Israel now has a coalition government as Netanyahu told reporters he decided to form the unity government with the centrist Kadima party early Tuesday to restore political stability without going to elections.
U.S. media reports say a man sent by al-Qaida's branch in Yemen to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner was actually a double agent who infiltrated the terror network and convinced the terrorists to trust him with a new bomb designed to pass through airport security.
A roadside blast wounded six Syrian soldiers as they escorted United Nations monitors toward the restive southern town of Dara'a. The explosion hit a military vehicle accompanying the U.N. convoy, blasting out its windows and injuring those inside.
Details after the break.
sraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to a political deal forming a government of national unity with the leading opposition party and canceling plans to hold early elections.
Mr. Netanyahu told reporters he decided to form the unity government with the centrist Kadima party early Tuesday to restore political stability without going to elections.
He said a wide national unity government with Israel's largest opposition party is good for security, the economy, for society and for the people of Israel.
The new coalition has 94 members, or more than three-fourths of the parliament, and is the largest coalition in the country's history.
Under the deal, Kadima leader Shaul Mofaz - a former army chief and defense minister-- becomes vice-prime minister and joins Mr. Netanyahu's powerful inner cabinet.
Mofaz, who had been highly critical of the prime minister, says such a government is needed to face Israel's many challenges.
He said the unity government will enable Israel to confront security challenges and threats from any region. He said this will be done in a considered and responsible way, but will keep Israel's right to defend itself any time and any place, from within and from outside.
Israel has threatened military action to stop what it believes is Iran's effort to make nuclear weapons. Iran denies it is building a nuclear bomb and says it will retaliate, raising fears of a region-wide conflict.
The surprise announcement of the political deal in Israel came two days after Mr. Netanyahu called for early elections because of a widening split in his rightist coalition.
The coalition, headed by the prime minister's Likud party, was increasingly divided over a controversial law that exempts Ultra-Orthodox Jews from national service, and over the proposed dismantling of some illegal Jewish housing units in the West Bank.
The Netanyahu government is also facing a bruising battle over proposed cuts in next year's budget.
And it is facing international pressure to revive the stalled peace talks with the Palestinians.
Mr. Netanyahu has called on Palestinian leaders to return to negotiations without pre-conditions. The Palestinians say Israel first must stop new construction in the occupied West Bank and release all political prisoners.
Mofaz said he thinks he could help re-start the talks. "I have some ideas about how we can move forward in order to achieve understanding with the Palestinians," he said. "But my idea [is] based on borders and security arrangements first. And I will speak with the prime minister."
Israeli political analyst Amit Segal said Mr. Netanyahu did not really want early elections but also did not like being dependent on right-wing parties that are often the power brokers in Israeli politics.
"Netanyahu got the best bargain ever in the history of Israeli politics," said Segal. "He got the largest party in the Knesset for the price of one deputy-prime minister [post] and that's all, almost for free."
Recent public opinion polls indicated Kadima would lose more than half of its seats in parliament if the elections were held today.
The polls indicated Likud would win any new elections but Mr. Netanyahu faced bruising battles with right-wing members of his coalition.
Yemen
U.S. media reports say a man sent by al-Qaida's branch in Yemen to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner was actually a double agent who infiltrated the terror network and convinced the terrorists to trust him with a new bomb designed to pass through airport security.
Unidentified U.S. and foreign intelligence officials said Tuesday the secret operative was working for Saudi Arabia's intelligence service and the CIA. They say he posed as a would-be suicide bomber and volunteered for the mission that involved explosives concealed in his underwear. The operative was able to turn over his sophisticated explosive device to U.S. officials, who are analyzing the bomb at the FBI's laboratory in Quantico, Virginia.
They say the operative also obtained information that led to a successful airstrike Sunday against al-Qaida leader Fahd Mohammed Ahmed al-Quso in Yemen. Quso was wanted for his role in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole warship off Yemen, which killed 17 U.S. sailors.
The informant's identity has not been disclosed. Unidentified officials say the operative spent weeks gaining the trust of members of Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
Reports indicate that the U.S. administration had planned to keep the bomb operation secret but The Associated Press learned of it last week. The news organization delayed reporting the story at the request of the Obama administration.
U.S. officials have said the plot by al-Qaida's branch to put a suicide bomber on a U.S.-bound jet was detected in its earliest stages and that no U.S. airliner was ever at risk.
Authorities say the bomb was a redesign of an explosive underwear device intended to blow up a jet flying from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan on December 25, 2009.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the incident is a reminder that America and its allies are still targets of terrorist plots.
Syria
A roadside blast wounded six Syrian soldiers as they escorted United Nations monitors toward the restive southern town of Dara'a.
The explosion hit a military vehicle accompanying the U.N. convoy, blasting out its windows and injuring those inside. The head of the U.N. monitoring mission, General Robert Mood, was in the group headed toward Dara'a, but neither he nor any of the observers was hurt.
One of the wounded soldiers described the scene. He said the U.N. delegation and the military escorts had just crossed a checkpoint when the bomb exploded.
An Associated Press reporter traveling behind the convoy said the blast set off a thick plume of black smoke.
The U.N. vehicles are reported to have passed by the blast site only seconds before.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes one day after the International Committee of the Red Cross noted the armed wing of the opposition has turned increasingly to guerrilla tactics. The rebel Free Syrian Army, which has relied largely on machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, has been out-gunned by the heavy weaponry of the Syrian military.
The U.N. observer mission is in Syria to monitor a cease-fire agreed to by both sides last month. Hundreds of people have been killed in fighting, hoever, since the truce went into effect. The U.N. has acknowledged the challenge of the mission, which now comprises several dozen monitors plus civilian advisers. The U.N. plans to boost the team to 300 by the end of the month.
All conent based on VOA News reports.
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