Britannia Radio

No Israelis in tourist group abducted in S. Egypt Monday
September 22, 2008, 2:56 PM (GMT+02:00)
The Egyptian tourism ministry contradicted Italian and Arab media reports that 2 Israelis were in the group of tourists kidnapped in the Aswan region of S. Egypt, Monday, Sept. 22. The eleven tourists snatched were described as 5 Germans, 5 Italians, one Romanian national and four Egyptian guides. There was no mention of Israelis.
No group has taken responsibility for the abduction.
DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources report that al Qaeda cells based on Egyptian Jihad Islami networks operate in the Aswan region. Rome has set up a special emergency center to deal with the incident.

Israeli intelligence revises estimate: Iran is progressing fast towards a nuclear bomb
DEBKAfile Special Report
September 21, 2008, 7:37 PM (GMT+02:00)

Israeli military intelligence chief of research, Brig. Yossi Baidatz
The director of research at Israeli military intelligence (AMAN), Brig. Yossi Baidatz, surprised the Israeli cabinet Sunday Sept. 21, with a new appreciation of Iran’s nuclear timetable. Tehran, he disclosed, has already stocked one-third or even half the quantity of enriched uranium needed for a nuclear bomb. He warned the ministers that Iran is dashing at top speed towards a nuclear weapons capability and nothing stands in the way of its headlong advance, including international sanctions.
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Russia, China, Germany reject US evidence of Iran's covert nuke program
DEBKAfile Special Analysis
September 20, 2008, 1:30 PM (GMT+02:00)

Euphrates pipes for destroyed Syrian reactor designed to be part of Iran's military program
Russia, China and Germany refuse to countenance tougher sanctions against Iran notwithstanding the International Atomic Energy Agency’s report from Vienna that its inspections of suspect activities and covert projects were stalled by Tehran’s non-cooperation.
They rejected US intelligence data backing up the IAEA report and tell the international community that the US and Israel were furnished with more intelligence confirming Iran’s covert nuclear projects and the clandestine partnershipn between Tehran, Damascus and Pyongyang.
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Official death toll of huge Islamabad hotel blast is 52, including Czech ambassador
DEBKAfile Special Report
September 21, 2008, 11:15 AM (GMT+02:00)

Inferno at Islamabad Marriott Hotel after terrorist attack
Many people were trapped in rooms of the burning five-star Marriott Hotel in the Pakistan capital after a suicide bomber detonated a large truck loaded with a ton of explosives at the hotel gate. The official death toll is 52, including the Czech ambassador, and scores of injured. The ceiling of the banqueting hall crashed down on 500 guests at the Ramadan evening meal. The Pakistani president and prime minister were to have attended, but changed their plans.
According to some sources, a group of CIA officers just arrived in Islamabad may have been targeted.
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TOP STORIES
•No Israelis in tourist group kidnapped in Egypt
•Peres expected to entrust Livni with forming government
•New Israeli estimate: Iran is advancing fast toward a nuclear bomb
•Czech ambassador among 52 killed in Pakistan Hotel blast
•Palestinian terrorist with bomb killed on way to Yitzhar
•Six-power talks on Iran sanctions in deadlock
•Ten Russian warships have docked at Syrian port
•CIA chief: Al Qaeda greatest security threat to US
Peres expected to entrust Livni with forming government
September 22, 2008, 12:37 PM (GMT+02:00)
President Shimon Peres is expected to tip new Kadima leader Tzipi Livni as most able to take over from Ehud Olmert as head of government Monday night at the end of his consultations with party representatives in a 24-hour race against time. Livni faces tough haggling with all the potential coalition candidates in the 42 days allotted her to form a government.
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Ten Russian warships have docked at Syrian port
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
September 18, 2008, 9:50 PM (GMT+02:00)

Russian Navy in action
Israeli military and naval commanders were taken by surprise by Rear Adm. Andrei Baranov's disclosure that 10 Russian warships are already anchored at the Syrian port of Tartus, DEBKAfile’s military sources report.
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CIA director Hayden confirms “collaboration” which pre-empted Syria’s nuclear weapons plan
September 17, 2008, 12:00 PM (GMT+02:00)

CIA Director Michael Hayden: North Korea and Iran follow al Qaeda as threats
CIA director Michael Hayden, speaking in Los Angeles Tuesday, said the destruction of the Syrian reactor - as a result of intelligence collaboration with a “foreign partner” who first identified the facility’s purpose - spoiled a project “that could have provided Syria with plutonium for nuclear weapons.
Hayden stressed that Al Qaeda was the greatest security threat to the US as well as North Korea and Iran.
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Palestinian terrorist with bomb killed on way to Yitzhar
September 20, 2008, 7:01 PM (GMT+02:00)
Exactly a week after a Palestinian escaped after stabbing a 9-year old Israeli boy and burning a building at Yitzhar on the West Bank, the scenario was repeated - except this time he did not reach the village. Israeli soldiers and border guards spotted him in time. When he began to ignite a bottle bomb, they shot him dead. A knife was found on his body. A group from the targeted community later raided the nearby Palestinian village after last week’s attack, injuring four people and damaging property. When reprimanded, they accused the army of failing to protect them.