Subscribe to Print Edition | Wed., December 10, 2008 Kislev 13, 5769 | | Israel Time: 02:01 (EST+7)   Back to Homepage web haaretz.com Haaretz Toolbar Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Car Rental Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate GA 2008 Travel Week's End Anglo File

Business in Brief The Givatayim Magistrates Court has ordered Tiv Taam to close its local branch on Saturdays. The Givatayim municipality raised a fuss after the branch opened in February of this year on Weizman Street, one of the town's thoroughfares, saying that operation of the business on the Sabbath was in violation of city ordinances. Tiv Taam argued that the chain was being discriminated against, and named 33 other businesses that operate regularly on Saturdays on Weizman Street and other nearby locations, including some of its largest competitors. (Adi Dovrat) Delayed rains and a shortage of irrigation water, following a 50% cut in water allocations for agriculture since the beginning of the decade, leave farmers unable to sow their summer crops on hundreds of thousands of dunams of agricultural land in Israel. Crops such as vegetables for industry or cotton will not develop in the dry Israeli clime without irrigation. The director of the Galilee Development company, Achikam Bar-Levy, said that damage to Galilee farmers alone - whose agricultural lands comprise some 80,000 dunams - total more than NIS 250 million so far. (Amiram Cohen) Advertisement Banks Leumi and Hapoalim have agreed to lend Teva Pharmaceutical Industries $1.75 billion to cover part of the bill for Barr Pharmaceuticals. The money is a bridge loan to cover the cash part of the deal. For each share in Barr, Teva is paying 0.6272 Teva shares and $39.90 cash. The cash part of the $7.4 billion merger - the biggest in Israeli history - comes to $4.5 billion. Teva is still awaiting approval of the deal from U.S. and European anti-trust authorities, which it expects to receive by the end of this year. Because of new accounting regulations due to come into effect, a delay until 2009 will have a negative impact on Teva's financial report, since it will have to make provisions for Barr assets. (Yoram Gabison) Natan Avital (39) was sentenced to 14 months in prison after he was found guilty of a series of fraud and forgery offenses in order to obtain housing loans from banks, as well as monies from the sale of apartments he did not own. His partner, Zvi Lichtenstein, received a 9 month sentence. The two were convicted of falsifying identity cards and salary slips, with the help of which they were able to open bank accounts and fraudulently receive money and housing loans. A third suspect, Moti Weiss, who is said to have initiated and planned the crimes, allegedly fled the country. (Nurit Roth) Israel Railways will be getting a new NIS 110 million smart-ticketing system, based on no-touch technology that the railway hopes will speed up the ticketing process and save on the company's resources, maintenance and time. The system, which will be provided by Amanet, the local consulting and engineering firm that won the international tender, will also work with a combination of other public transportation systems throughout the country. The system is expected to be launched within two years, and will replace the relatively old technology of magnetic strip tickets currently in use. (Avi Bar-Eli) Modu founder and manager Dov Moran is taking a substantial pay cut, as are other top executives at the cellular technology startup. The company has also postponed the start of production because of financial problems suffered by its suppliers, one of which has collapsed outright. Altogether Modu has laid off 88 people, almost a third of its staff, to keep costs low as the crisis rages on. (There are rumors that the layoffs were more extensive than that, which Moran denied.) The Modu team had hoped to raise $100 million but has had to settle for $85 million so far. In another shock to the team, Zack Weisfeld quit as marketing manager. He's being replaced by ex-Comversite Benny Einhorn. (Guy Grimland) Bookmark to del.icio.us   Back in the Mideast Carter may meet with Hezbollah officials during his visit in Lebanon. Bush's final days Olmert has a thing or two to learn from Bush about an exit strategy.

Read & React Netanyahu: Obama told me he views Iran nukes as 'unacceptable' Responses: 62 Olmert: We won't just defend against Gaza terror, we'll attack Responses: 91 EU votes to upgrade Israel relations despite Arab lobbying Responses: 80 Mati Steinberg: The Arab world's stance on Israel has changed Responses: 60 More Headlines 23:12 UN panel demands Israel lift Gaza blockade, free Palestinian prisoners 00:23 Netanyahu camp seeks to oust far-rightist Feiglin from Likud line-up 18:21 Olmert: We won't just defend against Gaza terror, we'll attack 19:54 Carter, in Lebanon, says ready to meet with Hezbollah officials 20:35 Bush's final days: What W can teach Olmert about exit strategy 23:41 Rights group to Mazuz: Probe IDF targeted killings in West Bank 18:50 Israel Post delivers `letters to God` to Jerusalem's Western Wall 18:38 Fourth protest boat sails into Gaza, breaching Israeli blockade 18:12 Peres: Iran leaders cannot feed their kids uranium for breakfast 19:37 Poll: Most Israelis think human rights groups hostile to their country 18:57 Local official: We'll block rightists' entry to Arab town 'physically' 21:30 Jerusalem civic studies teacher arrested for drugs possession 00:28 VIDEO / Israeli eighth graders receive failing marks in math 00:32 Charity: One in five Israelis on food aid has considered suicide 14:27 Department chain H&M to open branch in Israel in 2010 15:09 Olmert heads to London next week for talks with British leaders Previous Editions Select Day 09 dec 08 dec 07 dec 05 dec 04 dec 03 dec 02 dec 01 dec 30 nov 28 nov 27 nov 26 nov

Special Offers Advertisement Summer in Israel Israeli style - Tzofim Chetz V'Keshet 2009 Living in Israel Studying in English Click & Meet our students from all around the world Fattal Hotel Chain Perfectly located hotels on best resorts of Israel. Car rental in Israel Shlomo Sixt Receive $15.00 from our low rates. Eldan Rent a Car Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on all online reservations Jewish Singles Personal Ads Find the love of your life on JDate.com Hebrew Summer courses From $39.95 Junkyard Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt

Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | Underground | Site rules |

Real Estate in Israel | Travel to Israel with Haaretz | Hotels Israel | Restaurants Israel | Tourist attractions Israel | Shops Israel

birthright Israel | Search engine marketing

Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.

© Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved