From the “You couldn’t make this up” file:

Israeli TV star Dudu Topaz , once known as the “TV Ratings King”, has been arrested on suspicion that he hired a couple of heavies to put the hurt on TV execs and an agent who turned down his pitch to make a comeback – 5 years after his show was yanked from Israel’s airwaves.

The assaults left two men and a woman battered and bruised (and presumably somewhat vindicated in their decision not to extend Topaz’s career)

Modern vacation tastes have long-since evolved from the ‘sun, sea and sangria’ beloved of our forebears. 

Niche holidays are all the rage these days and a cursory browse of the web quickly throws up an eclectic mix of possibilities from this Elvis Presley-themed trip to the United States,  to a pleasant vacation in Germany looking at tractors and other farm machinery, right through to this combination “boat trip on the Seine/making a quilt” holiday. (And those are all from just one web site).

US President Barack Obama told his Israeli counterpart, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their White House meeting that “under the roadmap and under Annapolis that there’s a clear understanding that we have to make progress on settlements. Settlements have to be stopped in order for us to move forward. That’s a difficult issue. I recognize that, but it’s an important one and it has to be addressed.”

To give an idea of just how difficult it will be take a look at this extraordinary map designed by French cartographer Julien Boussac. It might look like Indonesia or the Caribbean at first glance, but the map is a fanciful reworking of what is actually happening in the West Bank with the blue/water areas representing areas under full Israeli control with the dark and light green ‘islands’ representing areas where the Palestinian Authority exerts some control.

One of the most closely watched meetings for decades between an Israeli Prime Minister and a US President took place yesterday when Messrs. Obama and Netanyahu sat together at the White House.

The two men met for two hours - during which time Obama pressed the ‘two state solution’ to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on a reluctant Netanyahu, while Netanyahu underlined his belief that Iran was a more pressing concern than Palestinian statehood.

Pope Benedict has left the Holy Land bequeathing a message of peace, tolerance and love between all religions and peoples.

We hope that message also filters through to the eternally fractious relationship between journalists and security men – which gets even more strained when a high-profile visitor like the Pope is in town.

Here’s a slideshow of the best pictures from the first days of Pope Benedict’s visit to the Middle East. Click on the photo to enjoy.