It is against Israel's interests to join a global anti-nuclear arms treaty and the UN atomic watchdog is overstepping its mandate in demanding it to do so, its nuclear chief said on Tuesday.

Israeli government officials confirmed today that they will go ahead with plans to “buy” a number of F-35 stealth fighter jets from US military contractor Lockheed Martin. Reports suggest the deal will be worth $2.75 billion, making it one of the largest single arms purchases ever.

Daily Mail | Mexico's savage drug war claimed more victims yesterday - when four men were publicly executed.

Guardian | Has William Hague broken the unwritten rule that foreign secretaries never confirm that MI6 has a network of spies overseas? Hague entered this highly sensitive area when he appeared before a Commons select committee yesterday. His comments came when he was asked by Bernard Jenkin, the Conservative chairman of the commons public administration select committee, about his strategy for foreign policy. The committee is holding an enquiry which is asking: Who does UK Grand Strategy?

AntiWar.com | Speaking today at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism conference, former Mossad chief Danny Yatom urged the international community to come together and form a joint air force led by the United States to launch massive air strikes across Iran.

Reuters | Drugmaker Wyeth used ghostwriters to play up the benefits and downplay the harm of hormone replacement therapy in articles published in medical journals, a U.S. researcher said on Tuesday.

Daily Mail | Girls as young as 13 are to be given the contraceptive Pill without seeing a doctor. For the first time, teenagers below the legal age of consent will be able to get the Pill from high street pharmacies in a project that could eventually be adopted nationwide.

The Independent | China's one-child policy, probably the most audacious exercise in social engineering the world has ever seen, could be up for review, as Beijing policymakers worry about the effects of a population ageing fast, with insufficient numbers of youngsters to support them.

Haaretz | Austrian billionaire Martin Schlaff is behind the transfer of $4.5 million to the bank accounts of Gilad and Omri Sharon, an investigation conducted by Israel's national fraud squad has concluded.

MSNBC | Holocaust survivor Simon Wiesenthal, who became famous for spending years tracking down Nazi war criminals in order to bring them to justice, was actually working for Israel's spy agency Mossad, according to a new biography on the man.

NY Times | Iran has transferred assets out of European banks in its latest effort to defend itself against the effects of sanctions that are part of what Iranian officials have called an “economic war” against the country by the United States and other Western countries.

Time.com | The murder scarred a part of Mexico that was supposed to be reasonably safe from violence and crime. Santiago is a picturesque town of waterfalls, colonial churches and holiday homes for the rich. Its mayor, Edelmiro Cavazos, was a blue-eyed 38-year-old educated in the U.S. But it seems that no corner of the country is shielded from the relentless rain of drug-related bloodshed.

Guardian |