Israel is keeping the option of military action against Iran open if the international community does not halt its suspected nuclear weapons drive, Foreign Minister Avidgor Lieberman said Friday.

"We are still waiting. We want to believe that the international community will be able to handle this threat... But again we keep all options on the table," Lieberman said when asked about the possibility of a strike on Iran.

Israel's state comptroller has questioned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over lavish private trips abroad he made that were financed by businessmen, the Haaretz newspaper reported on Friday.

It said he was questioned in secret for more than two hours at the start of the week, over an affair which broke out almost a year ago after an investigation by a private television station, Channel 10.

In the heat of a U.S. presidential election year, with Americans immune to the polarized and bitter nature of political discourse, it takes a lot to shock them, especially in Washington.

But one ad at a DC Metro station -- which starts off criticizing Obama's health care reforms and ends up telling the president to "go to hell" -- goes beyond the pale, says Jim Moran, a Democratic congressman from Virginia.

President Barack Obama on Thursday called U.S. support for Israel "sacrosanct," and said he wanted the country to maintain its "military superiority" as he prepares to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The two leaders are expected to make discussions about Iran's nuclear development program a priority during their planned meeting Monday at the White House.

Israel's deputy foreign minister on Thursday said that a North Korean pledge to suspend nuclear tests in exchange for U.S. aid should not be seen as a model for dealing with Iran's nuclear ambitions.

"The two cases are completely dissimilar," Danny Ayalon told Israeli public radio, hours before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to leave for talks in Washington with U.S. President Barack Obama, expected to center on Israeli concerns that Tehran is racing to produce nuclear arms.

The White House warned Wednesday that any military action against Iran would create "greater instability" that could threaten the safety of Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The warning came days before a planned March 5 meeting between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

U.S. President Barack Obama announced measures Tuesday allowing civilian investigators to handle cases of terror suspects, effectively sidestepping a 2011 law requiring they be brought before military courts.

The measures amount to an arsenal of restrictions on a clause imposed upon him by the U.S. Congress, and provide more flexibility to the president in deciding whether to use military tribunals to try foreign terror suspects.

TransCanada Corp announced Monday it would go ahead with building part of the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline between Oklahoma and the Texas coast that does not require U.S. presidential approval.

The company also said it will resubmit its proposal for the entire $7 billion pipeline project from Canada's oil sands of Alberta to Gulf Coast refineries that U.S. President Barack Obama rejected last month.

Hundreds of Chinese have flooded U.S. President Barack Obama's Google+ page, apparently taking advantage of a glitch in China's censorship system to post about human rights and green cards.

Google+ -- the U.S. Internet giant's social networking site -- has been unavailable in China since it was launched last year, apparently blocked by the nation's strict censorship system, widely dubbed "the Great Firewall of China."

A U.S. drone crashed in northwest Pakistan's tribal district near the Afghan border late Saturday, officials said.

The unmanned reconnaissance aircraft came down in the mountainous Machikhel area about 30 kilometers east of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan region, which is frequently targeted by drone strikes against Taliban and al-Qaida militants, military and security officials said.