in line with our Iranian-Islamic culture. This calls for a revision,” it quoted institute head Hamid Reza Ayatollahi as saying.

He said the body would revise the syllabus “based on the supreme leader’s recommendations.”

During a meeting with academics last week, Khamenei criticised human sciences taught in the Islamic republic’s universities.

“If we teach a copy of what Westerners have said and written to our young people, then we are conveying to them both doubt and disbelief in Islamic principles and in our values,” he said.

“Most human sciences are based on materialistic philosophies that see the human being as an animal,” charged the all-powerful supreme leader.

He said he was “worried” that nearly two million students are currently majoring in human sciences.

Iranian universities are a hotbed of political activism, and suffered massive purges in the wake of the 1979 Islamic revolution during a three-year cultural revolution aimed at Islamising campuses and curricula.

Scores of lecturers were sacked and students ejected after being perceived to be leftist or liberal.

Hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for a purge of liberal and secular academic staff in 2006, a year that saw a number of lecturers forced into early retirement from leading universities.

More than 60 percent of Iran’s 70-million-strong population is aged under 30, and hundreds of thousands of young people poured on to the streets to protest against Ahmadinejad’s disputed June 12 re-election.

The protests, which have since subsided after a heavy crackdown by the authorities, have plunged Iran into its worst internal crisis in three decades.

* ‘Arab world should arm against Iran’ US allies in the Middle East should strengthen their respective militaries in order to deter Iran from continuing its contested nuclear weapons program.

* Hevron Massacre, 80 Years After The Jewish Community of Hevron marked the 80th anniversary of the 1929 pogrom, in which 67 Jews were slaughtered with axes and otherwise by their Arab neighbors.

* Lieberman: Despite settlement freeze, Right won’t topple gov’t The Right will not bring down Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s government, and Israel Beiteinu will not leave the coalition in the face of the anticipated six-month moratorium on new construction in the West Bank.

* Poll: Hamas approval rating extremely low Hamas’s approval rating has sunk to significantly low levels in the West Bank and even lower levels inside the Gaza Strip.

* Obama has yet to define U.S. objectives in Afghanistan Military observers, soldiers on the ground there and some top Pentagon officials are warning that dispatching even tens of thousands more soldiers and Marines might not ensure success.

* ‘We tried to kill Carter and Blair’ The leader of an al-Qaida-inspired group in the Gaza Strip revealed on Sunday that his men recently tried to assassinate former US president Jimmy Carter and Quartet Middle East envoy Tony Blair.

* Karzai closer to election victory Latest results from Afghanistan’s presidential election show President Hamid Karzai with 54.1% of the vote after 92% of polling stations declared.

* UN wants new global currency to replace dollar The dollar should be replaced with a global currency, the United Nations has said, proposing the biggest overhaul of the world’s monetary system since the Second World War.

* Arctic Sea Iran arms link denied Russia has denied media reports that a cargo ship which was apparently hijacked in July was carrying Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Iran.

* China alarmed by US money printing Cheng Siwei, former vice-chairman of the Standing Committee and now head of China’s green energy drive, said Beijing was dismayed by the Fed’s recourse to “credit easing”.

* Arab League: Shun Israel, or Else Arab League head Amr Moussa issued a warning Sunday to Arab countries to avoid normalizing ties with Israel until Israel gives in to the League’s demands, which include a complete building freeze in Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria, and much of Jerusalem.

* ElBaradei: Nuclear ‘stalemate’ with Iran The UN nuclear watchdog is locked in a “stalemate” with Iran over the country’s suspect nuclear program, the agency’s chief said Monday, pressing Teheran to answer lingering questions about its atomic ambitions.

* China Oil Deal Is New Source of Strife Among Iraqis When China’s biggest oil company signed the first post-invasion oil field development contract in Iraq last year, the deal was seen as a test of Iraq’s willingness to open an industry that had previously prohibited foreign investment.

* Third of Lebanese cabinet Hezbollah Prime minister-designate presents list of 30 ministers to President Michel Suleiman.

* From Russia with love Cabinet marks two decades since beginning of massive wave of immigration from former Soviet republics.

* Hamas Fights Over Gaza’s Islamist Identity An acute struggle is emerging within the Hamas movement, which rules this coastal Palestinian strip, over the extent and nature of its Islamist identity.

* Iran to ‘Islamise’ humanity studies Khamenei says ‘teaching copy of what Westerners have said conveys doubt in Islamic principles’.

* France casts fresh doubt on Barroso reappointment The entourage of French Prime Minister Francois Fillon has cast doubt on Jose Manuel Barroso’s bid to stay on as European Commission president by suggesting that Mr Fillon could do the job instead.

* EU and Turkey in ‘vicious circle,’ experts say European leaders must treat Turkey as any other EU candidate and stop suggesting alternatives to full membership, while Ankara for its part needs to re-engage in a democratic reform process, a panel of European experts has recommended.

* Fortress Asia: Is a Powerful New Trade Bloc Forming? The Great Recession hasn’t been great for free trade.

* Iraq bolsters Syria border force Iraq has begun stationing thousands of extra police on its border with Syria to stop militants its says are crossing into Iraq to carry out bomb attacks.

* Iran: US ‘forged’ documents on bomb Iran accused the US on Friday of using “forged documents” and relying on subterfuge to make its case that Teheran is trying to build a nuclear weapon.

* ‘Massive’ ancient wall uncovered in Jerusalem An archaeological dig in Jerusalem has turned up a 3,700-year-old wall that is the largest and oldest of its kind found in the region.

* EU, US slam PM’s construction plan EU foreign ministers condemned an announcement by Israel on Friday that it will construct new housing units in West Bank settlements.

* U.S. ‘Very Concerned’ by Claim N. Korea ‘Weaponizing’ Plutonium The United States said it’s “very concerned” by a North Korean claim that the communist state has almost completed enrichment of uranium and is preparing to make nuclear weapons with plutonium.

* EU mulls Afghan stability plans European ministers are expected to use a summit to discuss ways to promote stability in Afghanistan by focusing on civilian reconstruction.

* Russia, U.S. begin specific work on new arms reduction treaty Russia and the United States have started working on a new strategic arms reduction treaty.

* Defining moment for Afghanistan Election officials in Afghanistan are still counting votes, but say President Hamid Karzai is moving closer to the 50% threshold which would represent victory.

* Peres, Moussa face off over creation of Palestinian state President Shimon Peres said Friday that a comprehensive settlement to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian dispute was not currently achievable.

* US, South Korea hold strategy talks Top nuclear envoys from South Korea and the United States held talks Saturday on a strategy to bring North Korea back to disarmament negotiations.

* Chavez tells Israelis to disobey ‘genocidal’ govt Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told the Israeli people not to support their government, which he described as “genocidal” on Friday.

* US disturbed by Iran defence job The US has said Iran is “taking a step backward” by appointing a cabinet minister suspected of terrorism.

* US ‘regrets’ Netanyahu’s approval of construction The White House on Friday expressed “regret” regarding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to approve construction plans in the West Bank.

* North Korea says uranium program near completion North Korea announced Friday that its process of enriching uranium is nearly complete.

* European defence league poised for debate on dormant pact A group of the EU’s major foreign policy players is waiting to find out what happens to the Lisbon Treaty before deciding if it should keep or scrap an old “musketeer” defence pact.

* Jews who escaped Nazis as kids recreate train trip A vintage train carrying Holocaust survivors pulled into London on Friday, ending a three-day trip across Europe.

* Anti-Semitism Thrives on Dutch Social Media Virulent anti-Semitic content thrives on a Dutch social media website used by nearly half of the entire population of Holland.

* PA considering asking EU for sanctions against Israel A Palestinian Authority official told Ynet Friday that his government would consider asking the European Union to impose sanctions on Israel following the prime minister’s decision to approve construction plans in West Bank settlements.

* Boosting economy to top G20 talks Finance officials from the Group of 20 richest nations are set to outline a commitment to boosting the global economy when they meet in London later.

* Military leaders: U.S. effort in Afghanistan just beginning Top Pentagon leaders Thursday insisted that despite an expected request for more American troops in Afghanistan.

* ‘Russia confirms MiG jet sale to Syria’ Russia has a contract to provide Syria with powerful MiG fighter jets but has not begun delivering the planes.

* Iran backs first woman minister Iranian MPs have approved the first woman minister in the 30-year history of the Islamic republic.

* Russia Seeks Afghan War Role as NATO Deaths Climb Russia is seeking a role in planning NATO’s war in Afghanistan two decades after Soviet forces were ejected from the country.

* New Threat: Hizbullah Chemical War on Israel A Kuwaiti report Thursday said that a mysterious explosion in a Hizbullah weapons warehouse six weeks ago involved chemical weapons.

* ‘Future battlefield will be more lethal’ The future battlefield the IDF will face will be more difficult, lethal and uncertain.

* New protests in western China There have been fresh protests in the Chinese province of Xinjiang, where almost 200 people were killed in ethnic violence in July.

* 50,000 Muslims to Descend on Capitol Hill A massive Islamic prayer service will be held on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. at the end of this month – and 50,000 Muslims are expected to take part.

* Iranian DM: We’ll respond with force to Israeli attack Iran’s new Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi, accused of involvement in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Argentina, used his first moments in office to send a clear message to Israel.

* Israel keeping watch on northern border Israel is keeping close watch on Hezbollah’s activities in Lebanon.

* Barroso: Europe needs to reinvent itself European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso has said Europe needs to reinvent itself with a “transformational agenda”.