Jordan's King Abdullah II on Sunday called for an acceleration of his kingdom's nuclear energy program in order to decrease the nation's dependence on imported energy, reported the Petra news agency.
Jordanian energy chief Khaled al-Shraydeh recently announced that the country possesses more than enough processed and raw uranium to fuel the nuclear program.
Jordan joins Egypt and six Persian Gulf states that also recently launched peaceful nuclear programs.
Analysts have expressed concern that has Iran's nuclear program advances, nuclear programs in Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia could become military in nature in order to counter the Iranian threat. If that happens, future, less stable regimes in Amman, Cairo and Riyadh could be in possession of devastating weapons of mass destruction.
Original Source
   more »

New government bunker designed to withstand nuclear attack will house Prime Minister's Office, military commands centers. Project to be completed by 2011
Ofer Petersburg
Construction on the new National Command Center, where the country's leaders would be rushed to, should Israel suffer a nuclear attack, is rapidly progressing, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday.  
The $240 million underground bunker is designed to withstand a nuclear bomb and will house the Prime Minister's Office, military commands centers and the necessary civil authorities.  
"It's like something out of a movie… you walk around it in complete awe, knowing this is the place they'll be running the country from" a government source told Ynet.  
The bunker was carved into one of the Jerusalem's mountains. A guarded tunnel – designed to allow two trucks to ride side by side – leads into the mountain, giving a peek into would-be engine rooms and air- conditioning system centers on the way. 
At an undisclosed depth lays a series of halls, dozens of feet high, where the official offices, quarters and emergency exits will be built.  
Four of the world's leading construction companies have come together to build the bunker. All those involved in the ...   more »

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon remains comatose and attached to a respirator nearly two years after a devastating stroke, a spokesman for Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv said Sunday.
"There is no change in his condition," hospital spokesman David Weinberg said. Sharon, 79, was transferred to Sheba's long-term respiratory rehabilitation unit in July 2006 from Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, which treated him after his stroke in January of that year.
Since Sharon's stroke, he has undergone three brain operations, abdominal surgery and three minor surgical procedures.
Under established Jewish legal codes, it is forbidden to do anything to hasten death. But other teachings say it is permissible to remove an "impediment" standing in the way of the natural end of life, such as a feeding tube or respirator. Rabbis remain deeply divided over what constitutes an unreasonable obstacle to death.
According to Israeli medical law expert Yonatan Davies, Sharon "will only be considered dead when his heart stops beating."
Raanan Gissin, Sharon's former adviser and a close family friend, said Sharon exhibits no brain wave activity, but the family objects to disconnecting the respirator.
"Everyone in the family believes he will recover," Gissin said.
Original Source

   more »

Plan drafted by veteran politician would forfeit strategic West Bank
By Aaron Klein
Shimon Peres
JAFFA, Israel – Newly installed Israeli President Shimon Peres hopes to achieve the outline of a final status deal with the Palestinians before an international conference in November, the veteran politician said.
Israeli diplomatic sources told WND earlier this month Peres quietly drafted a plan for the Jewish state to evacuate and transfer to the Palestinians nearly the entire West Bank and several Arab Israeli cities located within territory that undisputedly is Israel's according to the international community.
The official role of president here is limited largely to ceremonial matters; the president is not allowed to lead foreign policy.
The diplomatic sources also said earlier this U.S.-brokered month biweekly meetings between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas are being utilized to draft the outline of a permanent status deal ultimately yielding a Palestinian state scheduled to be aired in public at the November summit, which is being organized by the U.S.
Confirming the plan, Peres told Tokyo's Nikkei business daily newspaper he believes the outline of a final deal can be achieved before November.
"To work out the details (of the ...   more »