Turkey reportedly agrees to Israeli participation in NATO activities despite tension. The Jerusalem Post quotes sources who say Ankara made the concession to get NATO Patriot missiles on its border with Syria.

Israel is to join a 2013 NATO military drill in Turkey in spite of the unresolved diplomatic conflict between the two states, the Israeli newspaper says Sunday.

The timing of the decision is not a coincidence, an Israeli military official tells the Jerusalem Post on condition of anonymity.

“At the last minute – and I think it was dependent on the Patriots – it was approved,” the source explains, referring to Turkey’s request to position the defensive missile batteries along its border with Syria.

However, there has been no “total solution” of the standoff between Ankara and Tel Aviv, the Israeli official adds.

Ankara had vetoed Israel’s participation in NATO exercises, as well as its presence at a NATO summit back in May in protest at the 2010 Gaza flotilla raid by Israeli commandos, in which nine Turkish activists were killed.

Turkish-Israeli relations further deteriorated after the 2011 UN report justifying the Mavi Marmara marine assault, which resulted in Turkey expelling the Israeli ambassador and suspending military cooperation.

Turkey has also pledged to block any Israeli participation in NATO activities until there’s a formal apology from Tel Aviv. So far Israel has refused to apologize for the incident despite the demands.

But Israel is also seeking to expand its cooperation with NATO, and recognizes its ascent in the organization would be blocked unless the break with Turkey is resolved, NATO officials have said.

“We would like the issue to be resolved sooner rather than later,” a NATO official tells Jerusalem Post, adding that NATO is trying to find ways to keep the dialogue going between the two countries.

NATO’s chief Rasmussen proposed to revitalize the countries’ relations at a December meeting of the alliance, AFP reported citing a diplomatic source.

However there are few signs of either side conceding ground, with an unnamed Turkish diplomatic source stating that “Turkey’s position has not changed on this matter.”

According to the diplomat cited by AFP, Turkey will continue to block joint military maneuvers and ban Israel’s activity in its own borders.

The 20-year-old brunette Miss USA has been crowned Miss Universe in Las Vegas beating contestants from 88 countries. An American hadn’t won Miss Universe since 1997.

Boston University sophomore Olivia Culpo was wearing a tight mini-dress when she walked on stage for the competition’s opening number. Later she appeared in a purple and blue bikini, and a red velvet gown with a sexy neckline.

The winner will receive an undisclosed salary, a wardrobe to die for, plus a limitless supply of beauty products, as well as a luxury apartment in New York City.

Her coronation has finally ended a long ‘losing spell’ for American beauties in the pageant co-owned by Donald Trump and NBC.

The daughter of two professional musicians, Culpo played the cello alongside world-renowned classical musician Yo-Yo Ma, and followed in her parents’ footsteps with performances at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Olivia’s parents “looked at her like she had three heads” when Olivia told them she was entering the Miss Rhode Island contest last year, AP reported.

“We didn’t know a thing about pageants,” her father said.

She won her first contest in a rented $20 dress and began working out, dieting, and studying current events on flashcards to compete for the Miss USA crown.

Read the whole story and more photos…

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One week exactly after a horrific shooting at Newtown’s Sandy Hook Elementary claimed the lives of 20 children and half-dozen adults, the National Rifle Association (NRA) is imploring for guns in every school across America.

“I call on Congress today to act immediately to appropriate whatever is necessary to put armed police officers in every school — and to do it now, to make sure that blanket of safety is in place when our children return to school in January,” NRA Vice President Wayne LaPierre said early Friday.

LaPierre addressed a room full of reporters in the nation’s capital seven days from the date after 20-year-old Adam Lanza opened fire in a rural Connecticut elementary school, killing 26 people while also rekindling a national debate on gun control.

The NRA refrained from making any comments regarding the shooting in the week since, but on Friday LaPierre pleaded for the public to heed his group’s call for more guns — specifically guns in classrooms from coast-to-coast.

The NRA has “remained respectfully silent” in the aftermath of the tragedy, LaPierre said, but has now decided the time has come to take action.

According to the gun rights advocate, the most logical way to curb the chances of another bloody massacre is to install armed gunmen in every school in the country.

Read the whole story…

Make that Bo and his sister Buttons. The four-year old felines are recent additions to Animal Samaritans’ no-kill animal shelter.  Their former owner, Sally Ruskinski, worked for many years at The Living Desert Zoo & Gardens before passing away this month.  She was in her 80s.

Sally, a long-time animal lover, naturalist, and avid hiker, helped care for the Living Desert’s giraffes, zebras, and big cats.  In addition to Bo and Buttons, she left behind two short-haired Persian cats, a blue and golden macaw, a cockatiel, turtles and koi fish. All but Bo and Buttons have found homes.

We are glad we could take in Sally’s beautiful and affectionate Tonkinese felines. About Tonkinese cats: “The Tonkinese blends the best features of its ancestors into one beautiful, medium-sized cat that is remarkably dense and muscular. Whether appearing in the coat pattern of its Burmese predecessor…the  pointed pattern of its Siamese ancestor, with blue eyes, or the “mink” coat pattern…the Tonkinese is an intelligent, gregarious cat with a sense of humor.”

In other words, Bo and Buttons are both beautiful and smart.  We can tell you first hand that they purr very loudly, they love to have the bridges of their noses rubbed, and they love to have the their backs stroked–right up to the edge of the tails.

For now, they are a bit depressed, which is understandable considering they miss their long-time owner, Sally, and they have been thrust into an environment where nothing is familiar. Given their long history as siblings, and the comfort they take in each other after losing Sally, we will be adopting them out together, as a pair.

Please visit our Animal Shelter to meet Bo and Buttons, the “Tonks,” Monday through Sunday (except for holidays), between 9am and 4:30pm. Questions?  Call Rhona at 760-343-3477 x2