by Mark Miller
An exclusive, advanced look at the new TV reality show.
One of the advantages of living in Los Angeles, the very nerve center of show business, is that with the right connections, one is privy to all sorts of inside information. Through an inside source who prefers to remain anonymous, I recently became aware of an exciting new reality TV show, scheduled to premiere this Fall on the new Jewish TV network, OyVision, that is certain to become a ratings hit, especially among Jewish viewers. It is called "Jewish American Idol."
Show Format
"Jewish American Idol" is the first Jewish-themed TV reality show in America. It will feature Jewish men and women of all ages competing in a constantly changing series of Jewish-themed challenges. Viewers will be able to call in and vote for their favorites. The contestants will also be evaluated by three celebrity Jewish judges. Offers have been made to Billy Crystal, Jerry Seinfeld and Roseanne Barr to serve as judges for the pilot episode. Each season, the top 12 contestants will participate in a "Jewish American Idol" tour of the U.S., Israel, and selected countries world-wide. And contestant auditions will be held in major ...   more »

THE US military chief is to meet his Israeli counterpart in Tel Aviv this week in a move that gives new impetus to speculation about a pre-emptive strike against Iran's nuclear capabilities.
Tensions were further heightened by a suggestion from former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton that the US and Israel could attack Iraq's fledgling program between the time a new president was nominated in November and the date the incumbent, George W. Bush, left office in January.
Mr Bolton's remarks signal the first time a regime figure from either country has been prepared to put a time frame on a mooted strike. They also mark a sharp escalation in Israeli-US rhetoric against the Islamic republic, which is refusing to bow to international demands that it stop its nuclear program, and its efforts to enrich uranium.
As the European Union moved Monday to suspend the operations of Iran's largest bank in Europe, Israeli policy-makers were putting in place a clear shift in their stance towards Iran. Officials had been wary of being perceived as trigger-happy, with the spectre of the Iraq war still shadowing the region.
However, a raft of politicians and defence officials are now openly bullish ...   more »

(Video) Drama at Ben-Gurion Airport: Raid Asaad Ghanan, a Border Guard officer tasked with perimeter security assignment during farewell ceremony for French president Sarkozy, shoots himself; VIPs at airports rushed away from scene by bodyguards
VIDEO - Tragedy at farewell ceremony: A Border Guard officer tasked with a perimeter security assignement during the farewell ceremony for French President Nicolas Sarkozy at Ben-Gurion Airport was killed after apparently shooting himself.
An ambulance was rushed to the scene to treat the soldier, but a short time later he was pronounced dead.Police officials estimated that the officer committed suicide.
The incident caused a scare during the ceremony, prompting body guards to rush VIPs away from the area. The armored cars of President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert were rushed to the ceremony site, and the two were taken away from the area.
Meanwhile, the French president was taken into his airplane, which was waiting on the runway, by his own bodyguards. After the circumstances of the incident became clear, the bodyguards allowed Peres and Olmert to board the plane and bid Sarkozy farewell.
A member of Peres' entourage told Ynet, "There was no panic; a routine procedure was activated by the ...   more »

By Toby Harnden in Washington
Last updated: 9:50 AM BST 24/06/2008
John Bolton, the former American ambassador to the United Nations, has predicted that Israel could attack Iran after the November presidential election but before George W Bush's successor is sworn in.
The Arab world would be "pleased" by Israeli strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities, he said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph.
"It [the reaction] will be positive privately. I think there'll be public denunciations but no action," he said.
Mr Bolton, an unflinching hawk who proposes military action to stop Iran developing nuclear weapons, bemoaned what he sees as a lack of will by the Bush administration to itself contemplate military strikes.
"It's clear that the administration has essentially given up that possibility," he said. "I don't think it's serious any more. If you had asked me a year ago I would have said I thought it was a real possibility. I just don't think it's in the cards."
Israel, however, still had a determination to prevent a nuclear Iran, he argued. The "optimal window" for strikes would be between the November 4 election and the inauguration on January 20, 2009.
"The Israelis have one eye on ...   more »

By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor
Harun Yahya is one of the most widely distributed authors in the Muslim world. He may also be among the most widely criticized Muslim authors in the Western world.
His glossy books and DVDs on religion and science sell in Islamic bookshops around the globe. He gives away thousands of expensive volumes and lets readers download much of his work from his websites for free.
The Council of Europe accuses him of trying to infiltrate schools with religious extremism and French teachers are told to keep his work from their students.
Unknown outside Muslim circles two years ago, Adnan Oktar -- the 52-year-old Turk behind the pseudonym Harun Yahya -- caught the attention of scientists and teachers in Europe and North America by mass-mailing them his 768-page "Atlas of Creation."
His lavishly illustrated book preaches a Muslim version of creationism, the view scientists usually hear from Christian fundamentalists who say God created all life on earth just as it is today and oppose the teaching of Darwin's evolution theory.
"Every academic I know says they've got one of those," retired University of Edinburgh natural history professor Aubrey Manning told the Glasgow Herald when "The Atlas" ...   more »

US lawmakers have passed a bill to shield telephone companies who helped in the White House's controversial warrantless wiretaps programme.
The bill also grants the US government the power to continue with its warrantless surveillance scheme.
The Bush administration faced criticism when details emerged of its programme to monitor the phone calls of foreign targets in the US without warrants.
President Bush said the scheme was needed to prevent attacks on the US.
Telephone companies were facing as many as 40 lawsuits for their involvement in the scheme.
Sticking point
The bill was passed in the House of Representatives with bipartisan support, after House Democrats reached a compromise with the Republicans over the provisions to grant telecommunications companies immunity from prosecution.
Previous attempts to pass the bill - and allow the warrantless wiretap scheme to continue - had foundered on the issue of immunity for telecom firms.
Democrats had been reluctant to grant the firms immunity, saying the courts should first determine what the companies did.
President Bush - backed by Republicans in Congress - wanted to ensure that firms which had helped his administration would not be liable for prosecution.
The two sides reached a compromise, whereby telephone companies ...   more »

Gut Check: Readers report lonely streets, rundown homes, service cutbacks
By John W. Schoen
updated 9:57 a.m. CT, Tues., June. 24, 2008
As mortgage defaults and foreclosures continue to rise, the impact is spreading well beyond those who are losing their homes.
In communities across the country, msnbc.com readers report that local governments are coping with shrinking tax rolls, lenders are saddled with more foreclosed homes than they can sell and empty homes in many neighborhoods are being vandalized.
Like everything associated with the nation's housing crisis, the fallout from foreclosures is very local, a fact confirmed by hundreds of e-mails from readers in msnbc.com's Gut Check America. Some regions appear to have escaped relatively unscathed. But in hard-hit states like California, Arizona and Florida, readers report that some neighborhoods are becoming virtual ghost towns.
In Indian Harbour Beach, Fla., “lots of homes have been abandoned by their owners, and many people are going into bankruptcy,” wrote a reader named Robert. “Whole condo projects sit half-finished and rotting in the Florida sun. On some streets almost half the homes are empty. Many people have lost 40-50 percent of the value of their homes. 
Others report a different kind of isolation; ...   more »

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a bill that would shave billions of dollars in reimbursement from health plans that contract with the federal Medicare program.
Payment would be cut to health insurers such as Aetna Inc and Humana Inc under the bill sponsored by Democrats Charles Rangel of New York and John Dingell of Michigan.
U.S. lawmakers face a June 30 deadline to pass legislation blocking a scheduled 11 percent pay cut for Medicare doctors. Cuts to the private plans would help keep the doctors' payments intact.
In the Senate, Republicans and Democrats are working on a compromise that could be announced as early as Tuesday afternoon. Other Medicare providers that are likely to be affected include oxygen companies such as Apria Healthcare and wheelchair makers like Invacare Corp.
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chinese interest in U.S. commercial property is back, and this time Chinese investors may become significant players as the nation devises a vehicle to divert large amounts of funds for foreign investment, a Cushman & Wakefield executive said on Monday.
Flush with dollars from a huge trade imbalance, Chinese sovereign wealth funds are beginning to test the waters in New York real estate, said Scott Latham, executive vice president, Capital Markets group for real estate services company Cushman & Wakefield.
"They are coming. We've seen them in the bidding process over the past four months on a number of assets we've handled," Latham said at the Reuters Global Real Estate Summit in New York.
They were recently among the throng of bidders for three of seven former Equity Office properties marketed after Harry Macklowe defaulted on loans he used to buy them last year, he said.
Latham is one of the most powerful commercial real estate brokers in Manhattan, the largest U.S. commercial real estate market. He has shepherded deals such as the $1.72 billon sale of the MetLife Building, the $1.8 billion sale of 666 Fifth Avenue and the $675 million sale of The Plaza ...   more »

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, June 23 (UPI) -- Thousands of people in the Netherlands say they expect the world to end in 2012, and many say they are taking precautions to prepare for the apocalypse.
The Dutch-language de Volkskrant newspaper said it spoke to thousands of believers in the impending end of civilization, and while theories on the supposed catastrophe varied, most tied the 2012 date to the end of the Mayan calendar, Radio Netherlands reported Monday.
De Volkskrant said many of those interviewed are stocking up on emergency supplies, including life rafts and other equipment.
Some who spoke to the newspaper were optimistic about the end of civilization.
"You know, maybe it's really not that bad that the Netherlands will be destroyed," Petra Faile said. "I don't like it here anymore. Take immigration, for example. They keep letting people in. And then we have to build more houses, which makes the Netherlands even heavier. The country will sink even lower, which will make the flooding worse."
Original Source   more »