SAUDI ARABIA/ISRAEL - Saudi Arabia and Israel’s Mossad intelligence division are co-conspiring to produce a computer worm “more destructive” than the Stuxnet malware to sabotage Iran’s nuclear program, according to a report from the semi-official Iranian Fars news agency.
USA - Al Corbi’s residence in the Hollywood Hills has the requisite white walls covered in artwork and picture windows offering breathtaking views of downtown Los Angeles, but it has more in common with NSA headquarters than with the other contemporary homes on the block.
UK - Essex social services have obtained a court order against a woman that allowed her to be forcibly sedated and for her child to be taken from her womb by caesarean section.
ISRAEL - The Israeli leader took off around midday accompanied by six of his ministers, including his newly reappointed Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, public radio said.
USA - Barack Obama’s deals with Iran and Syria may protect us for now, but US pragmatism does not bode well for tomorrow. The deal with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani clears a decade-long nuclear headache for the West and opens the doors to business opportunities, but it will very likely intensify the Sunni-Shia civil war gripping the region.
USA - Michael Lombardi writes: Key stock indices are roaring higher each day. The S&P 500 is breaking through to new records; the Dow Jones Industrial Average sits above the 16,000 level, and the NASDAQ Composite Index trades at a level not seen since the Tech Boom.
EUROPE - The European Parliament has come under fire after approving controversial plans to buy tablet computers for staff at a cost of almost €1.5 million (£1.25 million). Some 1,100 of the institution's "higher management" will be given tablet computers at an estimated cost of €1,360 (£1,130) each.
JAPAN - Typhoons that hit Japan each year are helping spread radioactive material from the Fukushima nuclear disaster into the country's waterways, researchers say.
USA - For nearly 20 years, the secret code to authorize launching US nuclear missiles, and starting World War III, was terrifyingly simple and even noted down on a checklist.
USA - A Thanksgiving shopper is facing criminal charges after police say she pulled a stun gun in a dispute over a shopping cart outside of a Walmart store.
SAUDI ARABIA - Saudi Arabia seems to have few viable options for pursuing a more independent and forthright foreign policy, despite its deep unease about the West's tentative rapprochement with Iran.
AUSTRALIA - Australia recently changed its position and abstained on two UN resolutions against Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria. A spokesman for Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the shift comes because Australia will not support "one-sided" resolutions that "pre-judge the outcome" of peace talks.
UK - The day of reckoning over Europe is closer than we think. The Prime Minister envisages a referendum on our continued membership of the EU by 2017 at the latest.
UK - A new poll has revealed Britain's widening gulf with the rest of the European Union and suggested attitudes are hardening towards our membership on both sides of the Channel.
USA - It has been called "America's most disturbing holiday". Black Friday is the day when millions of average Americans wait outside retail stores in the middle of the night in the freezing cold to spend more money that they do not have for more cheap Chinese-made products that they do not need.