Monday, May 25, 2009

5/25/09

* Outrage over N Korea nuclear test There have been expressions of international outrage after North Korea said it had successfully carried out an underground nuclear test.

* Report: Iran dispatches six warships to international waters Iran has sent six warships to international waters, including the Gulf of Aden, to display its ability to confront any foreign threats, its naval commander was quoted by a local news agency as saying on Monday.

* Iran Hosts Regional Summit Meeting Iran hosted its first three-way summit meeting on Sunday with Pakistan and Afghanistan to discuss cooperation on regional issues, the latest sign of Iran's emergence as the regional power.

* Arab League Throws Cold Water on Pan-Muslim Peace with Israel U.S. President Barack Obama's plans for a regional peace between Muslim countries and Israel received a jolt Saturday with Arab League secretary Amr Mussa's rejection of the reported offer of Jordan's King Abdullah II for a pan-Muslim peace with Israel.

* 'Home front drill scenario not fiction' The upcoming home front drill, Turning Point 3, is based a scenario in which "a combined missile and rocket attack on Israel from all sides combined with terror attacks from within," and is "not a fictional scenario,", Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilan'i told members of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday.

* 'Israel won't yield to U.S. demands, won't halt settlement construction' Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya'alon spoke to Channel 2 on Saturday about the meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama, held earlier this week, saying that Israel's government will not allow the U.S. to dictate its policy, and that "settlement construction will not be halted."

* Netanyahu defies Obama on Israeli settlement freeze Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rebuffed U.S. calls for a full settlement freeze in the occupied West Bank and vowed not to accept limits on building of Jewish enclaves within Jerusalem.

* Settlers: Outposts to double themselves Rightists, Hilltop Youth prepare new plan of action aimed at struggling against evacuation of illegal West Bank outposts.

* Church enters the fray in European elections The Christian church has in the UK, Austria and Poland spoken out against far-right parties in the EU elections, while in Sweden a fringe movement calling for internet freedoms is gaining ground.

* First Quarter Was New Low for World's Developed Economies The economies of the developed world turned in their worst quarterly showing ever in the first three months of 2009, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Monday.