* Israel asks U.S. for arms that could aid Iran strike Israel has asked the United States for advanced "bunker-buster" bombs and refueling planes that could improve its ability to attack Iran's underground nuclear sites.
* Netanyahu Hints Iran Attack Just Months Away Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu set a general timetable for a possible strike on Iran Thursday evening, for the first time.
* Arab World: Confusion in the ranks This week, leading Gaza- Hamas activist Salah al-Bardawil told The Guardian newspaper that in the event of a war between Iran and Israel, Hamas would not back Teheran.
* Northern lights: aurora borealis displays sparked by solar storm A space weather storm that was forecast to be the strongest in five years has fizzled out and ended up causing no impact to power grids or modern navigation systems.
* 'Israel is only safe state for Mideast Christians' Israel has become the only safe haven for Middle Eastern Christians.
* Legal skull-duggery in Greece may doom Portugal Europe has ring-fenced Greece's debt crisis for now but its escalating recourse to legal legerdemain has shattered the trust of global bond markets.
* IDF upgrades tracking system in face of growing missile threat The Israel Defense Forces has acquired a new system that will let it see exactly where every missile strike has landed if the home front is under attack.
* Egyptian Cleric Hazem Shuman Calls to Spread Islam to South America "They Are Ready for Islam. They Hate the Jews and America Just Like Us".
* Greece: It's the geopolitics, stupid! The eurozone decided to grant Greece a second bailout, but this does not mean that the country received a wallet full of money.
* Joseph Kony 2012: a model of modern campaigning The campaign to get Joseph Kony arrested is a case study in how the web has changed political campaigning, says Matt Warman.