* Israel cancels fourth round of prisoner releases As prospects for the extension of the current round of peace talks took a further bleak turn, Israel officially canceled the fourth release of Palestinian prisoners.
* Bennett: 'Here's a Commitment - You'll Never Get Jerusalem' Jewish Home Chairman, Economics Minister Naftali Bennett, pithily rejected Thursday the Palestinian Authority (PA) demand that Israel give a commitment that the future Palestinian state would include eastern Jerusalem.
* Iraq's Al Qaida teams with Syrian forces to fight off rival Sunni rebel operation Al Qaida's Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is fighting to stop a Sunni rebel offensive in Syria.
* Top Religious Zionist Rabbi: Allow Jewish Prayer on Temple Mount Influential Religious Zionist Rabbi Benny Lau - a nephew of Tel Aviv Chief Rabbi Meir Lau - said Thursday that he supported the rights of Yehuda Glick and his Temple Mount Faithful group to ascend the Mount to pray.
* IDF Training for Ground Invasion of Lebanon The IDF is rehearsing scenarios of mass rioting combined with guerrilla warfare.
* Assad: Russia creating multi-polar world Syrian President Bashar Assad told members of a Russian delegation on Wednesday that their country is playing an important role by creating a "multi-polar world."
* Amnesty International welcomes Palestinian unilateral moves, calls on PA to join ICC Human rights group slams Israeli politicians for threatening to sanction the PA for its unilateral moves.
* Nato's Eastern Europe build-up plans alarm Russia Moscow is pressing Nato to explain its plans to enhance its military presence in Eastern Europe.
* Iran, six powers start expert-level nuclear talks in Vienna Iran and six world powers began an expert-level meeting about Tehran's nuclear program.
* Lebanon Marks One Million Syrian Refugees The number of Syrian refugees who have fled to Lebanon officially topped 1 million.