JERUSALEM, Israel (AFP) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delayed until the end of the school year the expulsion of 1,200 children of foreigners working illegally in Israel, his office said on yesterday.

“Children of foreign workers who are having lessons in state-run schools will be able to complete the school year” up to June 2010, the premier’s office said in a statement.

Some 1,200 Asian and African children born in Israel had faced deportation along with their parents on November 1 following a crackdown on foreign workers who have overstayed their visas and continue working in the Jewish state.

The fate of the children has struck a deep chord in Israel, which has absorbed millions of Jewish immigrants since its founding in 1948.

The children are, for all intents and purposes, Israeli – they speak fluent Hebrew, know all the Jewish holidays by heart and celebrate them at school and consider Israel their home.

According to official figures, some 222,000 foreign workers live in Israel, including 107,000 who have exceeded the term of their work permits.

Israel started welcoming non-Jewish immigrants mainly from Asia in the mid-1990s to fill a gaping need for cheap labour in construction, agriculture and caregiving.

It issues work visas for nearly 30,000 foreigners every year, and many stay on once their visas expire.

However, Yishai, head of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, remains adamant they should go. “We are not a safe haven, period. We should not damage the character of the Jewish state simply out of clemency.”

Canada supports Afghan election process

OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) – Canada’s government “continues to support the Afghan-led electoral process”, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday after the withdrawal from the run-off race of candidate Abdullah Abdullah.

The Afghan challenger earlier pulled out of Afghanistan’s run-off election, plunging the country into fresh political chaos amid international pressure for the one-horse race to be scrapped.

“We are aware that Afghan presidential candidate Dr Abdullah Abdullah has decided to withdraw from the run-off vote for the 2009 Afghan presidential elections,” the ministry statement said.

Canada “continues to support the Afghan-led electoral process. We have consistently stated that all parties must respect the process to enable Afghans to exercise their democratic rights”, it added.

Ottawa awaits “the response from the Independent Election Commission on the next steps in the Afghan electoral process”, it noted.

Canada has 2,800 troops deployed in Afghanistan.

11 dead after Russian Military cargo plane crashes on take-off

MOSCOW, Russia (AP) – A Russian heavy-lift military cargo plane crashed on take-off yesterday in Siberia, killing all 11 crew members on board, officials said.

The crash was the second in less than a month to involve an Il-76, the mainstay of the Soviet and Russian air force since the 1970s. These and a string of other accidents have raised concerns about the condition of Russia’s aging fleet of Soviet-built aircraft.

The cause of the crash was not yet known. The four-engine plane had just taken off from Mirny in the Sakha Republic, when it tilted to the right and was unable to gain altitude, said Vasily Panchenkov, a spokesman for the Interior Troops, which were flying the aircraft.

The plane hit a slag heap from an old mine and crashed, exploding on impact, he said. The plane, which was headed to Irkutsk, was carrying no cargo but its fuel tanks were full.

The Il-76 crashed about a mile (two kilometres) from the runway in open fields. No one on the ground was reported hurt.

The bodies of all 11 crew members were recovered, Panchenkov said.

Flying conditions were good, with clear skies, light winds and temperatures of minus 11 Fahrenheit (minus 24 Celsius), he said.

Federal investigators were on the scene and said they have recovered the aircraft’s flight recorders.

Russia’s air force had temporarily grounded all Il-76 aircraft, after an engine broke off the wing of a plane on October 7, as the pilot engaged full throttle in preparation for take-off. No one was hurt in that accident.

The ban was to have remained in place until experts could determine what caused the engine to break off and could check the fleet’s condition. No information was available yesterday from the defence ministry.

The Il-76 has four engines mounted under its wings and is capable of carrying 40 metric tonnes (44 US tonnes) of big cargo, such as armoured vehicles.

The Russian air force also has a small number of the world’s biggest An-124 Ruslan transport planes along with smaller and older An-12 turboprop transports, but it relies on the Il-76 for most of its heavy-lift capability.

Earlier this year, the air force announced that it had grounded its fleet of Mig-29 fighter jets and had to carry out costly repairs to make them safe to fly. The move followed a crash in December that occurred when a plane lost part of its tail section. Officials said the accident had been caused by corrosion.

Despite a steady rise in defence spending during Russia’s eight-year, oil-driven economic boom, the military has received only a few new aircraft and has had to continue to rely on aging Soviet-built planes.