IRAN - Iran will hold a massive air defense drill in October incorporating aerial and ground forces, Iranian air defense commander Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili announced on Saturday.

ISRAEL - Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu got into a diplomatic shouting match with US Ambassador Dan Shapiro over US President Barack Obama's handling of Iran's nuclear program, saying "time has run out" for diplomacy, Yediot Aharonot cited a source as saying on Friday.

USA/ISRAEL - A smaller US contingent may make it more difficult for the Israeli government to launch a pre-emptive strike on Tehran's nuclear program. Seven months ago, Israel and the United States postponed a massive joint military exercise that was originally set to go forward just as concerns were brimming that Israel would launch a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - German Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to order a military strike against Iranian nuclear sites, the newspaper Haaretz reported on Friday. The article, citing an Israeli official on condition of anonymity, said [Mrs] Merkel had called [Mr] Netanyahu 10 days ago amid a wave of reports of an imminent Israeli attack, to give a "clear message as to her opposition" to such action. [Mrs] Merkel urged [Mr] Netanyahu to "give more time for sanctions and diplomacy to work," and warned of the consequences of such an attack for security in the Middle East.

EGYPT - An Egyptian political science professor told an Iranian TV station that, with Allah’s help, “Israel will be annihilated” by 2013. In an interview with Iran’s state-run Arabic news channel Al-Alam last week, Professor Gamal Zahran, head of the political science department at Egypt’s Port Said University and a former Independent MP, said: “Jerusalem is at the heart of the Palestinian cause, and the Palestinian cause is the cause of all Arabs and Muslims. The elimination of the Zionist entity is beyond debate, and the only question has to do with the circumstances.”

MIDDLE EAST - Apparently low on bombers, al-Qaeda is running a employment advertisement on its Shumukh al-Islam Internet forum. Under the heading “Area of activity: The planet Earth,” the ad seeks jihadists to carry out suicide attacks. Applicants must be Muslim, mentally mature, dedicated, able to listen, and utterly committed to completing their mission, the Hebrew daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Tuesday. Several email addresses are provided for applicants. While their real names are not required, candidates are asked to send details of their nickname or handle, their age, marital status, languages spoken and a list of passports in their possession.

ISRAEL - Amid media speculation that Israel may carry out a strike on Iran’s nuclear sites and possibly prompt a regional war, the number of Israelis collecting state-funded gas masks has quadrupled from 17,000 in April to 70,000 in July, according to the military. As speculation in Israel persists about a possible air strike on Iran’s nuclear sites, Israeli citizens – who polls show do not support an attack unless it is backed by the US, the country’s staunchest ally – are getting prepared. Israel regards the Iranian nuclear programme as an existential threat and has said repeatedly that it will not permit the development of an Iranian nuclear bomb.

JAPAN - Japan's government is planning to suspend some state spending as it could run out of cash by October, with a deficit financing bill blocked by opposition parties trying to force Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda into an early election. The impasse in Japan's parliament has raised fears among investors that the world's third largest economy is being driven towards a "fiscal cliff", Reuters reported. "The government running out of money is not a story made up. It's a real threat," Finance Minister Jun Azumi told a news conference, making a last-ditch appeal for cooperation by opposition parties to pass the bill.

USA - Global food prices have leapt by 10% in the month of July, raising fears of soaring prices for the planet's poorest, the World Bank has warned. The bank said that a US heatwave and drought in parts of Eastern Europe were partly to blame for the rising costs. The price of key grains such as corn, wheat and soybean saw the most dramatic increases, described by the World Bank president as "historic". From June to July this year, corn and wheat prices each rose by 25% while soybean prices increased by 17%, the World Bank said.

EUROPE - Centuries-old theological disputes have broken out in cyberspace as religions aim to influence the future presentation of faith on the Internet. The forum for the rivalry is not the pulpit or church bulletin, but the website of ICANN, the corporation that oversees the Internet address system and now wants to expand it beyond the usual .com, .org or .net domains. When ICANN began accepting applications for new names early this year, bids came for extensions such as .catholic, .islam and .bible. Not far behind were critics who challenged many applicants' right to monopolize those and other religious terms.

UK - The UK must shed any lingering feelings of "post-colonial guilt" and be confident about its status on the world stage, William Hague has said. The foreign secretary said the UK was seen in a "different light" to 50 years ago - when ex-British colonies across Africa and Asia declared independence. The UK is seeking to expand its diplomatic presence across Asia, Africa and Latin America in an effort to boost bilateral relations and enhance economic and trade opportunities. Mr Hague said the UK should be "more ambitious" about its role in the world and should not be held back by worries over any residual resentment overseas about its colonial past.

USA - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Friday left the door wide open to a further easing of monetary policy, saying the stagnation in the US labor market was a "grave concern," but he stopped short of providing a clear signal of imminent action. His stark language gave a temporary lift to US stocks, but economists walked away from the Fed chairman's remarks still divided over whether the central bank would launch a fresh round of bond purchases at its upcoming meeting in September.

USA - The worst drought to hit US cropland in more than half a century could soon leave Americans reaching deeper into their pockets to fund a luxury that people in few other countries enjoy: affordable meat. Drought-decimated fields have pushed grain prices sky high, and the rising feed costs have prompted some livestock producers to liquidate their herds. This is expected to shrink the long-term US supply of meat and force up prices at the meat counter.

PHILIPPINES - An earthquake of 7.9 magnitude struck off the Philippines on Friday and a tsunami warning had been issued for the region, the US Geological Survey and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. The quake was centered off the east coast, 91 miles off the town of Guiuan in Samar province, the US survey said.

UK - There was fresh anger over taxpayer aid to India last night as it emerged the country is spending £1 billion on three warships. Britain is still handing over £280 million a year despite India admitting it doesn’t need the help and regards the amount as “peanuts”.