In the UK and international press today, most papers note that UN Human Rights Chief Navi Pillay said that more than 5,000 people have died in the nine month long Syrian uprising against Bashar Assad’s regime. The Times and Daily Telegraph note that UK Prime Minister David Cameron is hosting the King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, and urged the King to stick to his pledges of reform and to probe the excessive use of force by police on demonstrators during the Bahrain uprising. In other news, the Guardian, BBC Online and Telegraph note that the US President Barack Obama acknowledged that a US drone was in Iranian hands and asked Tehran to return the unmanned aircraft. The Telegraph notes that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has backed a controversial bill calling for the banning of loudspeakers from mosques to issue a call to prayer.

In the Israeli press front pages today, Haaretz notes that the Knesset will discuss gender bias and will set up a task force to deal with the issue. The paper also carries the news that Channel 10 will face closure over debt troubles. Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post report that seven people were killed in an explosion at an Iranian steel mill linked to the nuclear programme. Israel Hayom and the Jerusalem Post note that settler activists infiltrated last night into a closed military zone near the Jordanian border and were later evacuated by police. Israel Hayom paper also notes that US President Barack Obama called on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to return the unmanned air vehicle that Iran captured recently.

In other news, the Jerusalem Post notes that a US House-Senate panel agreed to new sanctions on Iran. The paper also notes that UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon expressed deep concern over Israel’s plans to build 40 housing units in the Etzion settlement bloc near Jerusalem. Israel Radio notes that the latest OECD report released on Israel shows that the economy handled the financial crisis well and is expected to grow 3% and 4% in 2012 and 2013.