AFP - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly apologised Thursday to US Vice President Joe Biden, hoping to defuse a row over settlements that appeared to scuttle indirect peace talks with the Palestinians.

AP - Gaza's Hamas rulers on Thursday released a British journalist they had held for a month amid allegations that he endangered the Palestinian territory's security.

Reuters - Vice President Joe Biden called on Thursday for Israeli-Palestinian peace talks to start without delay despite Palestinian insistence that Israel first cancel a settlement project condemned by Washington.

AFP - Jordan's King Abdullah II on Thursday told visiting US Vice President Joe Biden that Israel's new settlements plans threaten peace efforts and could lead to more regional violence.

AFP - The United States said Thursday it had "nothing to indicate" the Palestinians have withdrawn from indirect talks with Israel over its plans to build 1,600 new homes in disputed east Jerusalem.

AFP - Hamas released on Thursday a British journalist held in its Gaza enclave, the only foreigner to be arrested in the territory since the Islamist group seized power in 2007.

AFP - Israeli army prosecutors on Thursday charged two soldiers for using a young Palestinian boy to check for booby-traps during last year's fighting in Gaza, a military spokeswoman told AFP.

AP - Vice President Joe Biden attempted to soothe tensions with Israel on Thursday in a speech extolling the countries' close relationship, signaling the U.S. wants to move beyond an embarrassing diplomatic spat over settlements that tarnished his three-day visit.

AFP - King Abdullah II of Jordan and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev held talks in Moscow Thursday aimed at finding ways to bring peace between Israel and the Palestinians to the Middle East.

AFP - Palestinians in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket into southern Israel on Thursday, damaging an empty kibbutz workshop but causing no casualties, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.

AFP - The top Palestinian negotiator said on Thursday an Israeli apology to US Vice President Joe Biden over a controversial settlement expansion in east Jerusalem was "unacceptable".

AP - At 35, Leila Ghanem is the first woman to become a Palestinian governor, the latest in a group of trailblazing women leaders who are slowly winning acceptance in this traditional society.

Reuters - A British journalist left the Gaza Strip Thursday after nearly four weeks in a Hamas-run Palestinian jail facing accusations of spying for Israel.

AFP - US Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday he "appreciates" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's response to a row caused by the announcement of plans for settlement expansion in east Jerusalem.

AFP - The Islamist Hamas movement ruling Gaza on Thursday released a British reporter, the only foreigner to be arrested by the group since it seized power in 2007.

AFP - China on Thursday joined international condemnation of Israel's plan to build 1,600 new homes in east Jerusalem and called on the Jewish state to put an end to the settlement project.

AFP - Israel's Labour Party may quit the ruling coalition over the decision to build 1,600 settler homes in annexed Arab east Jerusalem, Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon warned on Thursday.