* Lieberman: World accustomed to Muslim violence Right-wing minister slams Muslim riots on Temple Mount, demands more severe Israeli response.

* Quartet: Israel key to Mecca deal The Quartet of Middle East mediators has insisted any future Palestinian government must recognise Israel, while expressing “hope” that a deal on forming a unity government in Gaza will end violence.

* Holocaust scholar Wiesel may be victim of anti-Semitic attack Nobel Peace laureate and Holocaust scholar Eli Wiesel was dragged from an elevator and roughed up, possibly by a Holocaust denier, during a peace conference at a San Francisco hotel last week.

* Israel snubs Mecca deal In first official statement, officials in Jerusalem say Hamas-Fatah deal fails to meet Quartet preconditions and ‘is not what Israel expected’.

* Putin attacks ‘very dangerous’ US Russian President Vladimir Putin has attacked the United States for what he said was its “almost uncontained” use of force around the world.

* Report: US will be ready for strike on Iran in the spring Despite repeated denials by the US administration, preparations for a military strike against Iranian nuclear sites are in “advanced” stages.

* Excavation sparks world protests There has been strong worldwide reaction over Israel’s decision to carry out construction work near the Al Asqa mosque, Islam’s third holiest site, which is sacred to both Muslims and Jews.

* Riot police fire tear gas to break up protest in Kosovo by ethnic Albanians Thousands of ethnic Albanians demonstrated Saturday in downtown Pristina, protesting against a U.N. proposal for Kosovo they say doesn’t go far enough in granting the province independence.

* US Iraq forces under new command The new commander of US forces in Iraq, Lt Gen David Petraeus, has assumed control ahead of a fresh push to quell violence in Baghdad.

* Lebanese army to keep Hizbullah arms Lebanon’s defense minister said on Friday that a truckload of ammunition belonging to the Hizbullah seized the previous day in an east Beirut suburb, would be used by the Lebanese army in case of future Israeli attacks.