Der Spiegel: Intelligence information shows Iran could produce truck-sized nuke bomb this year
Ynet
Iran's scientists could produce a basic truck-sized nuclear bomb this year, German Magazine Der Spiegel reported Monday.
Tehran now needs to work on compressing such bomb so it can be fitted on a ballistic missile, the magazine says. According to estimates, Iran could reach that stage by sometime between 2012 and 2014.
Der Spiegel's report is based on secret intelligence information handed over to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
According to the report, Iran's nuclear program, which answers to the country's Defense Ministry, includes a secret military branch that engages in the program's military aspects and is responsible for Tehran's nuclear sites.
"The Iranians are believed to have conducted ... Read more »

DEBKAfile Special Report

Friday, Jan. 22, Damascus ordered a Level 4 mobilization of Syria's army reserves for deployment to the Golan Heights on the Israeli border, to meet what it calls "IDF plans of attack." DEBKAfile's military sources interpret Level 4 as referring to Syrian armored and commando brigades.
In Lebanon, too, Hizballah has placed "all its forces" on a state of military preparedness. Our intelligence sources report that this order applies to the Iranian proxy's strongholds across southern Lebanon and the Beqaa Valley, but not to its command posts in Beirut and other Lebanese cities.
Damascus and Hizballah both claim that Israel has embarked on a large-scale military exercise along its northern borders to create a jumping-off point for striking Hizballah followed by raids into Syria.
How... Read more »

By WILLIAM J. BROAD

Last September, when Iran’s uranium enrichment plant buried inside a mountain near the holy city of Qum was revealed, the episode cast light on a wider pattern: Over the past decade, Iran has quietly hidden an increasingly large part of its atomic complex in networks of tunnels and bunkers across the country.
In doing so, American government and private experts say, Iran has achieved a double purpose. Not only has it shielded its infrastructure from military attack in warrens of dense rock, but it has further obscured the scale and nature of its notoriously opaque nuclear effort. The discovery of the Qum plant only heightened fears about other undeclared sites.
Now, with the passing of President Obama’s year-end deadline for diplomatic progress, that cloak of invisibility has em... Read more »

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- Swedish neo-Nazis arranged the theft of the "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign at Auschwitz to sell it to finance terrorist attacks, investigators said.
Patrik Peter, a spokesman for the Swedish security police, said the Nazis allegedly planned to disrupt next year's national election, The Times of London reported.
The Stockholm newspaper Aftonbladet said a Nazi source claimed the sign was stolen on order from a collector.
"The sign was to be delivered to Sweden, since it was here the deal should be made," the source said. "My role was to find a buyer. We had a person who was willing to pay millions but he had no political agenda. These things have a huge collector value.... The biggest collectors are from England, the United States and France."
The sign on the main entrance gate to the Auschwitz camp, a conve... Read more »

It is hard to seize the initiative. The consequences of acting are frightening. It is always better to let others go first. But sometimes that is impossible. Today it is becoming clear that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has no choice but to lead.
The stakes have never been higher. Every day we are beset by an avalanche of evidence that Iran is on the verge of becoming a nuclear armed state. From the secret uranium enrichment facility in Qom, to Iran's solid fuel missile test this week to the disclosure that Iran is developing a trigger device to detonate nuclear bombs, it is clear that Teheran is building a nuclear arsenal and that - at a minimum - it is determined to use it to force the nations of the Middle East to bend to its fanatical will.
Until now, as Israel faced this growing threat, it has tried to avoid leading by seeking to ... Read more »

The newspaper said it acquired intelligence notes showing that Iran intended to test a neutron initiator, which would set off the explosion in a nuclear bomb.
Operations were conducted as late as 2007, though a U.S. intelligence assessment asserted that Tehran had halted its military nuclear activities four years earlier. Iran says its nuclear program is strictly civilian in nature, a claim that has met deep skepticism in Washington and other Western capitals.
The initiator work involved uranium deuteride, according to the technical document. The material is believed to be only of use in a nuclear weapon, experts say.
"Although Iran might claim that this work is for civil purposes, there is no civil application,” said David Albright, head of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington. "Th... Read more »

Tens of thousands of Hamas supporters thronged downtown Gaza City Monday to mark the 22nd anniversary of the group's founding, in a massive display that showed the Islamic militants still enjoy broad support despite years of rule that have led to war, poverty and isolation.
Hamas is celebrating its anniversary with a large public rally and smaller parades. Sunday, as preparations for the festivities were under way in the Gaza Strip, the leaders of the movement spared no effort in trying to persuade Gazans to show up en masse.
The leaders promised a "surprise," although they gave no hints as to what that might be. In western Gaza, dozens of motorcyclists with green Hamas flags drove through the main street.
The main rally began at 1 P.M. and drew the large numbers expected. Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh ... Read more »

Jewish community in US disappointed to learn president decided to scale back on traditional festivities, cut guest list by half
WASHINGTON – US President Barack Obama is expected, like his predecessors Bill Clinton and George Bush, to throw the traditional White House Hanukkah party, but unlike Clinton and Bush, he has decided to scale back on the festivities – only 400 people were invited, compared with 800 last year.
Obama will light the traditional first candle of Hanukkah on Friday. Five days after that – on Wednesday – he will host the White House Hanukkah party, but given the financial crisis, he has decided to cut back on the guest list.
Obama's Jewish Liaison Tevi Troy slammed the decision in a JTA article titled "Obama must beware of the Chanukah snub," claiming Obama's ... Read more »