* Syria: We’re ready for peace or war Syria’s official newspaper Tishreen said Saturday that while Damascus is ready to make peace with Israel, it is also prepared for war.

* West greets Iran nuclear claim with scepticism Western powers have responded with scepticism to a claim by Iran that a deal to swap enriched uranium for nuclear fuel could now be close.

* Euro Debt Crisis Is Political Test for Bloc What began with worries about the solvency of Greece in the face of high deficits, fake budget figures and low growth has quickly become the most severe test of the 16-nation euro zone in its 11-year history.

* World financial leaders focusing on budget crises A crisis in Europe over budget belt-tightening has upended global markets and seized the attention of financial leaders meeting in the Canadian Arctic.

* Transatlantic, meet Pacific: China’s bold stance at Munich security conference Today Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi, speaking with unusual bluntness in front of 300 leading diplomats – including senior US officials – here in Munich publicly stated that China is getting stronger on the international stage.

* PA questions US on Mitichell’s offer The Palestinians have asked the Obama administration to clarify a US Mideast envoy George Mitchell’s proposal to restart long-stalled peace talks with Israel .

* Russia urges U.S., Europe for joint assessment of missile threats Moscow highlighted the need to carry out an assessment of missile threats jointly with both Washington and Europe in response to U.S. plans to deploy missile defense elements in Romania.

* Hamas backtracks on missile apology The Hamas government in Gaza has distanced itself from an earlier statement in which it expressed regret for harming Israeli civilians in rocket attacks.

* Why are U.S., allies telling Taliban about coming offensive? Thousands of U.S., British and Afghan troops are poised to launch the biggest offensive of the war in Afghanistan in a test of the Obama administration’s new counterinsurgency strategy.

* Putin scolds party after rally exposes discontent About 10,000 people attended a rally in the Baltic region of Kaliningrad last week to call for the dismissal of the governor.

* US urges Syria, Israel to show restraint As tension continues to rise between Damascus and Jerusalem, the United States is urging Syria and Israel to show restraint and return to the negotiations table.

* Iran: Moscow gave missile reassurance Russia has assured Iran that it still intends to deliver long-range air-defense missiles.

* Israel Reportedly Training Kurdish Forces According to recent media reports, Israeli military and intelligence agents are currently operating in Iraqi Kurdistan.

* Assad: Golan withdrawal before peace “(The Israelis) are like children fighting each other, messing with the country; they do not know what to do.”

* Bombings hit Iraq Shia pilgrims in Karbala Two suicide bombers have killed 27 people and injured dozens on the outskirts of the Iraqi city of Karbala.

* Assad sits comfortably on his throne The UN probe into the assassination of Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri pointed at direct involvement of senior members of the Assad regime.

* World stocks hit by fears of debt crisis contagion World stocks tumbled again Friday as investors worried that the debt crisis enveloping Greece may spread to other vulnerable countries in Europe such as Portugal.

* Iran rocket puts mouse, turtle, worms into orbit Iran has reported another launch of an indigenous rocket into space.

* Romania to host new version of US missile shield Romania on Thursday announced it had agreed to the new US anti-missile defence shield envisaged by the Obama administration after scrapping initial plans in Poland and the Czech Republic.

* ‘Strike on Iran would not help Israel’ An Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear program will neither completely stop Teheran’s nuclear march, nor bring down the ayatollahs’ regime.

* Assad: Israel pushing Middle East to war Syrian President Bashar Assad on Wednesday said Israel was not serious about wanting peace, and accused the Jewish state of leading the Middle East towards war.

* Assad: Israel pushing Middle East to war Israel is pushing the Middle East toward a new war, Syrian President Bashar Assad said on Wednesday.

* FM: If Syria provokes Israel, Assad will be out of power Lieberman blasts Syrian president for claiming Israel leading Middle East towards war.

* U.S. report: Blond-haired, blue-eyed Americans may be joining Al Qaida The Senate has expressed concern over American converts to Islam who were joining the Al Qaida network in Yemen.

* China Renews Opposition to Iran Sanctions Adding to a growing catalogue of disputes between Washington and Beijing, a senior Chinese official said on Thursday that pressure for tighter sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program could block chances of a diplomatic settlement.

* Hamas wants talks with US, Europe: Haniya Hamas is ready for dialogue with the international community, including the United States and European Union.

* PM: Peace talks could resume in weeks Seven years after then-prime minister Ariel Sharon unveiled his Gaza disengagement plan at the Herzliya Conference.

* More Than 25% of Knesset Joins ‘Land of Israel Forum’ A new Land of Israel Forum has been formed in the Knesset, with representation from no fewer than seven parties.

* Free Speech on Trial: 15 Defense Witnesses Disallowed The free-speech trial of anti-Islamization Fitna movie-producer Geert Wilders has taken a break – after the court rejected 15 of Wilders’ requested witnesses.

* Huckabee in Israel: Iran threatens US as well Governor Mike Huckabee is in Israel this week leading a delegation of 170 American Christians.

* ‘FT sees Israel as main cause of ME problems’ The Financial Times views Israel is the key cause of problems in the Middle East, according to a study published by a London-based media monitoring organization this week.

* ‘Israel infiltrated Hamas leadership’ The mysterious death of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai last month has prompted Hamas to launch an internal investigation.

* How to save the Obama presidency – bomb Iran President needs dramatic gesture to change perception of him as lightweight ideologue.

* Iran launches research rocket into space Iran announced Wednesday it has successfully launched a 10-foot-long research rocket carrying a mouse, two turtles and worms into space.

* US military ban on openly gay personnel ‘should end’ Openly gay people should be allowed to serve in the US military, the country’s top commander has said.

* EU president to hold ‘intimate’ summit in old library The EU’s new president, Herman Van Rompuy, has opted to hold his first EU summit in an old library in order to create an informal atmosphere.

* Hamas: EU must stop letting Israeli spies use its passports Palestinian militant group Hamas has demanded the European Union work to prevent Israeli security services from using EU passports to carry out “targeted assassination” attempts.

* US blames Lisbon Treaty for EU summit fiasco The US State Department has said that President Barack Obama’s decision not to come to an EU summit in Madrid in May is partly due to confusion arising from the Lisbon Treaty.

* U.S., Russia Agree to Nuclear-Arms Accord U.S. and Russian arms-control negotiators have reached an “agreement in principle” on the first nuclear-arms-reduction treaty in nearly two decades.

* Jewish Growth in Judea/Samaria Tops the Charts The number of Jews in Judea and Samaria has grown to 313,000 – double the growth rate of the rest of Israel.

* Obama said to block attack helicopter upgrades for Israel The administration of President Barack Obama is delaying an upgrade project for Israel’s military on the grounds that it could be deployed against Palestinian militants.

* As internal pressure builds, Iran could ‘lash out’ using Hamas and Hizbullah, U.S. warns The United States has warned that Iran could use its proxies to spark a war in the Middle East as an increasingly restive Iranian population continues to challenge the regime.

* Jordan strips Palestinians’ citizenship A US-based human rights group criticized Jordan Monday for stripping the citizenship of nearly 3,000 Jordanians of Palestinian origin in recent years.

* Iran’s Mousavi says he will continue fight for reform Iran’s opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has said he will continue his struggle against the government.

* US anti-missile test of ‘Iran or N Korea’ attack fails A US missile defence test designed to shoot down long-range missiles was aborted when the radar system failed.

* Pope criticised for attack on UK Equality Bill The Pope has faced a backlash after urging Catholic bishops in England and Wales to fight the UK’s Equality Bill with “missionary zeal”.

* PMW: Jihad Boy Featured on PA TV A new Palestinian Authority TV news report revealed by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) shows a young child vowing to “liberate Palestine” – “with our weapons.”

* Mitchell to Abbas: No more excuses, renew Mideast talks United States special Mideast envoy George Mitchell has urged Europe to step up pressure on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

* Berlusconi ‘dreams’ of Israel becoming an EU member Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi began a three-day tour of Israel on Monday (1 February) by saying he wants the Jewish state to join the EU.

* US rushes Gulf defense systems Official: Adjustments should be seen as measures designed to avoid aggression.

* US military strategy focuses on fighting multiple wars The US military must shift its focus to fighting a wide range of threats – from cyber attacks to terrorism – the Pentagon’s 2010 draft strategy says.

* Israel could lose Turkey’s friendship Erdogan slams Netanyahu for “climate of mistrust” that is undermining ties.

* U.S. Arms for Taiwan Send Beijing a Message For the past year, China has adopted an increasingly muscular position toward the United States.

* Abbas: Direct talks possible PA president suggests 3-month J’lem building freeze to get negotiations going.

* Israel reprimands top officers over UN compound strike Israel has revealed it has reprimanded two top army officers for authorising an artillery attack which hit a UN compound in Gaza last year.

* Gaddafi thwarted over African Union presidency Libya’s leader Muammar Gaddafi has failed in his bid to stay on as president of the African Union for another year.

* Female suicide bomber kills dozens in Iraq At least 41 people have been killed and 106 injured by a female suicide bomber in north-east Baghdad, an interior ministry spokesman has said.

* IDF to Remove ‘Jesus Gun’ Codes A Michigan company that supplies gun sights to Israel and other companies has agreed to provide a kit to remove the “JN8:12” code, a reference to the New Testament passage of John 8:12 that Jesus is the “light of the world.”

* Berlusconi says wants to see Israel in EU Italian premier visits Israel along with several of his ministers; describes meeting with PM Netanyahu as ‘extremely important’ to Jerusalem-Rome relations.

* Ahmadinejad: Whoever controls ME controls world’s ‘wealth’ Iranian president quoted as telling Teheran audience “In terms of economic issues, the world hegemonic system … is no longer powerful from the military aspect.”

* ‘Assassins came to Dubai with Landau’ Hamas promises retaliation for alleged assassination of operative in UAE.

* ‘Iran may lash out at Israel’ US President Barack Obama’s national security adviser on Friday cited a heightened risk that Iran will respond to growing pressure.

* ‘Turkey could host Israel-Syria talks’ Turkey is ready to try again to broker a peace agreement between Israel and Syria if both countries agree to resume the stalled initiative.

* Russia announces Libya arms deal worth $1.8bn The contract is worth nearly a quarter of the Russian state arms exporter’s entire sales last year, which were put at $7.4bn.

* Iraq inquiry hears defiant Blair say: I’d do it again Tony Blair has said the Iraq war made the world a safer place and he has “no regrets” about removing Saddam Hussein.

* China protests US arms sales, warns of ‘serious’ impact China on Friday protested the US decision to sell 6.4 billion dollars in weapons to Taiwan and warned of “serious” damage to relations and cooperation with Washington.

* Netanyahu Declares City of Ariel ‘Jewish Capital of Samaria’ Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Friday completed his week-long campaign to reaffirm Israel’s claim on major Jewish population centers in Judea and Samaria.

* Iraq inquiry: Tony Blair slated for Iran threat claim Tony Blair’s claims that Iran now poses as serious a threat as Saddam Hussein’s Iraq have been dismissed as a “piece of spin” by the British ambassador to Tehran.

* Libya’s Qaddafi May Plunge African Union Summit Into Conflict Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi may run for a second term as chairman of the African Union.

* Blair denies ‘covert’ deal with Bush to invade Iraq Tony Blair has denied striking a “covert” deal with George Bush to invade Iraq at a private meeting in 2002 at the US president’s ranch.

* Israel Signals Tougher Line on West Bank Protests For more than a year, this village has been a focus of weekly protests against the Israeli security barrier.

* Hamas military commander ‘assassinated in Dubai’ A senior Hamas military commander has been assassinated by Israel in Dubai, the Palestinian Islamist group claims.

* Israel set to launch new spy satellite In an effort to beef up intelligence gathering in the face of Iran’s pursuit of nuclear power, will send a new spy satellite into space in the coming months.

* Obama: Israel’s Right hinders peace Israel’s rightist camp and Hamas are hindering the renewal of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, US President Barack Obama says.

* ‘Bin Laden’ blames US for global warming A new message said to be from al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden has blamed global warming on the US and other big industrial nations.

* Russia tests stealth fighter jet built by Sukhoi A new stealth fighter has made its maiden flight in Russia’s far east.

* Pentagon to detail new ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ steps The Pentagon will unveil steps next week that the military will take to lay the ground for a repeal of its “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which permits gays to serve in uniform as long they hide their sexual orientation.

* India vs. China: Which Economy Is Better After Recession? In the inevitable comparisons that economists and businesspeople make between Asia’s two rising giants, China and India, China nearly always comes out on top.

* Right plans east J’lem counter-protest “We won’t be deterred from residing in any part of Jerusalem,” organizers say.

* Iran’s leader predicts Israel’s destruction Iran’s supreme leader predicted the destruction of Israel in comments posted on his Web site on Wednesday.

* ‘J’lem will be Palestinian capital’ Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday said that the Palestinians would not accept Abu Dis.

* Lebanon: Conflict widens to Syria Any future strike at Hizbullah that does not take into account its status as a client of Syria, is unlikely to land a decisive blow.

* At Davos, Sarkozy Calls for Global Finance Rules France wants to use its presidency of the Group of 20 next year to create a new international monetary system, President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Wednesday.

* Al Qaida still focused on WMD strike as ‘worthy follow-up to 9/11’ Al Qaida has become the only insurgency group advancing toward an unconventional weapons attack capability against the West.

* Training Afghan Forces Will Take Years, Karzai Says Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain opened an international conference on Afghanistan here on Thursday, saying international efforts to end the eight-year-old war had reached a “decisive time.”

* Galactic Partnership: NASA and Israel Space Agency NASA and the Israel Space Agency have signed a joint statement of cooperation.

* ‘No obstacles over Iran arms deals’ Russia still considers Iran a valuable customer for its weapons, a top arms trade official said Thursday.

* Arab League chief presses for Palestinian state Arab League chief Amr Moussa said Wednesday that if a Palestinian state is not established soon there will be a single state for Israelis and Palestinians.

* Israel developing micro-satellites for better intelligence Israel is expected to invest hundreds of millions in developing small satellites that can be launched from an airplane.

* Al-Qaeda seeks WMD, US unprepared The United States has not done enough to protect the country against the threat of weapons of mass destruction even as Al-Qaeda appears intent on staging a large-scale attack.

* PM to connect Iran nukes, Holocaust Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who wrote in the guest book of the Warsaw Uprising Museum on Tuesday that “the people of Israel have learned their lesson,” is expected to draw analogies between the Holocaust and Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

* ‘Holocaust education important to Israeli educators, pupils’ The Holocaust is one of the most meaningful and unifying areas of study within the Israeli school system.

* Peres: Ahmadinejad preventing peace President Shimon Peres told his German counterpart, Horst Koehler, that Iran desires to take control of the Middle East and destabilize the other regimes in the region.

* Europe and Israel cement relations at Holocaust solemnities Sixty five years after Soviet troops liberated the German death camp in Auschwitz, Poland, European leaders will on Wednesday (27 January) pay tribute to Jewish suffering during the Holocaust.

* EU presidency reconsidering China arms embargo The Spanish EU presidency has indicated it is willing to reconsider the bloc’s arms embargo with China.

* Hebrew: Why Netanyahu wants Israelis to send a ‘misron,’ not a text Tucked into a leafy corner of a campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Academy of the Hebrew Language has the challenging job of trying to preserve and promote one of the world’s oldest living languages.

* Barak meets with Mubarak in Egypt Defense Minister Ehud Barak was at Sharm e-Sheikh on Wednesday for a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

* Abbas associate: No peace talks before settlement freeze The Palestinian Authority has no intention to succumb to US and Israeli pressure and won’t resume peace talks while construction in West Bank settlements continues.

* Global meeting on Yemen to begin in London The UK is hosting a high-level meeting intended to galvanise international support for Yemen.