ISRAEL - June 7 - Economy Down.
A report in IHT says the Israeli economy, "battered by eight months of violence and bludgeoned by the Nasdaq stock market, "is slowing to a crawl". At least 25 Israeli hotels have closed their doors since Oct. 10 in Nazareth alone. "The white-hot real estate market in the high-tech...

Aerospace & Defense News - Defense North America.
Apr 28, 2008 Mary Simmerman has a unique view of the aerospace industry and its increasingly global supply chain. Now the senior vice president of supply chain for Textron's Bell Helicopter division and 2008 chairwoman of the Supplier Management Council, she has worked for just about every...

Company Watch - Lockheed Martin.
Apr 28, 2008 Lockheed Martin's F-117 Nighthawk gets final sendoff. The final four F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighters made their last flights Tuesday. The planes were headed from Palmdale, Calif., to an airfield in Nevada where they will be stored. Lockheed Martin built the planes, which were developed...

Aerospace & Defense News - Defense.
May 5, 2008 Military contractor and construction and engineering firm KBR Inc. said Friday that first-quarter profit more than tripled, helped by a gain from an arbitration award. May 2, 2008 A federal judge declared a mistrial Wednesday in the case of a former government-contractor...

Company Watch - Northrop Grumman.
Apr 28, 2008 Air Force officials recently met with top officials from Northrop Grumman and Boeing to discuss the award of a contract to build military refueling tankers. Northrop won the contract, and Boeing has protested the decision. The Government Accountability Office is expected to rule on...

ETHIOPIA - Jan 2 - Troops May Leave Somalia 'In Weeks'.
Ethiopia's PM Meles Zenawi says Ethiopian troops can be pulled out of Somalia "within a few weeks", adding that the victors of Somalia's two-week war are now "mopping up remnants" of the country's former Islamist leaders. Addis Ababa, which backs Somalia's weak transitional government, launched an offensive on Dec...

Senate derails chaplaincy gambit favored by Religious Right groups.
An effort by Religious Right groups to pass legislation guaranteeing military chaplains the right to pray in a sectarian manner failed in late September when the Senate refused to accept the measure. Social conservatives in the House of Representatives, led by U.S. Rep. Walter B. Jones (R-N.C.),...

LETTERS IN THE EDITOR'S MAILBAG.
Byline: The Register-Guard Tax protest an act of conscience How can I protest our military action in Iraq if I pay for it with my federal income taxes? By my own actions, I cannot control foreign policy, but I do not have to accept complicity...

US-Iran Talks.
Rarely has the Bush administration seemed so confused and defensive about its policy of seeking to isolate Iran as it responds to mounting public and international pressure to find a way out of Iraq, even if that involves making a U-turn and engaging Tehran. On Nov. 13, in reply...

TURKEY - Apr. 5 - Ankara & Athens Improve Ties.
Greek FM George Papandreou arrives in Ankara and meets with FM Ismail Cem. Cem stresses their commitment to rapprochement, adding: "In one year we have managed to achieve more than was done in the last 40 years". Papandreou says improving ties will eventually provide "a stable foundation" for resolving...