CERN consider member-state expansion

GENEVA, Switzerland, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Adding Israel and Turkey to the European Organization for Nuclear Research would expand its scientific horizon, the group's director-general said.

Barring last-minute political objections, the organization known as CERN could vote this month on whether to approve Israel and Turkey's applications, The Times of London reported Friday.

"CERN is globally used. Why not add a global element to its membership?" CERN Director-general Rolf Heuer said. "That is exactly the discussion that we are having at the moment."

Publicly, none of the CERN's member states have opposed Israel and Turkey's membership, though privately France, Greece and Switzerland may have expressed reservations, The Times reported.

CERN, the world's top particle physics center, operates the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva. CERN's governing council also is considering the applications from Serbia, Slovenia and Cyprus, which are being treated as a single group.