Briefs

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Bulgaria proud of 'native son' Ashkenazi SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) - Gabi Ashkenazi, the newly designated commander of Israel's armed forces and son of a Bulgarian Jew, has been hailed by local media as "our guy." Under the headline "Our guy will command Israel's army," the popular daily Standart published a report about Ashkenazi's appointment. It said that Ashkenazi was the son of a Bulgarian Holocaust survivor who emigrated to Israel after World War II. "There are many Bulgarian Jews or their descendants who have served in the Israeli Army," the paper said. Though an ally of Germany in the war, Bulgaria did not allow its 50,000 Jews to be deported to Nazi death camps. HU professor awarded Israel Prize Prof. Zvi Selinger of the Hebrew University will receive the Israel prize in biology on Independence Day. Born in Vilna in 1934 and brought here two years later by his parents, he studied at the Hebrew University Medical Faculty. He completed his MD and worked at Hadassah University Medical Center, but returned to the lab in the natural sciences faculty. He served as a military physician on the Egyptian front during the Yom Kippur War and then worked in the university's department of biological chemistry. A pioneer in the field of cellular signalling, Selinger is world-renowned in his field and has received the Rothschild Prize and the EMET Prize for his accomplishments. • Judy Siegel India, Pakistan, Iran to sign gas deal India is likely to sign a whopping $145 billion deal by June to import natural gas from Iran through the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline after Teheran lowered the sale price by 30 percent, Indian media reported this week. "On preliminary analysis, the new price offered by Iran looks alright for us. Subject to satisfactory conclusion of the Gas Sales and Purchase Agreement, we may sign a deal with Iran by June," the Indian petroleum minister, Mr. Murli Deora told local media. The project would give Iran $9.5b. in revenue annually. • Amir Mizroch Meir doctor attacked by patient Doctors at Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba will strike on Sunday between eight a.m. and noon after an orthopedist was attacked by a patient seeking care in the outpatient clinic on Thursday. The patient entered the doctor's room and, giving no warning, knocked the doctor onto the floor and broke his glasses. The physician was lightly injured on his hand and needed medical treatment. A complaint was filed with the police. This was the second physical attack on a doctor in a few days; the previous incident occurred at Ziv Hospital in Safed. • Judy Siegel