Under shadow of rockets and mortars, young women soldiers direct IDF warships to destroy enemy targets in Lebanon. Girls know it's scary, but important
Hagai Einav  In recent days, Israel's Navy has intensified its operations to eliminate the threat of rocket attacks on Nahariya, Haifa and the Krayot area. On Sunday, a Ynet crew had the unique opportunity to visit the naval operations room, where young women soldiers direct INF missile boats in their mission to destroy terrorist rocket launchers.
A group of female soldiers, who constitute 80 percent of the personnel in the outpost, have been laboring around the clock for 26 days, in an attempt to prevent a continuation of rocket attacks on the north-west.
One of these ladies is Cpl. Moran Kdushim, 20, who has served for more than a year in the outpost as a shift leader.  
"The first days weren’t easy," she says. "Managing such a complicated operation, while the outpost is under attack from rockets and mortars, is scary, but it's also toughening. The girls here have incredible responsibility on their shoulders and they consider it an honor to have the important job of communicating with the crews at sea."  
Kdushim explains ...   more »

By DAN CATERINICCHIA, AP Business Writer
Fri Aug 11, 5:26 PM ET
Despite ongoing privacy concerns and legal disputes involving companies bidding on the project, the U.S. State Department plans to begin issuing smart chip-embedded passports to Americans as planned Monday.
Not even the foiled terror plot that heightened security checks at airports nationwide threatens to delay the rollout, the agency said. Any hitches in getting the technology to work properly could add even longer waits to travelers already facing lengthy security lines at airports.
The new U.S. passports will include a chip that contains all the data contained in the paper version — name, birthdate, gender, for example — and can be read by electronic scanners at equipped airports. The State Department says they will speed up going through customs and help enhance border security.
Privacy groups continue to raise concerns about the security of the electronic information and a German computer security expert earlier this month demonstrated in Las Vegas how personal information stored on the documents could be copied and transferred to another device.
But electronic cloning does not constitute a threat because the information on the chips, including the photograph, is encrypted and cannot be changed, ...   more »

Syria and Turkey discussed ways to revive the strategic partnership between the two friendly countries, according to Syria’s official news agency SANA.
Both countries stressed that the Syrian-Turkish relations must encompass economic, trade and political dimensions.
Visiting Chairman of Turkey’s Unity Party Mohsen Yazaji Uglo also expressed support for Damascus, who is facing intense U.S. pressure.
Israel and its major ally the U.S. accuse Syria, along with Iran, of funding the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah.
But Damascus insists that it only supports Hezbollah morally and not militarily.
Uglo also voiced support for Lebanon and strongly condemned the ongoing Israeli massacres in the Lebanese territories. 
"We come here to demonstrate full solidarity with Syria under the foreign threats to which she has been exposed and to express support to the Lebanese national resistance which is facing the savage Israeli aggression against its country," Uglo said after meeting with the Chairman of Syria's Chambers of Commerce's Rateb al-Shallah.
Uglo and Sallah also stressed the importance of signing and implementing the Syria-Turkish partnership deal because it serves both countries’ interests.
Correspondents also say both leaders discussed ways to boost trade and investment between the two countries.
Turkey donates $1,2m in aid to Lebanon ...   more »

Olmert must go
 
By Ari Shavit  
Ehud Olmert may decide to accept the French proposal for a cease-fire and unconditional surrender to Hezbollah. That is his privilege. Olmert is a prime minister whom journalists invented, journalists protected, and whose rule journalists preserved. Now the journalists are saying run away. That's legitimate. Unwise, but legitimate.
However, one thing should be clear: If Olmert runs away now from the war he initiated, he will not be able to remain prime minister for even one more day. Chutzpah has its limits. You cannot lead an entire nation to war promising victory, produce humiliating defeat and remain in power. You cannot bury 120 Israelis in cemeteries, keep a million Israelis in shelters for a month, wear down deterrent power, bring the next war very close, and then say - oops, I made a mistake. That was not the intention. Pass me a cigar, please.   
There is no mistake Ehud Olmert did not make this past month. He went to war hastily, without properly gauging the outcome. He blindly followed the military without asking the necessary questions. He mistakenly gambled on air operations, was strangely late with the ground operation, and failed ...   more »

By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - Israeli airstrikes pounded south Beirut and border crossings to Syria, killing at least 14 people across Lebanon as ground fighting picked up intensity in the south.
Jets struck twice at a busy bridge at the Abboudiyeh border crossing into Syria, killing at least 12 people and wounding 18 others, hospital and security officials said. The checkpoint is some 10 miles inland from the Mediterranean coast, on Lebanon's northern border.
Hezbollah TV reported Friday that guerrillas destroyed an Israeli gunboat off the coast of Tyre, killing or wounding the crew of 12.
The Israeli army said it was not aware of a strike on any of its vessels, which have been enforcing a blockade of the Lebanese coast since fighting began 30 days ago. Larger craft have repeatedly fired shells against Hezbollah positions and strongholds, including in south Beirut.
Israel also struck an area close to the Lebanese border crossing at Masnaa in the Bekaa Valley, about 30 miles southeast of Beirut, but there were no reports of casualties. Masnaa is the main border crossing with Syria, and has been closed after four previous strikes. It was the main escape route for hundreds of ...   more »

By Shmuel Rosner, Haaretz Correspondent  
Israel has asked the Bush administration to speed delivery of short-range antipersonnel rockets armed with cluster munitions, the New York Times reported Friday morning. These rockets can be effective against hidden missile launchers.
Israel is asking for the rockets now because it has been unable to suppress Hezbollah's Katyusha rocket attacks in the month-old conflict by using bombs dropped from aircraft and other types of artillery, the officials said.
According to the paper, the request for M-26 artillery rockets, which are fired in barrages and carry hundreds of grenade-like bomblets that scatter and explode over a broad area, is likely to be approved shortly, along with other arms. 
But the Times reports that some State Department officials "have sought to delay the approval because of concerns over the likelihood of civilian casualties, and the diplomatic repercussions." The rockets, the officials told the Times, are fired by the dozen and could be expected to cause civilian casualties if used against targets in populated areas.
The United States had approved the sale of M-26's to Israel some time ago, but the weapons had yet to be delivered when the crisis in Lebanon erupted
Original Source
 ...   more »

Posted: August 11, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
"Why is America so much more pro-Israeli than Europe?" The Economist recently posed this question and, peremptorily, answered it: "The Israeli lobby (AIPAC) and the religious right."
The idea of a Jewish lobby that looms larger than life feeds nicely into the "wars for oil and Israel" conspiracy, popular in Europe. The madcap crowd propounding this "perspective" believes that, by and large due to The Lobby, the small satellite state (Israel) controls the colossus (U.S.).
This explanation is shorthand for Jewish supernatural powers. Unlike mere mortals (or Muslims), whenever Jews organize, they are said to exert influence that is both bad and excessively broad.
In their defense, Muslim lobbies were becoming mighty efficient too. Their representatives were regular guests at the White House, no less – even giving an invocation to Congress. But then one after the other these media-savvy mouthpieces were implicated in terrorism. Or, conversely, caught on tape cussing America and vowing to transform it into an Islamic state. Not even the GOP's Grover Norquist, also the Muslim community's most powerful lobbyist, has been able to reverse the damage done.
The second reason for the support for Israel, surmises the Economist, ...   more »

Written By Sam Licavoli II
Edited By Doug Moiles 
(TV5) -- The three suspects are now facing two counts each of Homeland Security Terrorism charges. All three suspects are due to be arraigned August 12th.
Around 1:00am August 11th the three men purchased cell phones from the Wal-Mart store on M-81 near the corner of M-24 in Caro. Wal-Mart places a limit on the number of cell phones that can be purchased at once, that number is three. The three men allegedly bought 80 by purchasing them three at time so that an alert wouldn't be triggered by the cash register. They also paid cash.
An alert clerk grew suspicious and called Tuscola County central dispatch. The Caro Police Department sent a unit and stopped the rented van on M-81 just east of Caro. The suspects were headed towards Bad Axe on M-81 where there is another Super Wal-Mart.
The three men are described as being of Palestinian descent but live in Texas.   Police say the three, ages 19, 22, and 23 appear to be naturalized citizens.
One man was driving while the other two were in the back opening the phone packages with box cutters throwing the phones in ...   more »