Police on Monday said that Ronny Ron, who is suspected of murdering his 4-year-old granddaughter Rose Pizem, underwent a polygraph test around one week ago and was found to be lying about the girl's whereabouts.

The blowback from Hurricane Gustav, attacking America's Gulf Coast with 145-kilometer-per-hour winds, could be felt 2,000 kilometers northwest in this Midwestern city, which was set to kick off the Republican National Convention Monday night.

A spokesman for US Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph Biden on Monday scathingly rejected an Army Radio report which claimed Biden told Jerusalem officials three years ago that he firmly opposed an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities and that Israel would likely have to come to terms with a nuclear Iran.

The US-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Austrian political organization Stop the Bomb have sharply criticized European energy giants OMV in Austria and Royal Dutch Shell over their sponsorship of the 2nd Iranian Gas Export Conference to be held on October 4 and 5 in Teheran.

A British amateur diplomat tried to make a peace deal with Germany during WWII by offering Germany free reign in Europe in exchange for British rule over the rest of the world, according to previously unreleased documents.

The Israel Manufacturers' Association and the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce have joined forces to stop labor irregularities at Israel's ports which have already cost the business sector NIS 1.2 billion. Since Monday last week, Ashdod and Haifa port workers launched labor sanctions including reduced workdays and slowdowns to protest a clause in the 2009 Economic Arrangements Bill passed by the cabinet last month.

With the start of Ramadan's month of daytime fasts, the Civil Administration moved into high gear on Monday in an effort to assist the tens of thousands of Palestinians who are fasting and traveling to visit family throughout the West Bank.

As they made their way into the Efrata Elementary School in Jerusalem's Baka neighborhood on Monday, President Shimon Peres and Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski - who were touring local schools on the first day of classes - were greeted by a band of youngsters, whose drums, flutes and recorders picked up in a royal accompaniment as the two guests of honor made their way down the long, crowded walkway and into the school's auditorium.

In several months the Labor Party will replace its leader for the eighth time in 13 years. Whether this happens before or after the early election that is likely to follow Ehud Olmert's replacement is immaterial. With polls showing Labor's already record-low following shrinking a further 30 percent to hardly one voter in 10 - the only question about the party leader is whether his removal will come as a precaution or as a punishment.

Two attempts by Hizbullah to kidnap Israeli businessmen abroad in retaliation for the February assassination of Imad Mughniyeh were recently foiled by Israeli security services, government officials revealed on Monday.

Mengele, who was known as the "Angel of Death" for his cruel medical experiments on Auschwitz inmates, was discovered living in Buenos Aires by Mossad agents after Eichmann had already been nabbed by Israeli secret service agents and was being held in a safe house in the city.

Jerusalem District Court Judge Aharon Farkash ruled on Monday that it was possible to implement a 2004 US court ruling, according to which the Palestinian Authority must pay compensations of more than $116 million to terror victims' families.

The army recently expelled 91 Africans who crossed the border into Israel from Egypt - in violation of its own procedures, which it presented to the High Court of Justice less than four months ago.

Attempts by Police Commissioner Insp.-Gen. Dudi Cohen and Public Security Minister Avi Dichter to fire Southern District chief Cmdr. Uri Bar-Lev from the police are causing many under Bar-Lev's command to suffer a crisis of faith in the force, officers who served under Bar-Lev's command said on Monday.

Israel has expressed to the US government its willingness to withdraw from the Shaba Farms and the northern half of the town of Rajar, on the border with Lebanon, after receiving guarantees from Beirut that the areas would be under UNIFIL control, according to a Lebanese source quoted by the London-based Arab daily Asharq Alawsat, Tuesday.

Professor Michael Zinigrad, a physical chemist, was recently chosen as vice president for academic affairs at the institution where he teaches. This is equivalent to rector, but that title is reserved for full-fledged universities: Zinigrad works at the controversial institution in Ariel, considered a "college" by Israel academia, but known as the Ariel University Center of Samaria to the Justice Ministry and abroad. The latter title is accepted in Russia, where the Ariel institution has close scientific ties and joint publications. Russia, as we have seen of late in the wake of the war with Georgia, tends to recognize the self-definition of small, controversial entities.

Some 1.1 million Palestinian children started the new school year in the occupied territories. At least, that is the number of children registered with the education offices in Ramallah and Gaza. Sources at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA) and United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) say many children will be staying at home, with an unemployed father and an anxious mother (the month-long fast of Ramadan started yesterday).

1.Berl Repetur, a Labor movement old-timer who wore khaki shorts and sandals until his dying day, used to say: "It doesn't matter how much it costs. The main thing is that it looks modest." Repetur was a modest man himself. Not only did he make do with a measly salary from the Histadrut labor federation, but he donated part of his earnings to the party, the Jewish National Fund and other causes.

When David Cohen was first appointed police commissioner, about 18 months ago, there were widespread talk about the tension between him and Uri Bar-Lev, then commander of the police's Southern District. Cohen, according to the rumor mill, was never one of Bar-Lev's admirers, and would not bend over backward to promote him. Indeed, there were some who claimed that Cohen was gunning for Bar-Lev from the start, since the charismatic district commander, a darling of the media, often overshadowed his boss. Those predictions came true last month, when Cohen decided to oust Bar-Lev from the force - a decision that is now awaiting approval from Public Security Minister Avi Dichter.

When you book a ski vacation, whose fault is it if it isn't the season for snow? The Tel Aviv small claims court on Monday ruled in favor of a couple who arranged a skiing holiday in Turkey last March through Eshet Tours, but found themselves at the beach instead.