
Israel's Foreign Minister Tizipi Livini, 49, is on track to be the country's prime minster, according to polls that
have her ahead by 20 points in the race to lead the Kadima party. Today, 70,000 party members will vote.
Current Prime Minster Ehud Olmert has promised to resign, after the election, thanks to accusations that he accepted American businessmen-bribes.

In an effort to clean up the neighborhood, the city government of Petah Tikva, Israel has
created a dog-DNA database. In exchange for registering their pooches' DNA with the city vet, residents will be eligible for pet-food coupons and dog toys if they place doggie doo-doo in marked bins. But — if a pooch's poop is found on the street, the registered owner will get a ticket.

Security and financial concerns are preventing some patients' ability to receive medical care both in the US and Palestine.
American hospitals are independently deporting seriously ill or injured undocumented immigrants because of the financial burden,
according to an extensive report in the New York Times. Without any intervention of federal or state officials, hospitals privately employ ambulances, air ambulances, or commercial plans to send home immigrants that can't find US nursing homes that will accept them without insurance.

In Paris a group of Jewish and Muslim French women get together to bake pastries and not talk about politics in the Middle East. They call themselves Les Bâtisseuses de Paix, or Peace Builders, and they hope to prevent the spread of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to France, where 5 million Muslims and 600,000 Jews live.
The International Herald Tribune
profiled the group, whose members say they don't want the problems in the Middle East to ruin their relationships with their neighbors.