A Tel Aviv court remanded Shai Simon, 27, in custody for five days after police said he was one of the suspects in a hit-and-run incident in central Tel Aviv on Friday. The second suspect, Shalom Yemini, 35, turned himself in to police on Sunday. Meital Aharonson, 27, of Herzliya, was knocked down and killed near Rabin Square.
Defence Minister Ehud Barak said that the Israeli leadership was giving serious consideration to pursuing the Saudi peace plan, which envisages a comprehensive peace in return for the end of the occupation. "We have a mutual interest with moderate Arab elements on the issues of Iran, Hizbollah and Hamas," the Labour leader told Army Radio.
A 46-year-old Holon man was arrested for violating a restraining order forbidding him from coming near Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu. The man had allegedly threatened to go to the house of the opposition leader and "finish him off".
A 33-year-old gay Palestinian man has petitioned the Israeli High Court of Justice to ask it to grant him permanent residency so that he can live with his partner of nine years in Bat Yam. The man said that returning to his village in the northern West Bank would put his life in danger.
A 50-year-old Ashdod man was arrested on suspicion of stabbing his wife to death. The body of Rosie Fadida, 48, was found with multiple stab wounds. She had recently taken out a restraining order against her husband.
Arts
A performance featuring instruments reconstructed from biblical descriptions was held in Beit Avihai in Jerusalem. Singer and instrumentalist Ilan Green, who heads the music department at Jerusalem's Musrara art school, led the recital, which featured 16 of the lost instruments he reconstructed himself from wood and metal.
Dutch metal band Epica is to play at Tel Aviv's Barby club in December. Their gig in Israel two years ago was a sell-out.
International stars including Guns'N' Roses guitarist Slash, disco singer Donna Summer and opera tenor Andrea Bocelli are to perform in a gala concert to mark 10 years since the founding of the Peres Centre for Peace. Believe: Celebrating a Decade of Peacebuilding Activities was set to take place at Tel Aviv Performing Arts Centre on October 27.
The International Tel Aviv Dance Festival 2008 began this week with the world premiere of Monger by Barak Marshall at the Suzanne Dellal Centre, featuring an all-Israeli cast and Cedar Lake Dance of New York City at the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Centre.
Business
Israeli online gaming software provider Playtech has formed a partnership with William Hill. Playtech will hold 29 per cent of a newly formed company, William Hill Online, for the internet gambling activities of the UK bookmaker. William Hill will hold the other 71 per cent with Playtech having an option to
increase its stake.
Bank Hapoalim Ltd, the biggest loser of any Israeli bank from the global financial crisis, will not meet its 2008 profit forecast. It will post return on equity of between zero and 2 per cent, compared with the seven to 10 per cent range it forecast in May.
United Phosphorus Limited, the biggest maker of generic agrochemicals in India, is negotiating to buy a controlling interest in Israel's Makhteshim-Agan - whose shares have fallen 56 per cent this year - according to the Indian paper Business Standard.