Tel Aviv - An ultra-Orthodox Israeli party has expressed reservations about entering a coalition headed by a woman, raising another hurdle for Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in her efforts to form a new government.

Israel's Ma'ariv daily Thursday quoted a senior spiritual leader of the United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party, Rabbi Joseph Shalom Elyashiv, as saying in private talks this week that "it is not simple to sit in a government when the prime minister is a woman."

Jerusalem - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni slammed Wednesday a speech to the United Nations by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and called for more international pressure to be applied to Tehran to force it to halt its nuclear programme.

The Iranian president, in his address to the United Nations on Tuesday, said that a "small, deceitful number of people called Zionists" were "playing with the dignity, integrity and rights of the American and European people.

London, Sept. 20 : Israel’s second woman Prime Minister in waiting, Tzipi Livni, earned her spurs as an agent working for a covert cell in an elite spy unit, reports The Times.

According to the paper, Livni had a dangerous, youthful stint as a spy in Mossad, one of the world’s most respected and feared secret services, in Paris in the early 1980s.

Though the Mossad does not divulge details, The Times can reveal that Livni ran substantial risks as an Israeli agent operating in a covert cell in Europe.

Jerusalem - A day after winning the leadership of Israel's ruling party, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was set to begin consolidating her power in the faction Friday by meeting her defeated rivals.

However, her main rival Shaul Mofaz, who she defeated by only 1.1 per cent, or 431 votes, canceled his meeting with the new Kadima leader, after dramatically announcing Thursday night he was taking a timeout from politics.

Tel Aviv  - Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni won a narrow victory Thursday in the leadership primary of Israel's ruling Kadima party, and said she hoped to build a coalition as soon as possible, but her chances of becoming the country's next premier were far from certain.

Livni will replace as Kadima leader discredited prime minister Ehud Olmert, who announced in July he was quitting the party leadership and then the premiership, because of ongoing investigations against him for alleged corruption.

Tel Aviv - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni won a narrow victory in the leadership primary of Israel's ruling Kadima party, defeating her main rival, Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz, by only a handful of votes, results announced before dawn Thursday indicated.

Livni must now try and from a governing coalition to replace that headed by discredited premier Ehud Olmert, who announced in July he was quitting the party leadership and then the premiership, because of ongoing investigations against him for alleged corruption.