ISRAEL

Madonna will go on tour from May for the first time in three years, starting in Israel before moving on to Europe, with legs in South America and Australia, where she has not performed for 20 years, tour promotion company Live Nation said on Tuesday.

An announced unity government between the formerly antagonistic Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah has drawn a cautious response from the White House, drawing a contrast with a swift condemnation from the Israeli government.

Egypt's government announced on Monday criminal charges against 19 Americans affiliated with pro-democracy organizations, escalating a dispute that is putting an immense strain on Egyptian-America relations.

The United States, the European Union and Israel have long branded Hamas as a terrorist organization; while the west generally supports the Palestine Authority.

On the heels of Super Bowl 2012 halftime show, which was viewed by a record setting 114 million people, Madonna has announced plans and details of an upcoming 2012 world tour.

The Material Girl's 2012 tour begins in May in Tel Aviv.

An Egyptian military delegation abruptly cancelled its meetings with U.S. lawmakers to return to Cairo Monday after warnings from both Congress and the White House that Egypt's crackdown on non-governmental groups could threaten its $1.3 billion in annual U.S. military aid.

Speculation has intensified that Israel may be planning to strike Iran as soon as the spring.

Almost half of likely voters said the United States should be willing to use military force to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, according to a new poll from The Hill.

Egypt, seemingly determined to expel all foreign agencies from the country, is going to prosecute 43 international NGO employees on criminal charges.

Iran has repeatedly threatened Israel with destruction. U.S. President Barack Obama has vowed that his country will do everything it can to protect long-time ally Israel.

President Barack Obama said Sunday that Israel has not yet decided how to respond to concerns about Iran's nuclear program and said there was no evidence that Iran has the intentions or capabilities to wage attacks on U.S. soil.

Iran will attack any country whose territory is used by so-called enemies of the Islamic state to launch a military strike against its soil, the deputy head of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards told the semiofficial Fars news agency on Sunday.

An explosion hit a natural-gas pipeline running from Egypt to Israel on Sunday, witnesses and state television reported. Also supplying gas to Jordan, the pipeline has come under attack at least 12 times since Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was toppled last year.

Iran's oil minister said the Islamic state would not retreat from its nuclear program even if its crude-oil exports grind to a halt, the official IRNA news agency reported on Saturday. But Rostam Qasemi also called on the European Union to review its recent decision to ban Iranian oil imports as of July 1.

The supreme leader of Iran warned on Friday that war would have devastating consequences, adding to rising tension as American officials expressed alarm at Israeli saber-rattling.

Two middle-aged women from the U.S. were kidnapped from a tourist bus by Bedouin tribesmen in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.

It's no joke: Roseanne Bar, the comedian best known for '80s sitcom Roseanne, is running for the Green Party's nomination in a bid to become President of the United States. What's her platform? How is she ranked among the other Green Party candidates? And does Roseanne Barr actually have a chance?

Brent crude rose above $112 on Friday as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that the Iran would retaliate over an oil embargo at the right time.

US defence secretary Leon Panetta claims growing possibility Israel will attack Iran in nuclear row.

As a tie-up between trader Glencore and miner Xstrata is hammered out in coming days there is plenty of scope for hard bargaining between the two sides' highly competitive South African bosses.