More than slow news

New bill: Visit prostitute, go to jail + Feminist groups, headed by the International Women's Commission and Itakh: Women Lawyers for Social Justice, say they do not want Livni representing them. They say she is not sufficiently identified with feminist issuess. The feminists also note that Livni is not perceived to be a devout peacenik, with a firm commitment to reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. [Das macht mir große Lust, also ... nicht die erste Nachricht, sondern die zweite Nachricht mal bei Gelegenheit einen großen Extra-Bericht über die Aktivitäten der Netzwerke zu schreiben. Mal sehn wann ich die Zeit finde.]

Für die Kanzlerin bedroht Iran "die Region, Europa und die Welt". Falls Verhandlungen nicht zu Lösungen führten, seien weitere Sanktionen nötig, sagte Merkel im Vorfeld der deutsch-russischen Konsultationen in Wiesbaden. Präsident Putin beurteilt das iranische Atomprogramm ganz anders.

The chief of the Turkish armed forces has warned that military relations with the United States would take a negative turn if Congress approved the Armenian genocide resolution that was passed by the House Foreign Affairs Committee last week. General Yasar Buyukanit [siehe unten- Israelbesuch], the armed forces chief, was quoted by the newspaper Milliyet on Sunday as saying that the resolution, which condemns the killings of 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks beginning in 1915 as an act of genocide, has caused considerable disappointment in Turkey. He called the passage of the resolution by the committee "sad and sorrowful," in light of the strong links the two NATO allies have shared.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Monday to try to bridge his differences with Israel over the scope of a U.S.-led Mideast peace conference scheduled for next month in Annapolis, Maryland. Sources in the Prime Minister's Office said that Rice has no intention of imposing on Israel "anything that will not be acceptable to it," during the negotiations with the Palestinians in preparation for the summit.

Thousands of orange-clad supporters of Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun turned out in Dbayyeh for a huge campaign rally Friday evening; while a separate rally was held simultaneously in Antelias in support of Former President Amin Gemayel. Friday also saw an escalation in the war of words and election. + Government and opposition Christian political leaders are expected to launch a joint committee Monday to negotiate on the presidential succession, ahead of Parliament's electoral session slated for October 23.

Short: State Control Committee Chairman Zevulun Orlev on Monday called on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to suspend himself. Three right-wing activists were arrested Monday as Border Police forces evacuated the Shevut Ami outpost next to Kedumim, the IDF and Border Police said. 3 Verhaftungen in der Westbank. Dazu absolut unübliches [Rice-Besuch] Schweigen an den Fronten. Ägypten läßt top-Hamas-fugitive Nahro Massoud aus dem Gewahrsam frei. Zwei Möglichkeiten: Entweder die Ägypter fahren tatsächlich einen Dioalog-Kurs mit der Hamas um ihre Grenze zu sichern, oder die Freilassung ist Teil eines Deals zur Freilassung des entführten israelischen Soldaten Gilad Shalit.