State Department spokesperson John Kirby declined to address growing concerns from experts and Congress about the Obama administration’s reported plans to extend additional sanctions relief to Iran during a press briefing on Tuesday. Associated Press correspondent Matt Lee pointedly asked Kirby if, “despite assurances that the Administration gave to lawmakers over the...

Shadia Jirani, an 18-month-old Tanzanian girl, was born with a giant hole in her heart. Without surgery her chances of survival were grim. Shadia was the first child wheeled into the operating room at Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute (JKCI) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, during a weeklong medical mission in...

Israeli defense firm Rafael Advanced Defense Systems reached a cooperation agreement worth $10 billion with the Indian giant Reliance Defense, Globes reported on Tuesday. The companies will produce air-to-air missiles, air defense systems, and surveillance balloons or aerostats for the Indian military over the next ten years. The venture is projected...

The Iranian Supreme Court sentenced a man to have his eye gouged out in accordance with the country’s strict retribution laws, The Independent reported on Tuesday. The convict, identified only as 28-year-old Saman, brawled with his then-25-year-old victim Jalal in 2011. Saman said that he unintentionally blinded Jalal during the altercation with...

The United States “vigorously opposes efforts to isolate or boycott Israel,” Ambassador Dan Shapiro told an anti-boycott conference on Monday. “We have demonstrated this commitment for decades and continue to devote substantial resources in our government to this fight,” he added. “We consider it an extension of our longstanding commitment to fight...

The latest round of reconciliation talks between Fatah, the ruling party in the Palestinian Authority, and the terrorist group Hamas ended without an accord, The Jerusalem Post reported on Tuesday. The only agreement that the two parties reached was to avoid discussing the negotiations with the media. Ziad al-Thatha, a senior Hamas...

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has granted $150,000 to Jerusalem-based RespiDx to further refine its Respimometer for diagnosing childhood pneumonia in low-resource regions. Respimometer is a cross between a pacifier and a digital oral thermometer, embedded with sensors to measure breathing as a way of detecting pneumonia on...

The Obama administration’s efforts to provide Iran with unprecedented access to the United States financial system is provoking push-back from leading legislators in the foreign policy arena, the Washington Free Beacon reported on Monday. The White House is looking at new ways to grant financial relief to Iran following complaints from...

Georgia has become the sixth state to pass legislation preventing the government from contracting with individuals or businesses that boycott the state of Israel or companies in Israeli-controlled territories. The bipartisan bill passed in the state House by a 95-71 vote on March 22, and by a 41-8 vote in the Senate two...

The Palestinian Authority has continued to award lifetime payments to convicted terrorists, despite a promise to end the practice, an investigative report published Sunday by The Mail on Sunday (MoS) revealed. The report was part of a broader investigation into what the paper described as the “wasteful” use of British taxpayer money. According...