Subscribe to Print Edition | Fri., September 05, 2008 Elul 5, 5768 | | Israel Time: 02:52 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Haaretz Toolbar Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Car Rental Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File

Business in Brief No, you can't read your spouse's e-mail even in a divorce case, the Haifa-area family court ruled this week. As part of the disclosure process the wife asked for access to her husband's e-mail correspondence with companies and friends. She needed access to prove the extent of his business, she argued. The service provider, Walla!, objected on the grounds of impairment to its client's privacy. The judge found in the portal's favor, saying the circumstances did not warrant a breach. (Nurit Roth). Another sign of economic stress is that delivery of new cars fell by 15% in August compared with the previous month. Altogether 16,387 new cars were delivered to their buyers last month, compared with 19,255 in July, according to figures from importers. For some perspective, however, it's worth noting that compared to August 2007 the drop was a lesser 3.5%. Also, car imports (not delivery, note the difference) and spare parts imports increased by 13% in August 2008 compared with the same month in 2007. That figure includes tractors and motorcycles, by the way. (Yoav Kaveh and Moti Bassok) Advertisement Maariv Holdings says that it's still discussing a takeover by Russian-American businessman Len Blavatnik, and that representatives of Sheldon Adelson are also sniffing around at the publishing group again. "His people think it would be a missed opportunity not to buy Maariv," said a source in the thick of things. Maariv's controlling shareholders had a no-shop agreement in place with Blavatnik, giving the businessman exclusive rights to negotiate, but the pact has expired. (Ophir Bar-Zohar) Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Barr Pharmaceuticals, which the Israeli company is buying in the biggest merger in local history, have been asked for more information by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which is routine for a transaction of this sort. Meanwhile, Teva is reported to have sold non-core Ivax Diagnostics for $14 million. (TheMarker) The Israel Electric Corporation yesterday presented profit of NIS 370 million for the second quarter of 2008, thanks to higher power prices and the strength of the shekel against the dollar. The latter eroded the value of its liabilities and reduced its financing costs by 64% (or NIS 352 million) year over year. Its liabilities remain not small at all, at NIS 51.7 billion. In the second quarter the year before, the IEC lost a net NIS 63 million. The company remarked that the increase in power consumption by Israelis slowed to 3.2% in the second quarter of this year compared with 7.9% in the same quarter of 2007. (Avi Bar-Eli) One day after launching the Chrome browser, Google has launched a Hebrew version of Google Maps, showing grids of Israel's cities. The map service gives users access to geographical and urban cartographic data and shows not only streets but also useful sites such as parking lots, gas stations, stadiums and hospitals. Type in "Teddy, Jerusalem" or "Ichilov, Tel Aviv" for example (in Hebrew) and the map will show you the stadium in the capital, or the hospital in Tel Aviv. The local maps were supplied to Google by GIsrael. (Paz Vaysman) Expand Networks is buying NetPriva, a privately owned Australian software firm. The Israeli company won't say how much it's paying and industry sources don't think it's much, since Expand chief executive Eli Bar describes the acquisition as a technological one, not a financial one. NetPriva's technology identifies, monitors and controls data traffic running on the computer. It is used by enterprises to grant workers using laptops or remote computers the same optimization services as are granted in-house. Expand is expected to complete the acquisition within a few days. (Guy Grimland) Bookmark to del.icio.us   Playing with fire Sarkozy warns Iran it risks Israeli strike on nuke program. Our own desert island Israel tries to lure 'Big Brother' type U.S. reality TV series.

Read & React ANALYSIS / France elbows U.S. aside in Syria negotiations Responses: 32 Obama makes peace with Fox News while McCain shuns CNN Responses: 44 Giuliani: Obama backtracked on undivided Jerusalem Responses: 48 Biden: AIPAC doesn't speak for Israel, no matter what it insists Responses: 85 More Headlines 22:40 Nasrallah: We still seek fallen guerillas' bodies 01:39 Assad: We won't cut our ties with Hezbollah, despite Israel talks 22:01 IDF court jails Israeli Arab tracker for spying for Hezbollah 02:38 Kadima sources: Olmert undermining successor to stay in power for longer 01:25 Chabad envoy to Alaska: Palin staunch friend of Jews 22:41 Jerusalem police limit entry of Palestinians for Ramadan prayer 02:10 Education Ministry to ban 'Bible Lite' study booklet 13:52 ANALYSIS / France elbows U.S. aside in Syria negotiations 19:21 U.S. federal court revokes citizenship of former Nazi police officer 16:52 Court allows rightists to march through Israeli Arab town 04:55 New 'chameleon' uniforms meant to boost IDF performance in different environments 13:54 Sarkozy gives Assad letter from Noam Shalit to his son Gilad 19:26 Jerusalem residents claim victory over controversial real estate plan 13:53 Giuliani to GOP: Obama backtracked on undivided Jerusalem 01:35 Sarkozy warns Iran it risks Israeli strike on nuke program Previous Editions Select Day 04 sep 03 sep 02 sep 01 sep 31 aug 29 aug 28 aug 27 aug 26 aug 25 aug 24 aug 22 aug

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