JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s vice prime minister said on Sunday he would welcome direct talks between the United States and Iran if they were aimed at halting what Israel sees as plans by the Islamic Republic to build a nuclear weapon.

But Moshe Yaalon also said that he believed a denial by the White House of a New York Times report that Washington and Tehran had agreed in principle to hold bilateral negotiations.

MOSHAV AHITUV, Israel (Reuters) – A bicycle made almost entirely of cardboard has the potential to change transportation habits from the world’s most congested cities to the poorest reaches of Africa, its Israeli inventor says.

Izhar Gafni, 50, is an expert in designing automated mass-production lines. He is an amateur cycling enthusiast who for years toyed with an idea of making a bicycle from cardboard.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel coach Eli Guttman dropped stalwart captain Yossi Benayoun from his squad on Saturday ahead of back-to-back World Cup European group F qualifiers against Luxembourg next week.

The West Ham United midfielder was one of a number surprise omissions from a list of 23 named ahead of the October 12 clash in Luxembourg and the return fixture in Tel Aviv four days later.

JERUSALEM, Oct 7 (Reuters) – Israel coach Eli Guttman dropped stalwart captain Yossi Benayoun from his squad on Saturday ahead of back-to-back World Cup European group F qualifiers against Luxembourg next week.

The West Ham United midfielder was one of a number surprise omissions from a list of 23 named ahead of the Oct. 12 clash in Luxembourg and the return fixture in Tel Aviv four days later.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told his coalition partners he will have to call an early election if they do not back a “responsible” budget he must present by the end of the year.

Netanyahu said he would start meeting coalition partners after he returns home from New York on Sunday. Failure to pass the budget by December 31 would mean bringing forward a national ballot currently scheduled for October 2013.

TEL AVIV (Reuters) – Campaigners who failed to get a moment of silence at the London Olympic Games opening ceremony to remember 11 Israelis killed at the 1972 Munich Games hope for success in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, they said on Wednesday.

Widows Ankie Spitzer and Ilana Romano, representing the families of the Israelis who died in Munich, said the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had repeatedly rejected their appeals to hold an official commemoration.

TEL AVIV, Sept 12 (Reuters) – Campaigners who failed to get
a moment of silence at the London Olympic Games opening ceremony
to remember 11 Israelis killed at the 1972 Munich Games hope for
success in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, they said on Wednesday.

Widows Ankie Spitzer and Ilana Romano, representing the
families of the Israelis who died in Munich, said the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) had repeatedly rejected
their appeals to hold an official commemoration.

TEL AVIV, Sept 11 (Reuters) – Impressive Russia made it two
2014 World Cup qualifying wins from two under Fabio Capello
after Alexander Kerzhakov scored twice in a 4-0 Group F
demolition of Israel on Tuesday.

Russia, criticised at home for not scoring more in their 2-0
win over Northern Ireland in Moscow on Friday, produced an
assured and clinical performance on a warm, humid night in Tel
Aviv.

LONDON (Reuters) – Israel’s sports minister, Limor Livnat, said she would mark the memory of the 11 Israelis killed by Palestinian gunmen at the 1972 Munich Olympics during a key moment of the London Games opening ceremony on Friday.

Livnat, Israel’s most senior politician at the ceremony, said she would stand for a symbolic minute’s silence as International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge speaks during the opening of the Games, Israeli media reported.