Saturday, June 18, 2011

06/18/11

* 'Palestinian state declaration means the end of talks' Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a meeting with his EU counterpart Catherine Ashton on Friday that if the Palestinians unilaterally declare statehood, it will bring an end to the Oslo Accords.

* Al-Qaeda: No compromise on Palestine After naming Osama bin Laden's long-serving number two, Ayman al-Zawahri, Al-Qaeda's new leader, the terror group said it "will never recognize any legitimacy for the alleged state of Israel."

* The Egyptian doctor who globalized his caliphate crusade Ayman al-Zawahri is an Egyptian medical doctor from a wealthy family who became involved in militant Islamism.

* Powerful cosmic blast as black hole shreds star Astronomers have spied a star's swan song as it is shredded by a black hole.

* Syria forces storm border town near Turkey Syrian troops and gunmen loyal to President Bashar Assad stormed a town near the Turkish border on Saturday.

* Conference to offer alternative to 2-state solution A mini-conference next week on the subject of Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria is the first step in an effort to present an alternative to the two-state solution.

* Peres warns: Israel in danger of ceasing to exist as Jewish state President Shimon Peres is concerned that Israel might become a binational state, in which case, he warned, it would cease to exist as a Jewish state.

* The Iranian Space Monkey Cometh Iran plans to send a live monkey into space in the summer.

* Turkish ship involved in Gaza flotilla raid pulls out of next convoy The Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) announced on Friday that the Mavi Marmara ship will not participate in the Gaza flotilla.

* This Week in History: First US presidential visit to Israel On June 16, 1974, US President Richard Nixon made the first visit to Israel by a sitting US president.