Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter and his US counterpart, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, signed a joint memorandum in Washington DC on Wednesday evening, setting a series of goals and terms for security collaboration between the two nations. The joint understanding included partnership on flight security, including passenger and cargo inspection and information sharing on the topic of emergency planning, response, recovery and damage control. The understanding also encompassed sharing of research and development progress in the field of explosives detection. In addition, Israel and the US will share information about steps taken to neutralize, respond to and reduce terror and criminal activities in specific fields and will also hold joint training and staff exchanges. Dichter had previously described the agreement as "a breakthrough signing of an understandings agreement [with the US] for the war on terror and establishing cooperation between the ... http://www.jpost.com censor News |
Editor - 18:33:00 02-13-07 |
Winter storm blasts Midwest with snow, ice; heads for East Coast |
Sliding cars and jackknifed trucks snarled highway traffic, and flights were grounded Tuesday as a storm blew out of the Midwest with a threat of up to 2 feet of blowing, drifting snow. The National Weather Service posted winter storm watches and warnings from Iowa and Missouri across the Ohio Valley into parts of New England. As the storm plowed east, more than 2 inches of snow fell by midday at Pittsburgh, while parts of Indiana measured more than 11 inches with drifts up to 6 feet, the weather service said. Up to 18 inches of snow was forecast for northern Pennsylvania, with a chance of 2 feet at higher elevations. Twenty-inch accumulations were possible in parts of New York state, where communities on the eastern end of Lake Ontario have endured a week of lake-effect snow that totaled more than 11 feet.... http://www.usatoday.com/weather/stormcenter/2007-02-13-snowstorm_x.htm?csp=34
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Editor - 16:55:00 02-13-07 |
U.S. says all issues on table in Olmert-Abbas talks |
All issues are on the table when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meets Palestinian and Israeli leaders next week, a U.S. official said on Tuesday. Alejandro Wolff, currently in charge of the U.S. mission to the United Nations, was asked about reports from Israel that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was excluding some issues in negotiations Rice plans to hold in Jerusalem on Monday to revive long-stalled peace talks. "I have not seen that comment. I can tell you that any time I've seen an agenda that the secretary of state wants to undertake .... all issues are discussed," Wolff told reporters during a break in a day of speeches by some 36 ambassadors on the Middle East in the U.N. Security Council. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted Olmert as excluding from the talks the future of East Jerusalem, the Palestinian refugees and an Israeli withdrawal to borders before the 1967 Middle East war. Palestinians expect to discuss those issues.... http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070214/ts_nm/mideast_un_dc
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Editor - 16:51:00 02-13-07 |
U.S. officials defend nuke accord with North Korea |
The Bush administration Tuesday defended a new agreement with North Korea against criticism it rewards nuclear brinkmanship and offers an incentive to other nations to seek nuclear weapons. President Bush said the accord reached in Beijing is "the best opportunity to use diplomacy to address North Korea's nuclear program." The agreement freezes Pyongyang's nuclear program but leaves open details of how it will be dismantled. Korea agreed to shut down a nuclear reactor, halt plutonium production and allow the return of international inspectors within 60 days. The deal does not set a deadline for dismantling weapons or disposing of its plutonium stockpile. Nor does it address missiles that can deliver nuclear warheads. KCNA, North Korea's state news agency, referred only to a "temporary suspension" of nuclear facilities in return for 1 million tons of oil and other aid.... http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-02-13-korea-reax_x.htm?csp=34
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Editor - 16:19:00 02-13-07 |
EASTWOOD EPIC AT THE BERLIN FILM FESTIVAL 'Letters From Iwo Jima' Sparks World War II Debate in Japan |
Japan has never addressed its World War II history to the same degree as Germany. But now the Clint Eastwood epic "Letters From Iwo Jima" has caused Japan to re-examine its role in the war, as the film's stars explain to SPIEGEL ONLINE. For actor Ken Watanabe, going on location for the film "Letters From Iwo Jima" was a highly emotional experience. "When I saw the island for the first time from the plane cockpit, I couldn't stop crying," he says. It's not surprising the island prompted such a strong reaction. Most of the 22,000 Japanese soldiers who took part in the Battle of Iwo Jima in early 1945 -- and were vastly outnumbered by the 100,000-strong American forces -- lost their lives. "It felt like time had stopped on the island after the war," says Watanabe, who says he felt the presence of the dead Japanese soldiers when he visited the island. The 47-year-old Japanese actor, who is best known to Western audiences for his role alongside Tom Cruise in "The Last Samurai," ... http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,466093,00.html
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Editor - 15:56:00 02-13-07 |
Tracing Abraham's Path To Mideast Peace Researchers Are Following The Religious Patriarch In Hopes Of Rediscovering Common Roots |
High-tech gadget in hand, a man trudges down from a rural hilltop with the information he was seeking about a journey that took place some 4,000 years ago. The means are modern: Using a tiny global-positioning device to measure their location via satellite and a map superimposed on topographical images provided by Google Earth, Daniel Adamson and Mahmoud Twaissi are tracking the route that Abraham might have trod. The ends, however, are as ancient as can be. The two researchers — one British, one Jordanian — are tracing the footsteps of the ancestral patriarch of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in the hope that people today will rediscover the common roots of many generations past — and inspire coexistence and understanding in the present. This is the making of the Abraham Path, a route that will start in Harran, Turkey — the place where many sources suggest Abraham heard "the call" from God — and ... http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/13/world/main2469078.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_2469078
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Editor - 10:11:00 02-13-07 |
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