时事经纬
18-05-09
以色列新领导人访美面临两难
以色列总理内塔尼亚胡将于星期一在白宫会见美国总统奥巴马。内塔尼亚胡政府的国防部长巴拉克说，这位以色列领导人赞同建立一个巴勒斯坦国。但内塔尼亚胡警
告说，约旦河西岸的巴勒斯坦国可能会被哈马斯控制，同时他又希望美国在政治和
财政上继续支持以色列。
以总理访美讨论中东和平伊朗问题
内塔尼亚胡将伊朗看成是一个比巴勒斯坦更紧迫的问题。随著伊朗总统威胁要将以
色列在地图上消除，内塔尼亚胡将告诉奥巴马，绝对不能允许伊朗拥有核武器。以
色列表达对奥巴马同伊朗谈判计划的关切，表示德黑兰将利用这些谈判，以便争取
更多时间发展核武器能力 。
斯军方：反叛首脑死亡，战事结束
斯里兰卡军方官员说，泰米尔猛虎反政府武装首脑普拉巴卡兰已经死亡。斯里兰卡军队首脑星期一宣布作战行动结束。自从1983年以来，斯里兰卡政府首次把整个国家置于控制之下。26年前，反政府武装开始为建立泰米尔少数民族的独立家园而战斗。此后，数万人死于冲突。今年1月以来的战斗导致大约6千500名平民死亡，30万人流离失所。
美俄将开始削减核武谈判
从5月18日起，美国和俄罗斯将就新的削减战略性核武器条约展开谈判。新条约将取代1991年签署并将于今年底到期的《第一阶段削减战略进攻性武器条约》。一方面，美俄双方愿意大幅度减少拥有的核弹头数量，另一方面，梅德韦杰夫宣布要对现存核武器进行现代化更新。
美国再次提出朝鲜推进铀浓缩计划的可能性
美国国家情报总监办公室ODNI在最近向议会提交的Unclassified Report to Congress
on the Acquisition of Technology Relating to Weapons of Mass
Destruction
and Advanced Conventional Munitions, Covering 1 January to
31 December 2008中
称，朝鲜虽然停止了钸的生产，并对部分钸生产计划进行了去功能化，但我们依然
认为，朝鲜至少在过去继续进行了铀浓缩计划。
巴基斯坦千余名塔利班分子已丧生 誓言抵抗到底
塔利班一名首领表示，斯瓦特山谷地区的激战可能已经造成1000余名塔利班武装分
子丧生，人数可能仍会增加，直到最后一名武装分子被打死。随后塔利班发言人便
发表了誓言抵抗的讲话。他宣称：“直到剩下最后一口气，我们也要为执行伊斯兰
教法而抗争。”
日本百货店4月销售额继续同比大跌11.3%
日本百货店协会18日公布的数据显示，全国百货店4月销售总额为5144亿日元，比去年同期下降11.3%，连续14个月同比下滑，除有提高消费税等特殊原因的月份以外，降幅位居自1965年开始统计以来的第三位。此外，服装价格下跌13.5%，连续22个月下跌，美术品和珠宝饰品等高价商品价格下跌20.5%，食品价格下跌4.8%。
中国4成城市地价同比下降 专家称房价仍有泡沫
2009年第一季度中国35个主要监测城市中，有19个城市的综合地价环比下降。其中，深圳-26.84%，南昌-16.29%，厦门-15.38%，南京
-13.47%，成都-12.37%，福州-11.69%，广州-10.00%，武汉-8.98%，重庆-7.57%。增长地区：呼和浩特13.04%，郑州11.87%，海口11.69%，西宁10.44%，青岛9.40%，南宁8.06%，合肥7.57%，宁波6.21%，北京5.33%，天津4.71%。
重庆1.2万人竞争163个公务员职位
“国资委此次的公招岗位都要求具有双学位，市委研究室则要求研究生以上学历。”
市人事考试中心介绍，两个单位分别有449人和1119人报名，参考人数也分别达到了57人和91人。
Pakistan Is Rapidly Adding Nuclear Arms, U.S. Says
Inside the Obama administration, some officials say,
Pakistan’s drive to spend heavily on new nuclear arms has
been a source of growing concern, because the country is
producing more nuclear material at a time when Washington is
increasingly focused on trying to assure the security of an
arsenal of 80 to 100 weapons so that they will never fall
into the hands of Islamic insurgents.
Pakistan 'intensifies anti-militant offensive'
The Pakistani army has intensified its attacks on militants
in the troubled northwest, launching air strikes on militant
hideouts.
Military officials say Pakistani fighter jets and helicopter
gunships bombarded militant positions in Swat on Monday and
that the army is close to take over Mingora, the capital of
Swat --still under militant control.
Islamabad says over 1000 militants have been killed in the
three-week offensive against the militants.
Tensions Stoked Between Iraqi Kurds and Sunnis
Tensions between Sunni Arabs and Kurds are boiling over in
Nineveh, the northern Iraqi province that includes Mosul, as
Kurds fight the result of a provincial election in January
that shifted power to Arabs. Kurdish forces have blocked
Arab officials from carrying out their duties, in a sign
that the Kurds refuse to recognize the regional government’s
sovereignty over all of Nineveh. The Kurds have also
pressured districts under their control to boycott the new
Arab governor, and they said they might even resort to
military force unless they were given several positions in
the government.
'Netanyahu,
Obama to focus on Iran'
"The way things are planned, the focus of Netanyahu's words
will be the Iranian nuclear issue,"..."This is clear not
only because this is an existential issue as far as the
security of Israel is concerned, but because Iran is
progressing all the time toward nuclear military
capability."
The meeting is scheduled to begin 10:30 a.m. local time and
last for 90 minutes. It will be followed by a short press
conference and a luncheon meeting.
The Six Issues That Divide Bibi from Barack
US and Israel at odds
Iran hits back at Obama's war talk
Iran says US President Barack Obama's war talk is designed
to lighten up the atmosphere ahead of stage-setting talks
with Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu.
The new US administration has been pursuing double-edged
policy of carrots and sticks with Tehran despite weeks of
promising “a new beginning” with Iran.
"I've been very clear that I don't take any options off the
table with respect to Iran. I don't take options off the
table when it comes to US security, period," said Obama in
an interview with Newsweek conducted last Wednesday.
The US President went on to add that he is not “naive” and
understands very well as to why Israeli officials view Iran
as an "existential threat."
The interview was published a day before Israeli hawkish
Premier Benjamin Netanyahu was to arrive in Washington and
Israeli Defense Minster Ehud Barak called for considering
military measures against the Islamic Republic.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Hassan Qashqavi,
responded to the interview on Monday, saying that Obama's
threats do not chime with his oft-stated promises of
bringing 'change' to Washington.
He asserted that when Obama admitted that Washington's
thirty-year approach towards Tehran was wrong and promised
to rewrite US policy on Tehran, the Iranian nation took him
at his word.
“We regarded this as a realistic statement … Iran believed
it should give a chance to Obama for practical changes,”
said Qashqavi. “The world is now waiting for action and
change in practice.”
The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman suggested that the
interview was conducted in line with the efforts of
pro-Israeli lobbyists, who strive to advance Tel Aviv's
political agenda in US politics and give a good welcoming to
Netanyahu.
Netanyahu, who is slated to hold White House talks later
today, is expected to lobby US echelons to support a
military action on Iran's nuclear sites.
Senior Israeli political, military and intelligence figures
have relentlessly threatened to bomb Iran's nuclear
infrastructure out of existence, but the prospect of
go-it-alone Israeli air strikes has significantly risen
since Netanyahu took up the baton in Tel Aviv.
Qashqavi said Washington's blind support and preferential
treatment of Tel Aviv has come at the expense of American
interests.
Turkey refutes Israel's anti-Syria peace claims
Turkish President Abdullah Gul has dismissed Israeli claims
that Syria does not want peace to be established in the
Middle East.
Gul who wrapped up his three-day visit to Syria on Sunday
stressed that he is convinced that Syria is genuinely
seeking Middle East peace.
Gul's comments came only one day after Israeli Deputy
Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon charged Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad of "lying" about his government's desire for
peace.
"On the Syrian side, there are a great willingness and good
intentions and I can see that they want to make progress,"
Gul said.
"President (Bashar) al-Assad has a very positive attitude
and that's very important," said Gul, whose government
brokered preliminary peace talks between Syria and Israel
last year.
"I understand that the Syrians are very closely following
the signals being sent out by the US President (Barack Obama).
They genuinely want to conclude a deal," AFP quoted Gul as
saying.
Israel issues tenders for new settlements
Israel has issued construction tenders to build more
settlements in the West Bank, just days before its premier
was to hold talks with the US president.
Israel's hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived
in Washington on Sunday on his official visit to the US and
he is expected to hold talks with the US President Barack
Obama on Monday.
Tenders to build 20 new housing units in the Maskiot
settlement in the north of the occupied West Bank were
issued after a green light from the defense ministry, The
News reported.
The construction in Maskiot, site of a former Israeli
military base, was authorized by the government in late 2006
in part to resettle Israelis who had been removed from
settlements in the Gaza Strip in 2005.
The move by the Israeli government is considered as a clear
disregard to the repeated international calls to halt
construction of new settlements in the occupied Palestinian
territories.
More than 280,000 Israeli settlers currently live in the
occupied West Bank and some 200,000 live in settlements in
east Al-Quds, where they harass the Palestinian majority
everyday.
Sari Al-Khalil, Press TV correspondent in the West Bank city
of Al-Khalil says the move by the Israeli government is
mainly aimed at showing the Israeli control over the area in
the West Bank.
He added that the ultranationalist policies being pursued by
Netanyahu has put him on a collision course with Obama who
has called for an end to the construction of new Israeli
settlements in the Palestinian territories.
'Israel heading towards worst recession'
Israeli central bank data indicate that Israel could
experience the worst economic recession of its 61-year
history this year.
Israel's gross domestic product is projected to shrink 1.5
percent this year and this would mark Israel's worst
recession, a central bank forecast shows.
Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) has declared
that the economy shrank at a 3.6 percent annualized pace in
the three months to March 31, after contracting by 0.5
percent in the previous quarter, Bloomberg reported.
“We expect the contraction to continue in the second
quarter,” Ron Eichel, chief economist at Tel Aviv-based
Meitav Securities & Investments Ltd. said. “One of the
reasons is that the government is operating without a
budget, which has a moderating effect on spending.”
Israel's economy is manifesting a dismal outlook as it is
expected to continue to shrink after two consecutive
quarters of contraction, the Israeli center said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has the final
say about Israeli economy, pushed a draft budget through the
cabinet last week that includes spending to boost
employment.
The budget is expected to be approved by the Knesset,
Israel's parliament, by mid-July.
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