ISRAEL

The controlling shareholder in Cool Holding has agreed to buy mobile phone operator MIRS from Motorola's (MOT.N) Israeli subsidiary for $170 million in cash, cable TV company HOT (HOT.TA) said on Thursday.

Egyptian earth-moving machinery was at work on the Gaza Strip border on Wednesday and an Israeli newspaper said a project was under way to build a subterranean metal wall to block Palestinian smuggling tunnels.

Thousands of Jewish West Bank settlers and their supporters demonstrated near the official residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Wednesday to protest his 10-month building freeze.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday there was no deal for now between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas on freeing an Israeli soldier held in Gaza.

Haifa Chemicals and Citi (C.N) said on Wednesday they had agreed to sell certified emission reduction (CER) credits after the Israeli company acquired new technology to cut its greenhouse gases.

Iran believes the United States is holding a former deputy defence minister who disappeared in 2007 and 10 other Iranian nationals, according to a list carried by the semi-official Mehr news agency on Wednesday.

In the sound and fury following the U.N. nuclear governors' censure of Iran last week for its cover-up of a second uranium enrichment site, and Tehran's rejection of a nuclear cooperation deal with world powers, a broader, festering issue was obscured.

Iran said it will provide the U.N. nuclear watchdog with the bare minimum of information about its plan to build 10 new uranium enrichment plants, a stance sure to stoke Western suspicions about its atomic agenda.

Standard & Poor's Maalot unit said on Thursday it lowered its rating on bonds issued by Israel's MA Industries to AA- from AA, citing an erosion of the financial profile of the world's biggest maker of generic agrochemicals.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday Iran would enrich uranium to a higher level itself, apparently ruling out a U.N.-brokered deal meant to minimize the risk of Tehran producing material for atomic bombs.

Israel reduced spending on settlement construction in the occupied West Bank during 2009, according to official figures which show just four building starts funded in the third quarter.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday Iran would enrich uranium to a higher level itself, apparently ruling out a U.N.-brokered deal meant to dispel fears Tehran is pursuing nuclear weapons capability.

Israeli inspectors trying to enforce a government moratorium on new building starts in Jewish settlements ran into defiance Tuesday at an enclave in the occupied West Bank.

Chipmaker Broadcom Corp said on Monday it agreed to buy privately held Dune Networks for around $178 million in cash in a move to bolster its portfolio of network equipment products.

An influential Iranian leader suggested on Monday Iran should quit the Non-Proliferation Treaty in protest against a U.N. censure over its nuclear activity, but its atomic energy chief dismissed such a move.

Israeli inspectors armed with aerial maps and empowered to confiscate construction equipment have begun enforcing a limited government moratorium on new building in West Bank settlements, officials said on Monday.

Iran sees little point to staying in the Non-Proliferation Treaty, a senior official said on Monday, a day after announcing plans to build 10 more nuclear sites in a swipe at growing pressure to rein in atomic activity.

Iran announced plans on Sunday to build 10 new uranium enrichment plants in a major expansion of its atomic program, just two days after the U.N. nuclear watchdog rebuked it for carrying out such work in secret.

IBM , the world's biggest technology services company, is expected to announce this week the acquisition of database security start-up Guardium for $225 million, Israeli financial newspaper TheMarker reported.

An Israeli cabinet minister said on Friday he was optimistic about prospects for a prisoner swap with Palestinians for captured soldier Gilad Shalit, suggesting that talks were still alive to achieve a deal.

World powers are demanding that Iran immediately mothball a uranium enrichment site it hid for years, heightening fears it is planning to build atom bombs, in a resolution to be voted on by U.N. nuclear watchdog governors.