Israel is in first place to win Google's $20 million prize for being the first to land a privately funded robotic vehicle on the moon. Israel's craft, designed to hop on the lunar surface, is set for launch before the end of this year. Read about it and see the video here.

In his opening remarks to the current session of the UN General Assembly, its Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, characterized any growth of Israeli communities in the nation's biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria as "madness." Israel's ambassador to the UN begs to differ.