ISRAEL

Iran has delivered the first consignment of locally produced raw uranium making its nuclear program self-sufficient, the country's top nuclear boss said on Sunday. The announcement came just a day before the Islamic republic is to resume the stalled nuclear talks with Germany and the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council on Monday and Tuesday in Geneva.

Expressing severe discontent over the continuing settlement activity, the president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Mahmoud Abbas, stated that he might dissolve PA if a peace deal cannot be reached with Israel.

U.S. spy planes flew reconnaissance flights over Lebanon from a British air base in Cyprus, leaked U.S. documents show, in a counter-terrorist surveillance operation requested by Lebanese officials.

Scientists have discovered that the air above the Dead Sea in Israel is laden with oxidized mercury, showing some of the highest levels of the oxidized form of the dangerous neurotoxin ever observed outside the polar regions, according to the United States National Science Foundation.

Berlusconi in Italy laughed it away, while Ahmadinejad in Tehran yet again blamed the United States. The Russians refused to comment and Indians breathed a sigh of relief. WikiLeaks, the whistle-blower website, revealed the vigor of US espionage, leaking out more than 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables. The first batch of the documents leaked mentioned Saudi Arabia and other Arab states' desire to attack Iran, highly sensitive information on world leaders and US military strategy across the Worl...

Wikileaks' latest spill, dubbed the 'Cablegate', shows that the world, especially the MIddle East fears Iran. But there are very strong strategic factors that help the country survive.

With over three million tourists having arrived in Israel recently, the country declared 2010 as the “record year” for tourism after the numbers surpassed the record of 3 million arrivals during the pre-crisis time in 2008. Israel, therefore, seems to be emerging as a 'hot' tourism destination!

Twin blasts in Tehran killed a prominent Iranian nuclear scientist while another sustained injuries on Monday. In separate assassination attempts, bombs were placed under their cars. State media held Israeli intelligence agents for their death.

The year 2010 was not good for Google in China and the hacking was, indeed, part of a sabotage attempt carried out with help from the government quarters, reveal the classified U.S. documents released by Wikileaks on Sunday. China to Germany, US diplomacy generally smacks of quid-pro-quo dealings, as ever.

According to the London-based daily al-Hayat, the WikiLeaks release includes documents showing Turkey has helped al-Qaeda in Iraq, So far, the countries making rounds in news and on Twitter which may figure in Wikileaks' release include the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Denmark, Norway, Israel, Iraq, India, China, Turkey, Russia and Iceland.

In a rather amusing fashion, Republican Sarah Palin fired back at her critics for highlighting her latest 'North Korea ally' gaffe. In her thanksgiving message to the nation on facebook, she listed out verbal slips of U.S. President Barack Obama.

The U.S. Department of State is working overtime sending messages to ally capitals warning the impending release of classified documents by WikiLeaks could harm relations in what is seen as a pre-emptive move of unprecedented scale to neutralize the impact of the unveiling of embarrassing and compromising details about the inner workings of the government apparatus.

UBS Securities downgraded rating of Israel-based Mizrahi Tefahot Bank Ltd. to 'neutral' from 'buy', while maintaining its price target of 40 Israeli shekel or $10.89.

The antimatter bomb described in Dan Brown's book Angels and Demons is close to becoming reality as scientists at CERN have created antimatter.

It's been 33 years since Egypt's President Anwar El Sadat visited Israel. He then became the first ever Arab leader to engage with Jewish state. Though the United States brokered peace between the two nations, recent political developments suggest that things could go off balance in the coming months.

Israel-based IT services provider Ness Technologies is looking to buy two companies in India in the outsourced product development and financial services areas by the end of next year.

Even as Harry Potter (the protagonist) defeats Voldemort (the evil wizard) in the last series J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, grave of a dead Harry Potter is drawing tourists in the Israeli town of Ramle.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is planning an official visit to Israel in January next year, the Haaretz reported on Wednesday. This will be the first Russian presidential visit to Israel in almost five years. It was in 2005 that Vladimir Putin met Ariel Sharon, which improved the bilateral ties between the countries.

Israel is to discuss a 90-day construction freeze in West Bank proposed by the United States, sources say. At the recent Washington meeting between Israeli Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, US reportedly proposed an incentive package to reinstate a moratorium on West Bank settlement building. However, the proposal does not include a suspension of settlement activity in East Jerusalem.

Israel is expected to provide favorable environment for the companies which are planning to roll out electric cars.

As Palestine marks the death anniversary of former PLO chairman Yasser Arafat, his legacy is seen fading, while the Palestinian cause is sorely missing the leadership he offered.