Daily Planet: Convoy of Gadhafi loyalists enters Niger; Crocker calls for strategic patience in Afghanistan

The Envoy

• David Petraeus, who retired from the army last week, starts in on his next job as head of the CIA. (Associated Press)

• New US envoy to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker calls on Americans to have more "strategic patience" in effort to defeat Taliban and shore up nation-building in Afghanistan. (Reuters)

• A convoy of loyalists to Moammar Gadhafi crosses from Libya into Niger . . . (New York Times)

• . . but Niger Foreign Minister says that Gadhafi is not part of it. (AFP)

• Leak case involving former FBI translator offers look at US surveillance of Israeli embassy. (New York Times)

• Then-Defense Secretary Bob Gates told Obama Israel is "an ungrateful ally" for extensive US security, diplomatic support. (Jeffrey Goldberg/Bloomberg)

• Turkish-Israeli relations continue to rupture in wake of release of UN Gaza flotilla report.(Yigal Schleiffer/Foreign Policy)

• US eyes covert plans to counter Iran in Iraq. (Wall Street Journal)

• Iran says that if sanctions are lifted, it is willing to grant the International Atomic Energy Agency full supervision of the country's nuclear activities. (AP; Reuters; New York Times)