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GERMANY - US Jews Reclaim German Citizenship
An increasing number of Jewish Americans with family histories shaped by the Holocaust are applying to restore German citizenship—to have the option to move to Germany should conditions in the US deteriorate further. Once unthinkable: At 103, Holocaust survivor Ruth Gruenthal has reclaimed the German citizenship the Nazi regime stripped from her because she was Jewish. After surviving Nazi persecution and rebuilding her life in the US, Ruth became a psychotherapist and raised
Arno Froese
Mar 232 min read


ISRAEL - Land Registration Will ‘Bring Order’
For the first time since Israel occupied the territory in 1967, the government will create a mechanism to officially register large swaths of land under the state. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalal Smotrich said the land registry would continue “the settlement and governance revolution across all parts of our land” as he referenced Judea and Samaria, the biblical term for the West Bank. Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 war and subsequently began establis
Arno Froese
Mar 192 min read


SPAIN - Buying Israeli Weapons Through Germany
The Spanish government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s is one of the most anti-Israeli in the EU, and this was demonstrated in June 2025, when the Ministry of Defense in Madrid suspended a euro285 million deal to procure Spike LR2 anti-tank missiles from Rafael Advance Defense Systems as a protest against the war in Gaza. This meant Spain needed advanced missiles from elsewhere, so it turned to EuroSpike. Rafael owns 20% of the European company, with German companies Rheinm
Arno Froese
Mar 182 min read


BRAZIL - New Deal with India on Minerals
Brazil and India sealed a deal on critical minerals and rare earths, enhancing cooperation on crucial resources between two major countries of the global south as they seek to diversify their trading relationships. Brazil has the world’s second-largest reserves of rare earth minerals, used in a wide range of products, including smartphones, electric vehicles, solar panels and jet engines. - apnews.com , 21 February 2026 Commentary: Brazil and India are members of BRICS, a ra
Arno Froese
Mar 171 min read


INDIA - AI Summit Draws Global Leaders
Billed as the first high-level AI gathering to be held in the Global South, the India AI Impact Summit has given the world’s most populous country a stage to promote itself as a global AI player, broadening the AI conversation to include countries in Latin America, Africa and beyond. “The solutions presented here—in agriculture, security, assistance for persons with disabilities, and addressing the needs of multilingual populations—are powerful examples of Made in India stren
Arno Froese
Mar 162 min read


FINLAND - Only 850 Jews Remain
“You can be born Jewish in Finland, get circumcised, married, divorced: it’s a one-stop shop,” said Chaya Votkin, president of the Jewish Community of Helsinki. Demographically speaking, the community is quite unique. It began in the first half of the 19th century, when Jewish soldiers (known as cantonists) serving in the Imperial Russian Army in Finland were granted permission by Russian military authorities to stay in Finland after completing their military service. “They s
Arno Froese
Mar 122 min read


USA - Peace ‘Begins from Within,’ Says Buddhist Monk
The Buddhist monk who led a “Walk for Peace” from Texas to the nation’s capital said he believes peace can be achieved even in a world filled with conflict, citing the overwhelming displays of public support for his walk as a source of hope for future change. “Peace always begins from within ourself. It’s not the world peace out there,” the Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara said in an exclusive interview with CBS News. “No one can change this world, but together, all people and all
Arno Froese
Mar 112 min read


ISRAEL - Online Antisemitism Reaches Record High
Online antisemitism is becoming increasingly sophisticated and event-driven, despite an increased platform removal rate, with scapegoating and conspirational self-victimization (CSV) narratives reaching an all-time high in 2025, non-profit CyberWell’s annual report showed. Cyberwell, a global nonprofit organization aimed at combating the spread of antisemitism online, monitors content on Meta, TikTok, X/Twitter, and YouTube to identify antisemitic rhetoric and discourse. “Ant
Arno Froese
Mar 102 min read


FRANCE - Court Decides Against Jewish Compensation
As covered by The Jerusalem Post last July, Canadian citizen Philip Khazzam sued the French government for more than $17 million in unpaid rent relating to his family’s property in Baghdad, which has served as the French embassy in Iraq since the 1960s. Khazzam’s grandfather, Ezra Lawee, and Ezra’s brother Khedouri built the house and lived there with their children before they were forced out of their home and fled the country. The family relocated to Canada, where they acq
Arno Froese
Mar 92 min read


USA - The Zionism Gap
Across national studies of American Jews conducted by the Jewish Federations of North America over the past several years, alongside those of many research and organizational partners, one finding has remained remarkably consistent: Jews of all ages continue to feel deeply connected to Israel and to Israelis. In fact, emotional connection to Israel across all age groups has increased since 2020. In addition, nine out of 10 Jews strongly support Israel’s right to exist as a Je
Arno Froese
Mar 52 min read


SRI LANKA - 1,700-Year-Old Buddhist Megastructure
Towering above […] is the immense, bubble-shaped dome of Jetavanaramaya—a structure so large that when it was completed in the early fourth century CE, it ranked as the third-largest man made building on Earth, surpassed only by the Great Pyramids of Giza. Completed around 301 CE using an estimated 93.3 million baked mud bricks, the stupa originally rose to around 122 meters (400 feet), making it one of the tallest structures of the ancient world. Jetavanaramaya refers not on
Arno Froese
Mar 42 min read


FRANCE - The Fearless Preacher
Massillon was born at Hyères in Provence where his father was a royal notary. At the age of eighteen he joined the French Oratory and taught for a time in the colleges of his congregation at Pézenas, and Montbrison and at the Seminary of Vienne. Massillon soon gained a wide reputation as a preacher and was selected to be the Advent preacher at the court of Versailles in 1699. He was made Bishop of Clermont in 1717, and two years later was elected a member of the Académie fran
Arno Froese
Mar 33 min read


USA - Alarming Population Decline
According to U.S. Census estimates released on Jan. 27, population growth has slowed “significantly,” with just 1.8 million more people between July 1, 2024, and July 1, 2025. That amount of population growth—just 0.5%—is the slowest rate of growth since early in the COVID-19 pandemic, when a worldwide shutdown slowed population growth to just 0.2% in 2021. And it comes after a significant uptick in 2024, when 3.2 million people were added to the U.S. population, which grew b
Arno Froese
Mar 22 min read


NORTH KOREA - Nuclear Weapons Status Irreversible
North Korean officials said the country’s status as nuclear state “has become irreversible,” despite efforts by the West to negotiate an end to the production of those weapons, according to state media. “The position of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea as a nuclear weapons state which has been permanently specified in the supreme and basic law of the state has become irreversible,” North Korea’s Permanent Mission to the U.N. said in a press statement, according to th
Arno Froese
Feb 262 min read


ISRAEL - Bet Shemesh Engines Inks $1.2 Billion Deal
Bet Shemesh Engines, which makes parts for engines used in Israeli fighter jets, has secured a $1.2 billion contract for the supply of critical jet engine components to one of the world’s leading aircraft engine manufacturers, the company said. Founded in 1968, Bet Shemesh Engines designs, develops, and manufactures parts and components for jet engines, including castings of blades, forging of disks, and machining of rotating parts. Based around the city of Beit Shemesh, outs
Arno Froese
Feb 252 min read


UN - Rebukes Israel Over Gaza
“The occupying power may never invoke reasons of security to justify the general suspension of all humanitarian activities in occupied territory,” Judge Iwasawa Yuji said while delivering the opinion, which also said Israel is obliged to ensure the basic needs of civilians in Gaza are met. “After examining the evidence, the court finds that the local population in Gaza Strip has been inadequately supplied.” Israel’s ambassador to the UN criticized the court’s opinion as “sham
Arno Froese
Feb 242 min read


AUSTRALIA - Tougher Gun Laws After Bondi Beach
Australia’s most populous state passed sweeping new gun and anti-terror rules following the mass shooting on Bondi Beach, tightening firearm ownership, banning public display of terror symbols and strengthening police power to curb protests. Premier Chris Minns said not all residents of New South Wales would support the tough reforms but his government was doing everything possible to keep people safe, in the wake of the December 14 shooting at a Jewish Hannukah celebration,
Arno Froese
Feb 232 min read


INDIA - How Critical Is Russian Oil?
First came the tariffs in August—50% duties on Indian goods, dressed up as punishment for buying Russian oil. Caught between an old ally in Moscow and mounting pressure from Washington, India’s energy policy has become a delicate balancing act. But just how critical is Russian oil to the Indian economy? [In 2024], India, the world’s third-largest oil importer, bought $52.7bn of Russian crude—37% of its oil bill—followed by Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Nigeria, and the US. Des
Arno Froese
Feb 192 min read


CHINA - US Export Controls Help China
The tech company SiCarrier is hardly a household name. The government-backed Chinese firm makes things most people have probably never heard of, like epitaxy equipment and atomic layer deposition tools used in microchip fabrication. But at a chip industry expo in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen this fall, a crowd thronged its display booth, snapping pictures, doing livestreams and marveling at its wares. “Their products are very good—they’re excellent,” said Zhang Hengm
Arno Froese
Feb 182 min read


GULF STATES - Normalization with Israel
Startup Nation Central’s latest data points to a deeper Gulf role in Israeli tech than the numbers alone suggest, one built on ecosystem fit, indirect investment routes, and long-term regional considerations. That distinction becomes clearer through the perspective of Yariv Becher, vice president for business development and partnerships at Startup Nation Central. Speaking with The Media Line, Becher stressed that the available data significantly understates the level of Gulf
Arno Froese
Feb 172 min read
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