Following the weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday morning, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will fly to Paris and London for top-level talks.  Olmert will meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and then with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, discussing with both the topic of increased sanctions against Iran.



The leaders will address the problem of convincing the international community to agree to heighten the sanctions against Iran as it rushes to acquire nuclear weapons.  They will also discuss the planned Israeli-Palestinian Authority summit tentatively scheduled for several weeks from now in Annapolis, Maryland.



Olmert returned on Thursday from a surprise meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

Public Security Minister Avi Dichter visited France less than two weeks ago, discussing terror threats and how to deal with them with the Chief of Police in Paris.



Lieberman to Germany

Minister of Strategic Threats Avigdor Lieberman, of the Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) party, departs on Tuesday for an official visit to Germany. He will discuss with government leaders ways to stop Iran's nuclear program, and will meet with the local Jewish community as well.



Pensioners and Lieberman

There has been talk that Lieberman could assume the official title of Head of the Opposition as of next March.  Currently, his 11-MK Yisrael Beiteinu party is a member of the coalition, but if Olmert agrees to place Jerusalem on the Annapolis negotiating table, Lieberman has threatened to quit the government.  This would make him head of the second-largest coalition party - behind the Likud, which has 12 MKs.



However, three MKs of the Pensioners Party have been rumored to be considering quitting their party and joining Yisrael Beiteinu.  This would give the latter 14 seats - and qualify Yisrael Beiteinu to be the largest party in the opposition.  It would not happen before March, however, because of technicalities preventing MKs from receiving their proportionate party funding before they have served two years in the Knesset. 



Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu, as well, is said to be interested in having the Pensioners' MKs joining his party.