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JERUSALEM-Tzipi Livni is expected to step up efforts to put together a coalition government and become Israel's prime minister, after the expiry on Monday of an original 28-day period to form her administration.Foreign Minister Livni has been trying to forge political partnerships since she was elected leader of the centrist Kadima party last month, taking over from Ehud Olmert who resigned as prime minister in a corruption scandal.She was likely to meet President Shimon Peres on Monday to ask him for a two-week extension he is allowed to approve under Israeli law, a spokesman for Livni said.There is little doubt in Israel that Peres will do so, especially since a series of Jewish holidays this month has cut into her negotiating time.The question remains whether Livni, who has already won preliminary agreement from Defense Minister Ehud Barak's Labor Party to join a coalition under her leadership, can persuade the ultra-Orthodox Shas party to sign up.For Barak, a former prime minister who readily acknowledges he lacks sufficient public support to regain the office if a national election was held now, the power equation is simple."If a government is established, there won't be elections," he said on Army Radio."I know the truth is that I don't have the political backing to be prime minister. I had the option, which I have chosen, to be a senior partner to Tzipi Livni," Barak said.To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah....
