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FILE - In this Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009 file photo, Israeli soldiers wear gas mask as they take part in a home front command army drill simulating a chemical missile attack at an army base near Tel Aviv.  With cutting-edge anti-missile systems and two new submarines that can carry nuclear weapons, Israel is readying a new generation of armaments designed to defend itself against egression from outside its borders, according to Eyal Ron, one of the system's developers, saying that final dress rehearsals are expected in December 2009, before the system goes live next year.(AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner, File)

Israel readying new arms to meet Iran challenge

2 hours, 11 minutes ago

JERUSALEM - With cutting-edge anti-missile systems and two new submarines that can carry nuclear weapons, Israel is readying a new generation of armaments designed to defend itself against distant Iran as well as Tehran's proxy armies on its borders.

  • The exterior of the New York Stock Exchange is seen in New York, March 27, 2009. REUTERS/Eric Thayer
    World stocks buoyed by Fed but dollar slides 19 minutes ago

    LONDON - World stock markets rose Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve indicated that interest rates will remain at super-low levels for a while yet. Meanwhile, the dollar slid to a ten-month low against the yen after the central bank said the currency's decline had been "orderly."

  • Police investigators tag a body found in a shallow grave at the massacre site of a political clan that included several journalists in the outskirts of Ampatuan, Maguindanao in southern Philippines November 25, 2009. The latest death toll in the massacre is 52, police said on Wednesday.  REUTERS/Erik de Castro   (PHILIPPINES CRIME LAW CONFLICT)
    5 more bodies uncovered in Philippine massacre 33 minutes ago

    MANILA, Philippines - A Philippine police official says five more bodies have been recovered from a third mass grave for victims of the country's worst election violence. The discovery raises the death toll from the carnage to 57.

  • Belgian patient Rom Houben, seen here using a specially-adapted computer to type messages at the Weyerke institute near Liege. Houben, who was wrongly diagnosed as being in a coma for 23 years, has revived the debate on care for those considered in a vegetative state, with the astonishing case far from unique according to a recent study.(AFP/Stringer)
    Comatose for 23 years, Belgian feels reborn 1 hour, 38 minutes ago

    BRUSSELS - Helped by a therapist, Rom Houben's outstretched finger tapped with surprising speed on a computer touchscreen, spelling out how he felt "alone, lonely, frustrated" in the 23 years he was trapped inside a paralyzed body.

  • In this photo released by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Kaing Guek Eav, center, the former chief of the Khmer Rouge's notorious S-21 prison, now known as Tuol Sleng genocide museum, stands in the court room of the U.N.-backed tribunal in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009. Prosecutors in the genocide trial of the former Khmer Rouge prison chief demanded he be sentenced to 40 years in jail for his role in the killing of thousands of Cambodian prisoners. (AP Photo/Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia)
    Khmer Rouge prison chief could get 40 years 2 hours, 38 minutes ago

    PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Prosecutors in the genocide trial of a former Khmer Rouge prison chief demanded a 40-year jail sentence Wednesday for a man they described as responsible for snuffing out innocent lives and spreading terror across Cambodia.

  • FILE -  In this Sept. 18, 2008 file photo, a child cries as he waits for ultrasonic scan to detect for problems related to consuming tainted milk formula at a hospital, in Shijiazhuang, northern China's Hebei province. China executed a dairy farmer and a milk salesman Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009,  for their roles in the sale of contaminated baby formula severe punishments that Beijing hopes will assuage public anger, reassure importers and put to rest one of the country's worst food safety crises. The men were the only people put to death in a scheme to boost profits by lacing milk powder with the industrial chemical melamine; another 19 were convicted and received lesser sentences. At least six children died after drinking the adulterated formula, and more than 300,000 were sickened. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)
    China executes 2 for role in tainted milk scandal Tue Nov 24, 3:51 PM ET

    BEIJING - China executed a dairy farmer and a milk salesman Tuesday for their roles in the sale of contaminated baby formula — severe punishments that Beijing hopes will assuage public anger, reassure importers and put to rest one of the country's worst food safety crises.

  • Scientists gather at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) data quality satellite control center of the ATLAS detectors during the restart of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Meyrin, near Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, Nov. 23, 2009. Scientists turned on the Large Hadron Collider on Friday night, Nov. 20, 2009, for the first time since the machine suffered a failure more than a year ago and had to be shut down shortly after the start. (AP Photo/Keystone, Laurent Gillieron)
    Big Bang atom smasher starts speeding proton beams Tue Nov 24, 11:56 AM ET

    GENEVA - The world's largest atom smasher used its accelerator Tuesday to speed up proton beams for the first time as scientists moved ahead in efforts to learn more about the universe.

  • In this picture taken Thursday Nov. 19, 2009,  Rahimullah stands at an Afghan National Army checkpoint soldier , the car he was traveling in being stopped because of his weapon, in the Tagab Valley some 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Kabul, Afghanistan. Rahimullah, a former Taliban fighter, changed side, joined the Afghan forces and was given an AK47 automatic riffle. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
    Wooing of Taliban fighters is dangerous game Tue Nov 24, 12:24 PM ET

    SHINKAY, Afghanistan - A battered taxi sped up a dusty road toward a squad of Afghan soldiers searching for bombs planted in the dirt. Army gunmen who had fanned out for protection readied for a suicide attacker. The car screeched to a halt.

  • People pass by the Mistral French amphibious assault ship docked on the Neva River in downtown St. Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009.  A cutting-edge French warship sailed into St. Petersburg Monday to show off its capabilities to potential buyers in the Russian navy, whose pursuit of an amphibious assault capacity is frightening some neighboring countries.   (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)
    France shows off cutting-edge navy ship in Russia Tue Nov 24, 2:38 PM ET

    ST. PETERSBURG, Russia - French officers on Tuesday showed off a cutting-edge warship to a potential buyer — the Russian navy, whose pursuit of an amphibious assault capacity is frightening some neighboring countries.

  • These photos taken in August show the Bangladeshi set of twins Trishna (L) and Krishna. Bangladeshi twins Trishna and Krishna are out of intensive care and seeing each other for the first time as they make an "amazing" recovery from surgery to separate their conjoined heads, doctors said Tuesday.(AFP/HO/File/Royal Childrens Hospital)
    Docs say formerly conjoined twins recovering well Tue Nov 24, 7:08 PM ET

    MELBOURNE, Australia - Formerly conjoined twin sisters Trishna and Krishna are enjoying a favorite DVD and trying new foods as they continue their recovery from marathon separation surgery, doctors said.

  • In this Nov. 16, 2009 photo released by the Australian Antarctic  Division, an iceberg is seen at Sandy Bay on Macquarie Island's east coast, in the Southern Ocean 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) southeast of Tasmania, Australia. It is very rare to see icebergs from Macquarie Island and is uncommon to find icebergs in this general region. (AP Photo/Australian Antarctic Division, Eve Merfield)
    Icebergs head from Antarctica for New Zealand 2 hours, 7 minutes ago

    WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Ships are on alert and maritime authorities are monitoring the movements of hundreds of menacing icebergs drifting toward New Zealand in the southern Pacific Ocean, officials said.

  • NIreland: 2 charged with attack on police Tue Nov 24, 6:43 PM ET

    BELFAST, Northern Ireland - Two suspected Irish Republican Army dissidents have been charged with attempting to kill an off-duty police officer near the province's border with the Republic of Ireland last week, police said Tuesday.

  • A baboon called Fred, back ground, sits inside a car with a baboon called Michael Jackson, left, as he eats at Cape Point on the outskirts of  Cape Town, South Africa, Tuesday,  Nov. 24, 2009. Visitors heading to South Africa premier holiday destination during the 2010 World Cup maybe worried about becoming victims of the country's high crime rate but they are more likely to find themselves robbed or mugged by a rather furry kind of felon: baboons. The baboons were named local officials who are supposed to prevent baboons from entering houses and cars. (Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)
    Furry felons rob SAfrican tourists, steal food Tue Nov 24, 9:24 PM ET

    CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Visitors to South Africa's premier holiday destination who are worried about becoming victims of the country's high crime rate could find themselves instead robbed by a more furry kind of felon: baboons.

  • Butchers with butcher knives participate in religious rituals before slaughtering buffalos during a mass sacrifice ceremony at Gadhimai temple in Bariyapur, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) south of Katmandu, Nepal, Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009. Hundreds of thousands of Hindus gathered at a temple in southern Nepal on Tuesday for a ceremony involving the slaughter of more than 200,000 animals, a festival that has drawn the ire of animal-welfare protesters. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)
    Festival of mass animal sacrifice begins in Nepal Tue Nov 24, 12:00 PM ET

    BARIYAPUR, Nepal - The ceremony began with prayers in a temple by tens of thousands of Hindus before dawn Tuesday. Then it shifted to a nearby corral, where in the cold morning mist, scores of butchers wielding curved swords began slaughtering buffalo calves by hacking off their heads.

  • Captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is seen in a video broadcast by an Israeli news channel on October 2, 2009. Israel said on Monday there was no deal yet on a prisoner swap with Hamas, as efforts appeared to gather pace on an accord that could see a Gaza-held soldier exchanged for hundreds of Palestinians.(AFP/File/Jonathan Nackstrand)
    Prisoner swap could win release of popular leader Tue Nov 24, 2:09 PM ET

    RAMALLAH, West Bank - At the top of the list of Palestinian prisoners likely to be freed in a possible swap for an Israeli soldier is a firebrand politician many Palestinians believe is a likely future president who can pull them out of their current political deadlock.

  • Anti-war protesters from the 'Stop the War' group, wearing masks depicting British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, right, former US president George W. Bush, center and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, left, pose for the photographers, outside the conference center where the Iraq war inquiry ia taking place, in central London, Tuesday Nov. 24, 2009. In the most sweeping inquiry by any nation involved in the Iraq war, a panel investigating Britain's role in the conflict begins questioning witnesses Tuesday in hearings that critics hope will humble former Prime Minister Tony Blair and expose alleged deception in the buildup to conflict. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
    British panel begins inquiry on Iraq war Tue Nov 24, 1:50 PM ET

    LONDON - An inquiry into Britain's role in the Iraq war kicked off Tuesday with top government advisers testifying that some Bush administration officials were calling for Saddam Hussein's ouster as early as 2001 — long before sanctions were exhausted and two years before the U.S.-led invasion.

  • Sunni lawmaker Osama al-Nujeifi speaks to the press after an Iraqi Parliament session about the election law on Monday, Nov. 23, 2009. Iraq's parliament has amended an election law that was vetoed by a Sunni Arab vice president, but Sunnis say the changes do not address their concerns.The dispute highlights ethnic and sectarian divisions in Iraq, and could force a delay in national polling scheduled for January. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
    Iraq elections face delay Tue Nov 24, 12:37 PM ET

    BAGHDAD - A senior official said Tuesday that Iraq must delay a national vote scheduled for January because of a political dispute, and the vice president who triggered the crisis indicated he would veto a key election law for a second time.

  • Indian probe blames mosque attack on Hindu leaders Tue Nov 24, 12:18 PM ET

    NEW DELHI - An Indian government investigation released Tuesday into the 1992 demolition of a mosque by a raging mob reportedly accused top Hindu nationalist politicians of complicity in the attack that sparked nationwide ethnic riots, leaving 2,000 people dead.

  • Jacques Monsieur (L) sits besides his lawyer Marc Preumont while appearing before Brussels' Correctionnal court in 2002. Monsieur , an alleged Belgian arms dealer, on Monday pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to export fighter jet engines and parts to Iran, US justice officials said.(AFP/BELGA/File/Virginie Lefour)
    Arms dealer pleads guilty in Ala. smuggling case Tue Nov 24, 12:19 PM ET

    MOBILE, Ala. - A Belgian arms dealer has pleaded guilty to illegally exporting airplane engines and parts from the U.S. to Iran for use in aging F-5 fighter jets sold to the Islamic nation before its 1979 revolution.

  • Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (L) walks with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro upon arrival at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Caracas. Ahmadinejad is on the third and final stop of his whirlwind tour of friendly Latin American nations who support Iran's controversial nuclear program(AFP/Juan Barreto)
    Diplomats: Big powers prepare Iran resolution Tue Nov 24, 4:06 PM ET

    VIENNA - Six world powers have readied a resolution critical of Iran's nuclear program, diplomats said Tuesday, as Tehran suggested it was still ready to discuss a U.N.-backed plan meant to delay the Islamic Republic's ability to make a nuclear weapon.