UPI Almanac for Thursday, Jan. 22, 2009.

EILAT, Israel, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Two Russian planes carrying medics and relatives of bus crash victims arrived in Israel Wednesday after 24 Russians died in a tour bus mishap, officials said.

JERUSALEM, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Discreet negotiations between Israel and the Netherlands allowed a former chief of Israel's security agency to avoid arrest on torture charges, sources say.

MOSCOW, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has been elected the leader of the ruling Kadima Party, beating her opponent, Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz, by a mere 2 points.

JERUSALEM, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Tzipi Livni, the new head of Israel's Kadima Party, on Friday urged Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to resign as he had promised.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Israel's ruling Kadima Party has narrowly opted for peace rather than war and for a dove rather than a hawk when it chose Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni as its new chairwoman and the nation's likely next prime minister.

JERUSALEM, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Likud Party leader Binyamin Netanyahu are secretly teaming to deny the premiership to the Kadima Party, sources say.

TEL AVIV, Israel, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- Israeli government officials say they will release 199 Palestinian prisoners Monday, including two convicted of murdering Israelis.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- The prevailing mood in Israel about Iran’s nuclear facilities is hawkish and uncompromising. “It is a race against time, and time is winning,” said a key Israeli player. The Bush administration argues the clock won’t run out until Jan. 20, 2009, when the president turns things over to his successor. Barack Obama’s advisers are saying the clock should be reset to the results of next June’s Iranian presidential elections. John McCain, with Joseph Lieberman by his side, agrees with Israel’s hawks.