ISRAEL   
    
Crif, July 19 - Sarkozy: …and now Shalit - On the occasion of the traditional Bastille Day (July 14) garden party at the Elysee, to which Richard Prasquier and other CRIF leaders had been invited, Nicolas Sarkozy reaffirmed that France would “mobilise its energy to obtain the release of Gilad Shalit”, who has been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza for over two years.

21 de julio 2008 - Revelaciones sobre un rescate - El Mosad participó en la liberación de Betancourt - Los servicios secretos de Israel, EE.UU. y Francia ayudaron a Colombia en el rescate.
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Yedioth Aharonot, July 20 - Report: Mossad involved in Betancourt rescue - Spanish newspaper says Israeli, US and French secret services took part in operation to free hostage from Colombian rebels earlier this month.

Times, July 23 - Democrat Barack Obama viewed with suspicion in Israel - Barack Obama has already made remarks that are likely to unsettle his Israeli hosts

Barack Obama pledged yesterday to work for peace between Israel and the Palestinians from his first day in office, hours before arriving in the region where he faces a skeptical audience on both sides of the conflict.

The Democratic presidential candidate, who is struggling to win over Jewish voters in America and is viewed with suspicion in Israel, holds meetings in Jerusalem and the West Bank today during the thorniest leg of his international tour. It will be a far cry from the rapturous public reception that he is likely to receive in Berlin tomorrow…

Israelis are particularly suspicious of Mr Obama because of his willingness to talk to Iran’s leadership, and a perception that he is sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.

Crif in Action - Turkey reinforces its mediation between Israel and Syria - Osman Koroturk, Turkey’s ambassador to France, has confirmed to Richard Prasquier and Haim Musicant the active role played by his country in negotiations between Israel and Syria. Two new sessions have already been programmed in the coming weeks.

Jerusalem Post, July 22 - Sixteen wounded in copycat bulldozer attack in Jerusalem - Sixteen people were wounded, one of them moderately, as a bulldozer driver went on a rampage in central Jerusalem Tuesday afternoon in an apparent attempt to recreate the terror attack in the capital earlier this month. (  That terrorist killed was head of Hamas charity foundation)

The vehicle reportedly left a construction site near Yemin Moshe neighbourhood and set off towards Liberty Bell Park (Gan Hapa'amon), near the corner of Keren Hayesod and King David streets. It drove a distance of approximately 160 meters, attempting to overturn a bus and crashing into four other vehicles - one of which it flipped over. The man was then shot dead by a civilian and a border policeman.
The wounded were evacuated to hospitals in the capital.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police sealed off possible escape routes into east Jerusalem and were searching for two suspects who fled the scene.

The attack took place in a busy part of downtown Jerusalem, several hundred meters from the luxury hotel where US presidential candidate Barack Obama is supposed to stay Tuesday night as he kicks off a visit to Israel.
   
Washington Post - Palestinian Attacks in Jerusalem Using Construction Vehicle - Again - Laurie Copans - A Palestinian attacker turned a construction vehicle - a backhoe loader - into a fearsome weapon in downtown Jerusalem on Tuesday, ramming a bus, overturning a car and injuring numerous people before he was shot dead, in the second attack of its kind in less than a month.

In both cases the attackers were from eastern Jerusalem, where Palestinian residents hold Israeli ID cards and can move freely. The attack had Israeli Jews questioning whether they could continue to let Palestinians from eastern Jerusalem freely enter the Jewish section.
   
Jerusalem Post, July 16 - Peres completes an active first year as president - President Shimon Peres celebrated the completion of his first year in office this week and, notwithstanding his age, (he will be 85 on August 2), he has proved to be one of Israel's most active heads of state.      

Security Cabinet Communiqué (Communicated by the Prime Minister’s Media Adviser) - The Security Cabinet met today (Wednesday, 23 July 2008), to discuss the Global Jihad threat to the region.  Ministers received in-depth briefings from IDF Intelligence, Israel Security Agency and Mossad officials - It arose in the discussion that Global Jihad organizations, led by Al Qaida, pose significant threats to the State of Israel, to Israeli citizens and to Jews around the world. 

The aforesaid intelligence officials noted that Global Jihad constitutes a threat to the Western world, to democratic regimes and to moderate Arab elements, and added that there is concern that Global Jihad will cooperate with extremist elements in the region such as Hezbollah and Hamas.

It further arose that Global Jihad elements are utilizing civilian infrastructures, such as the internet, and information transfer technologies to coordinate, recruit and operate terrorists.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert instructed the aforesaid officials to continue their information-gathering and counter-terrorism efforts while coordinating with additional countries that are partners in the war on terrorism.

EUROPE
 
Ria Novosti, July 22 - Russia hopes for fair UN tribunal trial for Karadzic - Moscow, - Russia hopes former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic will receive a fair trial at the UN tribunal, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

Serbia announced earlier on Tuesday that war crimes suspect Karadzic, who had been on the run for over a decade, had been arrested. The former president is expected to be extradited to stand trial at The Hague war crimes tribunal. …

Russia criticized the tribunal for 'bias' in favor of ethnic Albanians in armed conflicts following the breakup of Yugoslavia. The acquittal earlier this month of Naser Oric, a former Bosnian Muslim commander, on charges of failing to prevent the murder and torture of Bosnian Serbs in 1992-1993 was condemned by Moscow as "biased."

Karadzic was accused by the UN tribunal of genocide over the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, the largest mass murder in Europe since the end of WWII, when about 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed by Serb forces led by Ratko Mladic, who remains at large.

Karadzic was also held responsible for the deaths of 12,000 people during the almost four-year long siege of Sarajevo. …………

Spiegel, July 23 - The World From Berlin - 'Serbia Is Tired of Its Misery' - With presumed war criminal Radovan Karadzic now behind bars, it is clear that Serbia is serious about wanting to align itself more closely with the European Union. German commentators say the country should be rewarded.

New York Times, July 23 - Serb Officials Detail Capture of Karadzic - Paris - Radovan Karadzic, one of the world’s most wanted war criminals until his arrest on genocide charges for his alleged role in the massacre of nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995, had been living and working freely in Belgrade as practitioner of alternative medicine, Serbian authorities said Tuesday.

…A photograph displayed to reporters showed Mr. Karadzic with long white hair and a flowing white beard — markedly different from the clean-shaven figure with a distinctive quiff of gray hair familiar before the 13-year hunt that led to his arrest.

…The officials gave no details of the continuing hunt for Mr. Karadzic’s wartime ally, Gen. Ratko Mladic, who is also being sought for trial in The Hague.

…The arrest was just weeks after a new pro-Western coalition government in Serbia was formed whose overriding goal is to bring Serbia into the European Union, the world’s biggest trading bloc. The European Union has made delivering indicted war criminals to The Hague a precondition for Serbia’s membership.

The arrest was hailed by Western diplomats as proof of Serbia’s determination to link its future to the West and put the virulent nationalism of the past behind it.

…The prosecution charged him with genocide, persecution, deportation and other crimes committed against non-Serb civilians in Bosnia during the 1992-95 war.

Even though indicted by the United Nations tribunal, he was often seen for at least another year in and around Pale, his stronghold in Bosnia; NATO troops stationed in the area often had the chance to arrest him but claimed that they had no arrest orders, despite the international warrant issued against him.

…He is charged with genocide for the murder of close to 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995.

The indictment charges that Mr. Karadzic also committed genocide, persecutions and other crimes when forces under his command killed non-Serbs during and after attacks on towns throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, rounded up thousands of non-Serbs and transferred them to camps set up by the Bosnian Serb authorities.

The charges state that forces under Mr. Karadzic’s command killed, tortured, mistreated and sexually assaulted non-Serbs in these camps.

Further, he is charged with responsibility for the shelling and sniping of civilians in Sarajevo, during the 43-month siege of the city, which led to the killing and wounding of thousands, including many women and children.

Bronislaw Geremek died in a car accident - This Polish patriot who fought in the ghetto of Warsaw became a member of the Parliament in Strasbourg, a communist, a European and a citizen of the world…
               
The Times, July 22 - President Sarkozy cajoles his way to narrow victory - By Adam Sage in Paris - Parliament backs overhaul of Constitution.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy attends a ceremony marking the first day of France’s six-month presidency of the European Union, at the Triumph Arc in Paris July 1, 2008.

President Sarkozy toasted a landmark victory last night as the French Parliament narrowly backed his overhaul of the country's 50-year-old Constitution in a Bill that will curtail some of his power. The reform, described by his supporters as a significant modernization of French democracy, was approved by only one vote after arm-twisting by the centre-right Government to win over MPs and Senators.

With the left-wing opposition expressing resolute hostility and a three-fifths majority necessary to change the Constitution, the President had feared his most humiliating defeat since entering office last year. Far from relinquishing power, critics accused Mr Sarkozy of using the reforms to cement his authority.

The Senate and the National Assembly met for a joint session at the former French Royal Palace in Versailles, where King Louis XVI summoned lawmakers in 1789 in an attempt to curtail the popular discontent that eventually cost him his head.

Mr Sarkozy secured a more successful outcome after interrupting a three-day break with Carla Bruni, his pop star wife, in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh to charm - or berate - parliamentarians over the telephone. He needed 538 votes and obtained 539.

OIL
   
Haaretz, July 17 - Israel and Russia close to deal on Mediterranean pipeline - Jerusalem is close to an agreement with Moscow that would secure natural gas for a planned pipeline project between Turkey and Israel, Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said on Thursday.

The project consists of five pipelines that would carry water, natural gas, oil, electricity and fibre optics from Turkey's Mediterranean coast to Israel….

Feasibility studies on an accompanying oil pipeline will be done in 10 months, said Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler, adding that the pipeline could carry at least 40 million tonnes of oil annually.

The oil pipeline is also seen as an important step to reducing the time it takes to transport crude oil to eastern Asia. Azerbaijan has said it is interested in using the pipeline to ship its oil to eastern markets, Ben-Eliezer said.

CULTURE

Guardian U.K - UK Promotes Academic Links with Israel - Anthea Lipsett and Jessica Shepherd - British academics will be encouraged to conduct research with their Israeli peers as Prime Minister Gordon Brown signed a £740,000 academic exchange scheme during his trip to Israel on Monday.

The Britain-Israel research and academic exchange partnership (BIRAX) will award scientific research grants to junior academics - from postdoctoral students to mid-career researchers and lecturers. The government is keen to promote links between the two countries to play down attempts by British academics to boycott Israeli academics.

Crif - Reopening of the Oldest Jewish monument in France - In response to a question by CRIF concerning the “Jewish monument in Rouen” (West of France), Pascal Clément, Minister of Justice, has addressed a letter to Roger Cukierman in which he says that the monument will be gradually reopened to the public.
 
“This process will include the drafting and signing in 2007 of a management contract for the monument. This will make it possible to transfer the responsibility for reopening the monument to the public from the State to a separate legal entity, for example an association promoting the monument. Such an organisation could be supported by the local authorities”, according to Pascal Clément.

“Such a contract will have to define individual responsibilities and should make it possible to preserve the security of the jurisdictions as much as the security of the monument itself”, added the minister.

The Times, July 23 - Solar power from Sahara will keep Europe’s lights on - European politicians are discussing ambitious plans to harvest the energy of the Saharan sun, connecting a vast network of solar panels to electricity grids across the continent. According to The Guardian, the project, estimated to cost up to £35.7 billion, is backed by Gordon Brown and President Sarkozy of France.

The project is still at an early stage and faces daunting financial and technological obstacles. Solar power’s supporters say it will take ten years for it to become economically competitive, and while undersea cables to Sicily and Spain are planned for construction in 2010-2012, it is not known how they will be financed.

As the world grows increasingly anxious about climate change and dwindling fossil fuels, ideas that once sounded like science fiction are becoming ever more plausible.

The EU last year set a mandatory target of producing 20 per cent of its energy consumption from renewable sources by 2020, and there are also big political imperatives in play.