Tel Aviv - A brawl between Arab and Jewish youths on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur in the town of Akko has led to some of the most intense inter-ethnic rioting in years, Israeli media reported.

According to the Ha'aretz daily in its Thursday edition, an Arab youth was harassed by a group of Israelis who claimed that the Arab youth was making too much noise with his car on the Jewish holy day.

Tel Aviv - Ariyeh Alexander said he intended spending Wednesday night in synagogue, fasting, and asking God to release him from vows made during the year.

On Thursday, he will remain at home mostly, still fasting, and "focusing on what is really important."

Alexander is one of 13.3 million Jews around the world who, in one way or another, mark Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement, the 25-hour fast-day which is the holiest and most solemn holiday in the Jewish year.

Moscow/Tel Aviv  - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is due in Moscow on Monday for sensitive talks on Iran's nuclear programme and Russian arms sales to Syria, as Moscow seeks to keep a role in Middle East peace process despite the diplomatic fallout over its war with Georgia.

Olmert, who is making the visit despite his resignation two weeks ago amid corruption allegations, is set to meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday before flying home, the Kremlin press service said.

Israel's Yediot Ahronot Ahronot daily said the Kremlin had invited Olmert for the sake of balance after having hosted Syrian President Bashar Assad and King Abdullah of Jordan.

Tel Aviv  - Israel has hired a British public relations firm to re-market it to the world, and the company is in the final stages of preparing to launch the new image, the Israeli Ha'aretz daily reported Monday.

"Our research shows that Israel's brand is essentially the conflict," Ido Aharoni, the foreign ministry official in charge of the program, said.

"Even those who recognize that Israel is in the right are not attracted to it, because they see it as a supplier of bad news. The conclusion is that it is more important for Israel to be attractive than to be right," he said.

Tel Aviv - Israeli settlers clashed Friday at an olive grove near Hebron with activists protesting the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, police said.

According to settlers, the fracas broke out when one of the activists pushed the wife of settler leader Itamar Ben-Gvir. The activists, however, said the settlers attacked them first.

One anti-occupation activist was detained by police, a police spokesman, Chief Inspector Mickey Rosenfeld, said.

Tel Aviv - Israel will have to withdraw from the occupied territories, including East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, if it wanted peace with its Arab and Palestinian neighbours, outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in remarks published Monday.