* Rice says Russia more authoritarian U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has reiterated her sharp criticism of a resurgent and emboldened Russia and accused the Kremlin of becoming increasingly authoritarian at home and aggressive on the world stage.

* UN envoy: Russia’s move spells end of sanctions Objections from Moscow, angered by Washington’s criticism of its invasion of Georgia, have forced the cancellation of high-level talks on Iran.

* Mid-East Quartet ‘has lost grip’ The Quartet of international powers has “lost its grip” on the Middle East peace process which it is meant to foster, a group of aid agencies says.

* World Jewish population grows by 70,000 The world’s Jewish population is on the rise, up 70,000 in the past year, and currently stands at 13.3 million people.

* When Economy Gets Terrible Anti-Semitism Gets Violent Can a Holocaust happen in the United States of America? “Yes,” say Rabbi Lazer Brody of the award wining blog Lazer Beams and Shifra Hoffman, Executive Director of Shuva.

* Peres at UN: Ahmadinejad a ‘disgrace to Islam’ Iran presents “a danger to the entire world,” President Shimon Peres warned the United Nations’ General Assembly.

* Peres: U.S. has no choice but to save world from Ahmadinejad The United States has no choice but to save the world by stopping Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

* Rise in violence against Messianic Jews and Christians Violence against Christian evangelical and Messianic Jewish communities in Israel increased significantly during the period between July 1, 2007 and June 30, 2008.

* Lift-off for China space mission China has launched its third manned space mission – which is to feature the country’s first spacewalk.

* Global jihad forum to be established The government has decided to establish a special forum that will deal with threats to Israelis posed by global jihad organizations, both locally and abroad.