Sources: UN chief Ban ‘furious’ for Netanyahu’s leaking of phone conversation …

by admin on Sunday, August 12th, 2012 | No Comments

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Hamas announced Sunday that it would be willing to close all tunnels between the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip on condition that the Rafah crossing would remain permanently open for crossing of people and commodities.

A soldier accused of killing two women who waved a white flag during the “Cast Lead” operation in Gaza reached a plea bargain with the military advocate general and will be jailed for 45 days.

“The threat concerning the home front is dwarfed by another threat – Iranian nuclear power,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday morning at the start of the cabinet meeting.

Unidentified gunmen shot at an Egyptian security checkpoint in the Sinai region, scene of an army offensive against Islamist militants, early on Sunday, Egyptian and international officials said. But an official for the Sinai international peacekeeping force, which helps maintain the peace accord between Israel and Egypt, denied that its own troops had come under fire.

In the absence of a military solution to the Syria crisis, diplomacy will continue to be the international community’s primary tool for intervention.

Tanzania said a shipping agent based in Dubai had reflagged 36 Iranian oil tankers with the Tanzanian flag without the country’s knowledge and approval.

The productivity of the average Israeli worker last year was well below the average among developed countries, new OECD figures show. Israel ranked 24th of 34 countries surveyed.

Two powerful earthquakes killed 250 people and injured around 1,800 in northwest Iran, where rescue workers frantically combed the rubble of dozens of villages throughout the night and into Sunday as medical staff desperately tried to save lives.