• ISRAEL SAID IT WOULD RETROACTIVELY APPROVE 180 homes in a West Bank outpost. Blink and you’ll miss it, but the U.S. response—that this is “not helpful” for getting back to peace talks—is different than it would have been a year ago, when it would have condemned the settlements themselves. [JPost]
• IRAN’S SUPREME LEADER insisted that the nuclear program would continue to “progress,” but totally peacefully. “Owning a nuclear weapon is a big sin,” he said. [WP]
• THE ADMINISTRATION IS EMPHASIZING HUMANITARIAN AID to Syria’s opposition, rather than arms. [WP]
• VIDEO TELLS THE GRIM TALE of the unimaginably brutal bombardment of the city of Homs—it’s “the first YouTube war,” says one analyst. [NYT]
• PRESIDENT PERES BELIEVES ISRAEL SHOULDN’T ATTACK IRAN right now, and will tell President Obama this in person next month. [Haaretz]
• MITT ROMNEY NARROWLY BEAT RICK SANTORUM in last night’s debate, probably. [NYT]
Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.