A suspect armed with two AK-47 rifles and who has reported ties to the suspects in the Charlie Hebdo massacre earlier this week has taken hostages at a kosher supermarket near Paris today. Earlier reports said that two people had been killed, though this was denied by the French Interior Ministry. The Times of Israel...

American weapons initially delivered to the Iraqi government are falling into the hands of Iran-backed Shiite militias in Iraq according to a report for Bloomberg View Thursday by Eli Lake and Josh Rogin. U.S. weapons intended for Iraq’s beleaguered military are winding up in the possession of the country’s Shiite...

Wal-Mart, SunPacific, Pepsico, FritoLay and BASF are testing Pimi Agro CleanTech’s technology to keep food from rotting before reaching the market. Nimrod Ben-Yehuda is on a mission: to feed millions of starving children worldwide. Not, the lifelong farmer explains, by producing more food, but by dramatically cutting wastage on route...

Charges that Iran’s restrictive policies towards women are similar to those practiced by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) are gaining currency among Arab language commentators. Iran went from banning hijab in 1936 to making it compulsory in 1979.  Now, wearing the hijab is legally required in Iran, even in...

A bill introduced in Congress on Tuesday threatens to cut off U.S. financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority (PA) until Ramallah withdraws a bid announced in late December to join the International Criminal Court (ICC). The legislation, introduced by Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), stipulates that no money be given to the PA “until the...

Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Iraq are threatening the Kurdish regions in northern Iraq according to a report published Wednesday in The National Interest. The report quotes a minister from the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), Mustafa Sayid Qadir, who explains: […] From the KRG perspective, two Shia militia forces—Asaib Ahl Haq and...

On Monday, the Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Iyad Madani, paid a rare visit to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, announcing what he termed an “Islamic Tourism Year” in the holy city. Madani is a citizen of Saudi Arabia, whose government does not have formal diplomatic relations with...

The Palestinian Authority (PA) is ineligible to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) because it is not a “sovereign state,” spokesperson Jen Psaki said at yesterday’s State Department’s daily press briefing: Well, let me give you a short answer and then let me take part of this, because there’s a legal answer...

French President François Hollande called yesterday’s attack on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo that killed twelve a “terrorist attack” as thousands rallied in the streets of Paris and one French politician called the attack “our September 11.” In addition to declaring three days of mourning Hollande vowed to bring the...

Ben Gurion University (BGU) researchers discovered that a protein, Alpha1-antitrypsin, combats infections and eradicates bacteria. The researchers were curious if treating individuals with immune-compromised conditions using Alpha-1 Antitrypsin in would make them more susceptible to infections. Lead by Kaner Ziv and Shahaf Galit of the Lewis Lab at BGU, mice were directly infected with...