Israel

The International Quartet for peace in the Middle East is set to hold separate talks with Israeli and Palestinians officials in a bid to bring back that both sides to the negotiating table, after a year of stalemate.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet issued a statement confirming the approval of a prisoner exchange deal with Egypt to release suspected Israeli spy Ilan Grapel, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen arrested in June and accused of being a spy in exchange for 25 Egyptian prisoners from Israeli jails.

Turkey is pursuing non-stop rescue operations in a desperate attempt to search for missing people who are believed to be trapped under debris in the aftermath of a massive 7.2 magnitude earthquake.

Rescue teams are on a race against time in Turkey, as efforts to find people trapped under rubble continued throughout the night, after the earthquake that hit Turkey's eastern Van region on Sunday killed more than 200 people.

The 29-second earthquake which struck Turkey has killed at least 138 people. The country continues to reel in hundreds of aftershocks, received in less than ten hours, one of which was at 6.0 magnitude strong enough to create more damages.

Libya's National Transitional Council might have successfully ousted Gaddafi following months of a conflict which culminated with the former leader's death, but in Syria, activists were still in the streets protesting against Assad, while Egypt and Tunisia are still reeling from the fall of their former dictatorship.

The latest "honey trap" accusation comes in the form of 26-year-old Russian Ekaterina "Katia" Zatulivete, who is accused of spying on the UK whilst maintaining a four-year affair with the 65-year-old Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock.

Freed Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit has given his first interview since being released after spending five years in captivity on Tuesday.

Gaza's Islamist rulers have released the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in return for hundreds of Palestinian militants held by Israel after more than five years in captivity, a Hamas military source has said.

The mystery of how Adam Werritty funded his jet-set £147,000 lifestyle around the world has been answered.

Captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is expected to return to Israel via Egypt by next Wednesday, Palestinian sources and Israeli media have said.

Unconfirmed reports in the Egyptian press have said Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit has already been handed over the Egyptian authorities, amid speculation as to the captive's whereabouts.

An Israeli Cabinet Minister who voted against the historic prisoner swap deal with Hamas denounced on Wednesday the agreement as a "huge victory for terror".

Perhaps the most famous prisoner in the Middle East, Gilad Shalit (or rather, the campaign for his release) has proved a powerful rallying point for Israeli's over the past five years. But the young soldier has also been used as a political pawn by the Israeli government to justify their blockade of the Gaza strip.

The news that Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit will soon be released after five years being held captive by militant Palestinians has provoked strong reactions across the world. Here we take a look at the way the story has been covered in the U.S., the U.K., and the Middle East.

Tony Blair's role as a Peace envoy in the Middle east is once again under scrutiny after, the Palestine Liberation Organization reiterated previous accusations of bias toward Israel, saying the former UK Prime Minister should no longer represent the UN Quartet on the Middle east, aimed at the Middle East conflict.

The Palestinian Authority has won a first diplomatic victory after the country gained initial approval of a bid for full membership in UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, a move deemed "inexplicable" by the United States.

With Russia and China vetoing a UN Security Council resolution threatening action against Syria following the deadly and brutal crackdown on protests, cracks within the UN Scecurity Council are becoming more apparent.

The United States Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has openly and bluntly criticised Israel's foreign policy by blaming the Benjamin Netanyahu's government of being partly responsible for its growing isolation in the region.

With criticisms against the U.S. efforts to block the Palestinian statehood bid and the UN Quartet's unwillingness to directly tackle the settlements issue growing, many accuse those leading efforts to renew peace negotiations of being biased in favour of Israel, leading to the country becoming more and more regionally isolated.

The news that Anwar al-Awlaki has been killed in Yemen, courtesy of a U.S. drone attack, must surely round off a pretty poor week in an even worse year for the followers of Al-Qaeda.

British Holiday Makers Warned Over Deadly Jellyfish Invasion. British holiday makers heading to their favourite Mediterranean spots have been warned of the increase in deadly jelly fish.

With the Israeli-Palestinian conflict back on the main international agenda, the role of the UN quartet charged of facilitating peace in the Middle East by the UN and more specifically of Tony Blair has also been put on the spotlight.

While Israeli prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for a return to negotiation to try and prevent the Palestinian statehood bid from seeing light, recent settlements development prove that if peace will not come out of the UN it is even more unlikely to come from peace talks.

The need for faster broadband is not only felt here on Earth, but NASA has found that its current 6Mbps connection with Mars is just too slow, and has been trialling laser-powered 100Mbps broadband.

With Muammar Gaddafi out of the picture, many thought, that the long and sometimes very provocative speeches, at the UN would be history. Iranian president Ahmadinejad however showed Thursday September 23 that he still had some fire left, positioning himself as the voice of the oppressed.

Palestinians watched Barack Obama's section of the speech about Palestine en masse and as they listened the U.S. president telling the UN General Assembly that the Palestinians deserve their own state, but that this would only be achieved through talks with Israel, many still wondered why a country that supports change in Syria, Libya and Egypt, still threatens to veto their statehood bid.

Today is Peace Day, a day "for wide-scale community action and a day for UN agencies and aid organisations to safely carry out life-saving work" and is a project brought to life by the Peace One Day organisation, supported by stars such as Jude law or Angelina Jolie and created by Jeremy Gilley.

As the date set for the Palestinian UN statehood bid approaches, tensions between the supporters and opponents to the planned request are mounting, and with the U.S publicly opposing the bid, Obama's image in the Muslim world is set to dwindle even more.

Despite insistence from both Israel and the U.S. that peace talks should be prioritised, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has confirmed his intention to launch a UN statehood bid on September 23 and as tensions rise, U.S. politicians are now threatening to cut U.S. Palestinian aid.