More than 20,000 new immigrants arrived in Israel during the Jewish year 5786 (September 23, 2025 to September 3, 2026), coming from over 100 different countries worldwide, according to a new data report released by the Aliyah and Integration Ministry and the Jewish Agency. The breakdown of the Aliyah figures for the past year shows that Russia topped the charts with 5,685 olim (immigrants to Israel) arriving in Israel, followed by 4,364 from France, 3,333 from the United Sta

The unprecedented shutdown of five of Israel’s six desalination plants has exposed what water-policy and national-security experts say is a growing strategic vulnerability: the country’s near-total dependence on large coastal facilities for drinking water. Large-scale desalination facilities already supply around 80 percent of Israel’s municipal drinking water, a share set to rise sharply under government plans to expand production in the coming decades. “Desalination is supp

Alongside geopolitical instability, the increased adoption of artificial intelligence has reshaped the global high-tech industry, changing how companies hire and invest. Israel’s technology sector has not been immune to these changes, although their impact has not necessarily been negative. The strengthening of the shekel against the US dollar has created another challenge for the country’s export-dependent high-tech industry. According to data released by the Israel Innovati

The Dutch central bank (DNB) has confirmed that billions of dollars in gold has been taken out of North America and relocated to London, citing “increasing geopolitical unrest.” DNB said that 86 tons of gold had been removed from the US and Canada in a complex operation that took several months. It is now being held by the Bank of England, where the precious metal can be traded more easily “in a crisis situation.” DNB did not confirm what it was referring to with its mention

About 2 million people are facing emergency levels of food insecurity, more than double the number recorded last year, according to Plan International, which has provided assistance to more than 200,000 people in Somalia this year. Somalia is highly vulnerable to extreme weather and has experienced repeated cycles of prolonged drought followed by destructive flooding. The shocks have eroded livelihoods, displaced communities, contributed to disease outbreaks and worsened food

Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said the Russian economy had successfully absorbed the sanctions shock while undergoing a major change in the sources of GDP growth. Net exports, once a much more important contributor, now account for almost three times less of the growth structure. Domestic demand has taken their place as one of the economy’s principal engines. The transformation has also strengthened Russia’s position in global economic rankings. Measured by purchasing

There is no good time to be hit by a missile. The case of Aero Sentinel, however, is an extraordinary one. In April, a few days after American company Veloryx acquired 70% of the company for NIS 35 million, an Iranian missile hit its plant in Petah Tikva and completely destroyed it. Four months later, Aero Sentinel moved to Tel Aviv. Now it wants to become the first Israeli mass producer of intelligence-gathering drones, and to put an end to the use of Chinese products by IDF

Lake Velence’s decline is part of a broader water crisis confronting Hungary as increasingly prolonged droughts and climate change-driven heat waves have pummeled Europe. This summer, wildfires scorched the continent from the United Kingdom to Greece, while in Hungary, drought has damaged crop yields, led to drinking water shortages and threatened to shut down the country’s only nuclear power plant. In late June, on the same day the country set a high temperature record of 42

For decades, weather prediction has relied on numerical models running on supercomputers that simulate atmospheric physics. AI models instead learn patterns from vast archives of ⁠historical weather observations and can produce forecasts in a fraction of the time. The rise of AI weather forecasting has created a new arena of competition among technology companies, research institutes and meteorological agencies, with China emerging as one of the field’s leading players. Among

Ireland’s new government jet, which cost the republic €53m., was purchased without FalconEye, a technology co-developed by Dassault Falcon and Israeli defense giant Elbit Systems, that is essential for the aircraft to land in foggy weather, local media reported. According to Dassault Falcon’s official website, it is “an advanced combined vision system (CVS) developed by Dassault Aviation in partnership with Elbit Systems. Designed for executive and military jets, it merges en

The Cabinet approved draft legislation meant to strengthen Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service, the BND, and its domestic intelligence service, the BfV, and reduce the reliance of the European Union’s most populous nation on tips from its allies. The threats Germany now faces require intelligence services that are “competitive with our partner services in the European Union, but also with friendly services beyond that,” said Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt. The reform

One of the conundrums I often confront is how to comprehend Israel’s consistent ranking in the top 10 countries in the World Happiness Report, published by the Wellbeing Research Center at the University of Oxford, in partnership with Gallup, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and an independent editorial board. It measures people’s self-assessed life evaluations, averaged over three years. The report uses factors including GDP per capita, social support, health

As the sun set over Kochi’s historic Jew Town neighborhood, Keith Hallegua donned a gray kippah and began a solitary walk to the synagogue at the end of his cobbled street. Hallegua is the synagogue’s last local congregant—the only Jew left in Jew Town. They ache for what’s already gone and work to preserve what’s left. In the 1950s, much of the Jewish community in Kochi (historically known as Cochin), a seaport on India’s southwestern coast, immigrated to Israel. They left b

Are Americans richer than they were 50 years ago? The answer can be complicated, depending on where you are in your life experience. According to a report by the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based consumer news operation ConsumerAffairs, in some ways the answer is unquestionably yes. In looking at buying power, which measures income against inflation, the report found general purchasing power had risen 73.1% between 1974 and 2024. The average individual income, adjusted for inflation to 2

Israeli exports reached an all-time high of $164 billion in 2025, setting a new national record despite war, global economic uncertainty and what the Israel Export Institute described as unprecedented hostility toward the country. One of the report’s most significant findings was that services exports exceeded $90 billion for the first time. Growth was led by the high-tech, software, research and development sectors, reinforcing Israel’s position as one of the world’s leading

Locals walking through the center of Vilnius now pass a hole in the ground, a portal to the rich Jewish past of a city once called the “Jerusalem of the North.” For the first time since 1940, they can see the polished, colorful floor and entire prayer platform of the Great Synagogue of Vilna, built in the 17th century, which became one the most important religious, cultural and intellectual hubs for Diaspora Jews. The community’s main representative body plans to build a new

Foreign ministers debated various tactics to respond to the settlements at their monthly council meeting in Brussels, against the backdrop of rising violence by settlers and efforts by the Israeli government to expand settlements in Palestinian territories. No decisions have yet been made, and the path forward is uncertain. Some EU member nations favor aggressive action against the settlements, while others are unlikely to back any measures that take aim at Israel. A number a

China launched the Shenzhou 23 spacecraft with three astronauts heading to its space station, including one set to stay in space for a year. The spacecraft blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China. The much-anticipated launch comes as China prepares for its first crewed lunar landing by 2030. The crew is set to conduct dozens of science and application projects, state media said. They are also expected to complete an in-orbit rotation with th

It was the latest tragedy in this part of the Mediterranean Sea. The Libyan coast is one of the main departure points for migrants from North Africa trying to reach European shores for a better life there. They are packed by smugglers into small and unsafe boats, with thousands dying during the perilous sea journey. Libya has in recent years emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East, even though the country was pl

Against the backdrop of conflict, and despite reservations among some European leaders, the EU has been quietly seeking to reopen communications with Moscow even as it doubles down on its support for Kyiv. President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, has tried to cut out Europe and Kyiv and negotiate Ukraine’s future with Washington. “In any future scenario, the EU has specific interests that will need to be defended, therefore it is important to have established diplomatic channels