A Republican presidential hopeful has called on President Barack Obama to apologise for his recent comments about Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu.

It emerged yesterday that the President and France's Nicolas Sarkozy had expressed their dislike of Mr Netanyahu during what they believed to be a private conversation.

President Sarkozy appears to have revealed his true feelings for Israel's Prime Minister - calling him a liar in private conversation picked up by microphones they thought were turned off.

The French leader was apparently overheard talking to President Obama about Benjamin Netanyahu at last week's G20 summit.

A Jewish-American newspaper has named a congressman who lost his seat following an online sex scandal as one of the 50 people who have made the most impact in US Jewish news this year.

President Barack Obama is set to meet the Israeli and Palestinian leaders today in a last-ditch effort to avoid a confrontation at Friday's UN session.

The Palestinian Authority remains committed - at least in its public statements – to forcing a UN vote on a unilateral statehood bid.

US presidential candidates Rick Perry and Mitt Romney have pitted themselves firmly against the Palestinian bid for statehood this week in remarks designed to encourage pro-Israel voters to support the Republican Party.

Former President Jimmy Carter has given his backing to Palestinian plans unilaterally to declare statehood at the UN later this month.

Mr Carter, who oversaw the Camp David negotiations which secured peace between Israel and Egypt while in office, is well-known as a critic of the Israeli government.

New Yorkers made their thoughts on President Obama's administration clear this week as they handed a Republican candidate a victory in a seat which has been Democrat-run since the Prohibition era.

New Yorkers go to the polls today in what is being seen by many commentators as a referendum on President Barack Obama's popularity.

The vote for the congressional seat of New York's ninth district, which includes parts of Brooklyn and Queens, was called after the resignation of Jewish representative Anthony Weiner amidst a sex scandal.