Friday, December 10, 2010

12/10/10

* Jewish leaders ask Pope Benedict to combat delegitimization of Israel A delegation of leaders of the World Jewish Congress met with Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican on Friday.

* Abbas Lays Groundwork for Unilateral Declaration of PA State Arab media is reporting that Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has told his aides to ask the United Nations Security Council to recognize the PA as a new Arab country, to be called "Palestine."

* Obama withdraws offer to donate 20 F-35s to Israel The United States has abandoned an offer to sell additional Joint Strike Fighter aircraft to Israel.

* Former EU leaders challenge Ashton on Israel A large group of former EU leaders and commissioners, including Catherine Ashton's predecessor Javier Solana, has urged the Union to take sanctions against Israel on settlements.

* 71% of Iranians want nuclear arsenal Survey finds less than half of Iranians think sanctions having major impact; only 1 in 6 believes Israel, US will attack nuclear facilities.

* Stuxnet Worm Still Out of Control at Iran's Nuclear Sites, Experts Say Iran's nuclear program is still in chaos despite its leaders' adamant claim that they have contained the computer worm that attacked their facilities.

* Israel's Arabs don't want to be part of Palestinian state While Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman continuously discusses the possibility of territorial exchanges as part of a future peace agreement with the Palestinians, it seems that Israel's Arabs are simply not interested.

* Gates Warns on Failure to Repeal Gay Ban U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned Congress Friday that its failure to pass legislation to allow gays to serve openly in the armed forces will put the U.S. military at the "mercy of the courts."

* Web Attackers Find a Cause in WikiLeaks They got their start years ago as cyberpranksters, an online community of tech-savvy kids more interested in making mischief than political statements.

* Kremlin aide says Medvedev wants second term The Kremlin's top economic aide said he believes President Dmitry Medvedev wants to seek a second term in Russia's 2012 presidential election.