* Iraq’s Maliki back under spotlight Iraq’s embattled premier Nuri Al Maliki was back under the spotlight Tuesday after US President George W. Bush urged him to work harder to unite the war-torn nation’s bitterly-divided communities.

* Egypt: Failure of peace summit would fuel extremism in Mideast Egypt told European politicians on Tuesday that a peace conference that fails to achieve a breakthrough between Israelis and Palestinians would add to anger, frustration and extremism in the Middle East.

* Islamic Jihad leaders could be targeted The security cabinet is expected to instruct the IDF to resume targeted killings against Islamic Jihad leaders.

* Pentagon ‘three-day blitz’ plan for Iran The Pentagon has drawn up plans for massive airstrikes against 1,200 targets in Iran, designed to annihilate the Iranians’ military capability in three days.

* 80,000 illegal arms hidden in W. Bank Over 80,000 illegal weapons are believed to be in the hands of West Bank terrorists.

* Beware: enemy attacks in cyberspace Lieutenant General Robert Elder, senior Air Force officer for cyberspace issues, recently joked that North Korea “must only have one laptop”.

* UN chief urges Sudan to seek peace The UN secretary-general has called on Sudanese to support peace initiatives in Darfur.

* EU to boost ties with its neighbours Ministers from the 27-nation EU and its 16 neighbours are gathering in Brussels for the first ever meeting designed to give a new impetus to the €12 billion-strong policy of mutual cooperation.

* Hamas wants to destroy Israel, says Peres “We had a rough day in Sderot. Seven rockets fell and almost killed our children. It’s an intolerable situation and there is one address for it – Hamas.

* The next war? French President Nicolas Sarkozy came away convinced his U.S. counterpart is serious about bombing Iran’s secret nuclear facilities.