By: Bradley S. Klapper – Las Vegas Sun

Evangelical groups have joined efforts spearheaded by Roman Catholic, Orthodox and mainstream Protestant churches to create a common code of conduct for religious conversions that would preserve the right of Christians to spread their religion while avoiding conflict among different faiths.

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* Iraqi PM Announces Shiite-Kurd Alliance The Iraqi prime minister and president announced a new alliance of moderate Shiites and Kurds in a push to save the crumbing government.

* Guards chief: Iran missiles can hit warships in Gulf Iranian missiles can hit warships operating anywhere in the Gulf and Oman Sea, the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said.

* 60-Year-Old UN Partition Vote to be Reenacted This November will mark 60 years since the famous and fateful UN partition vote that paved the way for Israel’s creation.

* Iran has Merkava-breaching missile Iran has developed a missile that can penetrate the armor of an Israeli-made Merkava tank and a US-made Abrams tank.

* Japan heads regional Jericho meeting The foreign ministers of Israel, Jordan and Japan sat down with a senior Palestinian Authority delegation in the West Bank.

* MKs to PM: Let Jews return to Hebron A group of parliamentarians on Wednesday called for the return of the Jews to the wholesale market place in Hebron.

* Bibi dares Barak to force elections Likud Party leader Binyamin Netanyahu attempted to build on momentum from his victory in Tuesday’s Likud primary.

* Abbas to Hamas: ‘Return to nat’l unity’ Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office warned Wednesday night that any Fatah-Hamas unification would lead to a breakdown in the diplomatic process with the reconstituted PA.

* Evangelicals Support Conversion Code Evangelical groups have joined efforts spearheaded by Roman Catholic, Orthodox and mainstream Protestant churches.

* US, Israel sign military aid package The US and Israel signed a memorandum of understanding on Thursday outlining the $30 billion defense aid package.

* ‘Hizbullah has big surprises in store’ Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said his organization was not interested in another bout of fighting with Israel.

* J’lem: Syria is still arming Hizbullah Neither Israel nor Syria are interested in a war so there is no reason for one to erupt.

* Deadly Iraq sect attacks kill 200 At least 200 people have been killed in a series of bombings apparently aimed at a Kurdish religious minority group in northern Iraq.

* ‘Nobody can strike the Kabba in Mecca’ A Saudi official has condemned a radical US Republican presidential candidate’s recent comment that the best way to deter a nuclear terrorist attack on America would be to threaten to retaliate.

* Hamas pleased with European ‘U-turn’ Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip said Tuesday they were encouraged by the “positive” change in the position of some European countries toward the Islamist movement.

* Iran Guards ‘join US terror list’ The US is preparing to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guards force as a foreign terrorist unit.

* Save the Jordan, too The Dead Sea is shrinking fast. As the World Bank puts it, “The water level of the Dead Sea has fallen over 20 meters in less than 50 years.

* Netanyahu wins Likud leadership Former Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has been re-elected as leader of the main right-wing opposition party, Likud.

* India celebrates 60th anniversary India’s prime minister has called for the country to do more to fight poverty, ignorance and disease, as it celebrates the 60th anniversary of independence from British colonial rule.

* Ocean’s ‘missing link’ discovered Australian scientists have discovered a giant underwater current that is one of the last missing links of a system that connects the world’s oceans and helps govern global climate.

By: The Jerusalem Post

Former water commissioner Dan Zaslavsky estimates that it would cost about $800 million to construct desalination plants that would allow Israel to restore the 400 MCM/year it is utilizing from the Jordan.

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By: Associated Press

A Saudi official has condemned a radical US Republican presidential candidate’s recent comment that the best way to deter a nuclear terrorist attack on America would be to threaten to retaliate by bombing the Islamic holy sites, Mecca and Medina.

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By: Nadav Shragai – Haaretz

The settler population is growing twice as fast as the rest of the country every year, and the ultra-Orthodox community is responsible for approximately half its annual growth, according to Haaretz’s analysis of Interior Ministry figures for 2006.

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By: Nissan Ratzlav-Katz – Arutz Sheva

An international movement that has made the Islamic call for a worldwide Caliphate its trademark held a conference in Ramallah on Saturday. With this conference, Hizb Ut-Tahrir Al-Islami (the Islamic Liberation Party) has formally established a branch in the Palestinian Authority.

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By: Ezra HaLevi – Arutz Sheva

Arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat’s doctor has confirmed the long-circulating rumors that the PLO chairman had AIDS – though the doctor insists Israel poisoned Arafat as well, causing his death.

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* New Turkey presidency row looms Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has confirmed he plans to stand again as a presidential candidate.

* Iran denies arming Taliban Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, has told his Afghan counterpart during a one-day visit to Kabul that Tehran is not arming the Taliban.

* Pakistan marks 60th anniversary Celebrations are taking place across Pakistan to commemorate the 60th anniversary of independence from the UK and the creation of the country.

* Netanyahu: Israel’s arch-hawk aiming for comeback Former premier Benjamin Netanyahu, who is set to be re-elected as head of Israel’s right-wing Likud party on Tuesday, is a media-savvy arch-hawk.

* Hezbollah marks Lebanon war’s end The Lebanese Shia Muslim group Hezbollah is to hold a mass rally in Beirut to mark the anniversary of the end of its war last year with Israel.

* NBN Aliyah Across the Atlantic: Both Sides Now! Two Nefesh b’Nefesh charter flights touched down on the tarmac of Ben Gurion International Airport Tuesday morning bearing the gift of new “anglo” immigrants.

* Arab official: Syrian general mulling war with Israel In Damascus, it is forbidden to photograph him and diffuse pictures that can identify him.

* Calling for a Global Caliphate in Ramallah An international movement that has made the Islamic call for a worldwide Caliphate its trademark held a conference in Ramallah on Saturday.

* Ultra-Orthodox Jews deliver a population boom to the West Bank The settler population is growing twice as fast as the rest of the country every year.

* U.S., Iraqi Forces Begin New Operation About 16,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops began a new operation north of Baghdad targeting insurgents who have fled a crackdown in Baqouba.

* Yesha Council: Beware of Steps Towards Palestinian State As the US continues to prepare for an international Middle East summit this coming November, concern grows in Israel that the goal is to force Israel to agree to a Palestinian state on its very doorstep, founded upon Hamas, Iranian and even Al-Qaeda influence.

* IDF assessment: Syria thinks Olmert wants to launch war Damascus does not believe Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s public statements of reassurance that Israel has no intention of attacking Syria, and is genuinely concerned about an Israeli preemptive attack, according to official Israeli assessments.

* Iraqi Premier to Hold Talks in Search for Compromise Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki said Sunday that he would meet as early as this week with leaders from all the major political parties of Iraq in the hopes of forging a grand compromise among the warring factions.

* W. Bank: 10,000 call for Islamic state A global Islamic movement that wants bring Muslims back to the roots of their religion drew a crowd of more than 10,000 at a rally Saturday and denounced the moderate Palestinian Authority leadership in the West Bank as infidels.

* Islamists urge caliphate revival Some 100,000 Islamists have met in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, to press for the re-establishment of a caliphate across the Muslim world.

* New party for annexation of territories New Jersey-native Yechiel Aaron has decided to start a new political party to advocate for the annexation of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip.

* Enviromentalists slam World Bank over Red-Dead canal Israeli environmentalists accused the World Bank of stacking the timetable of the Red Sea-Dead Sea Canal project discussions in their favor, at a public hearing on Sunday in Neveh Ilan, west of Jerusalem that frequently erupted in chaotic screaming matches.

* Japanese FM to launch Israel-PA-Jordan project The foreign ministers of Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan and Japan are scheduled to meet Wednesday in Jericho to launch a joint economic project called the “corridor for peace and prosperity.”

* Kurds build an island of calm in the inferno of Iraq Unlike many other Iraqi cities, Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, has seen very few terrorist attacks since civil war broke out following the U.S. invasion in 2003 and the subsequent execution of Saddam, Iraq’s former dictator.

* EU and US central banks consider currency swap Amid fears that US mortgage market problems would prompt a worldwide credit crunch, the European Central Bank, ECB, is expected to continue pumping funds into the eurozone banking market today (13 August).