The different views of the outcome of last weekend's talks between the international powers and Iran have already caused a public spat between Benjamin Netanyahu and Barack Obama.

Iran's delegation to last Saturday's talks in Istanbul with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany (P5+1) refused to discuss the specifics of the demand that they curtail their uranium enric

Balfour Beatty's Peter Zinkin is not a fan of the word "construction" - at least not when referring to the company he has worked in for more than three decades.

The planning and development director prefers to use the term "global infrastructure business." He explains: "We are not just a construction company.

While the Palestinian economy is in a state of "severe fiscal crisis", wages for Palestinian Authority staff eat up a staggering 20 per cent of GDP, according to a World Bank report released on Wednesday.

The report also points out that international aid has kept the Palestinian welfare state running but has not succeeded in kick-starting the private sector.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn has denied rumours that he and his wife will be making a fresh start in Israel.

After the couple spent last weekend in Israel, French press reported that Mr Strauss-Kahn could be a possible replacement for Stanley Fischer, governor of the Bank of Israel Governor.

But Mr Strauss-Kahn's lawyer, Richard Malka, strongly denied the speculation.

Protesters at the Occupy London Stock Exchange have been invited to take temporary shelter – in a succah.

Following in the footsteps of Jewish demonstrators in New York, a group of British activists have decided to put up a "protest succah".

A conservative group has highlighted incidents of antisemitism and anti-Israel activity at the Occupy Wall Street protest.

The battle for social justice, demanded by hundreds of thousands on the streets of Israel throughout the summer, is swiftly becoming the battle for the defence budget.

Two high-level government committees are about to change the way Israel's economy functions.

One of the two bodies addressed the issue of cross-ownership in a report issued on Monday. The other, which is due to deliver its initial report next week, will propose new priorities for the government's budget.

Billionaire George Soros is to retire from his lengthy hedge-fund career.

Nearly 20 years after he made some £1 billion betting against the Bank of England on Black Wednesday, the 80-year-old businessman has decided to retire, save for the management of personal assets.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn has resigned from the International Monetary Fund.

It comes after the former IMF chief was accused of sexual assault by a hotel maid in Manhattan. He was arrested and taken to Riker's Island jail. He is set to appear in court on Friday.

The French politician, 62, said in a statement that he was leaving to "protect the institution."

The Conservative peer Lord Young of Graffham has resigned as an economics adviser to David Cameron after commenting that people hit by the recession “have never had it so good”.

The Prime Minister has accepted Lord Young’s resignation from the unpaid role, just hours after he said the Jewish peer would be “doing a bit less speaking in future".

Labour politicians criticised him for displaying "complete indifference” after the peer told the Daily Telegraph that “this so-called recession” had actually had a positive impact on some people.

Israel's holiday season has been brightened by better-than-expected economic figures.

The Central Bureau of Statistics in Jerusalem reported that the Israeli economy grew by 4.7 per cent on an annualised basis in the second quarter of 2010 - far above expectations of 2.9 per cent - because of the crisis in Europe.

Unemployment fell from 7 per cent in the first quarter of 2010 to 6.2 per cent in the second quarter and is approaching the low-point of 5.9 per cent achieved in the summer of 2008, before the global economic crisis struck.