The Guardian, Telegraph, Times, Independent and Financial Times all report that US President Obama yesterday announced official recognition of the National Coalition of Syrian opposition groups as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people. The move comes ahead of today’s ‘Friends of Syria’ meeting in Morocco, which will be attended by 130 governments. The online reports in the Times, Guardian and Financial Times note that a major topic of discussion will be the US proscription of the Jabhat al-Nusra faction, which is playing a major role in the armed fight against President Assad’s regime, but which the United States says is affiliated to al-Qaeda.

The Guardian this morning reports that Israel’s High Court of Justice will hear a petition against the construction of the West Bank security barrier in the Palestinian village of Battir, near Bethlehem. The petition has been submitted by the local branch of Friends of the Earth, who argue that it is an ancient and culturally important agricultural landscape, being considered by UNESCO as a world heritage site. The Israeli government is arguing that the planned route of the barrier is necessary for security reasons. The article notes that Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority is supporting the petition.

The Guardian also includes a feature on the lives of everyday Gazans weeks after the conclusion of Operation Pillar of Defence. Meanwhile, a small comment item by the Daily Mail’s City editor commends the government’s appointment of a high-tech envoy to Israel, which has developed “a high-tech sector second to none.” The Financial Times includes a report on a raid yesterday by Israeli soldiers on the offices of three Palestinian NGOs in Ramallah. The Israeli military said that the offices have been used as a front for the radical armed group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

The online editions of the Guardian and the Times both report on the ongoing protests in Egypt by both supporters and opponents of President Mursi in the build-up to Saturday’s referendum on a new draft constitution. His supporters claim that the constitution is an important step to democratising the country while opponents view the vote as part of a power grab by Mursi. Both reports note an announcement by the main judges’ union that they will not supervise the voting on Saturday, while the Guardian also emphasises that an International Monetary Fund loan to Egypt has been delayed after Mursi withdrew planned tax increases.

Meanwhile, in the Israeli media, several stories make the headlines this morning. Maariv leads with comments made yesterday by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman at a Yisrael Beitenu event, where he sharply criticised European foreign ministers for condemning Israeli construction plans in the West Bank and East Jerusalem while refraining from explicit condemnation of public calls made by Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal to destroy Israel. Leiberman also took aim at Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and the Hamas regime in Gaza. The comments are also a major story in Haaretz.

Yediot Ahronot and Israel Hayom focus on the nurses’ strike over pay and lack of manpower, which enters its tenth day this morning. Yesterday the Tel Aviv Labour Court rejected a request by the Finance Ministry to order the nurses back to work. The front page of Yediot Ahronot includes an exert from a nurse’s letter asking Prime Minister Netanyahu, “Why are you forcing us to beg?”

Another major story in Israel Hayom and Yediot Ahronot is the academic progress that has been made by Israeli pupils over the past four years in comparison to other students across the world. International comparative tests have found that Israeli teenagers are ranked seventh in the world in maths ability, up from twenty-fourth place in 2007. Significant improvements have also been measured in science and reading during the same period.