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• BERLIN (AP) -- Allegations of widespread U.S. data surveillance have created turbulence for Angela Merkel on what looked like a smooth cruise to a third term as German chancellor, even though it remains to be seen whether the flap will threaten her seriously.
• Merkel's center-left opponents have seized on disclosures of National Security Agency surveillance programs by leaker Edward Snowden to assert that she hasn't been doing enough to confront Washington and protect Germans' personal data -- and to cast doubt on officials' assertions that they didn't know of the programs.
• The opposition apparently hopes that the issue will breathe life into a so-far stumbling and gaffe-prone campaign for Sept. 22 parliamentary elections. A healthy economy, low unemployment and perceptions that Merkel has managed Europe's debt crisis well have bolstered the chancellor.
• Merkel's center-left challenger, Peer Steinbrueck, is suggesting that the government turned a blind eye to violations of Germans' rights and that Merkel violated her oath of office, in which she swore to "keep damage from" her people.
• The government, opposition Green party leader Juergen Trittin said, is acting "like the famous three monkeys: hear no evil, speak no evil and definitely see no evil."
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• JERUSALEM (AP) -- The Israeli soldier was walking home on a busy Jerusalem street when suddenly a car stopped next to him, and men inside spat upon him and hurled insults, trash and water bottles. When the assailants stepped out, he was fearful enough to call the police who swiftly arrived to rescue him.
• The assailants were members of his own community -- ultra-Orthodox Jews, outraged that he chose to serve in the military. Ultra-Orthodox males have long avoided military service, but with the government ending a contentious 65-year-old system of draft exemptions, a small number of them who do serve in the army are being branded as collaborators and increasingly face harassment and assaults by

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