Israel has approved a plan to absorb about 5,800 members of the Bnei Menashe community by 2030, according to a government decision. A first group of 1,200 people is scheduled to arrive next year. The ministry responsible for their absorption will provide initial financial support, Hebrew language instruction, job guidance, temporary housing and social programs to help newcomers settle. The Bnei Menashe identify as descendants of the biblical tribe of Manasseh, considered one

Now in its 11th year, the [Global Talent Competitive Index] ranking covers 135 countries and is based on 77 indicators, including the concentration of AI workers, grouped into six categories that measure talent attraction, growth, retention, and technical capabilities. The index evaluates how countries cultivate, attract, and retain skilled workers across all income levels. Israel ranked 23rd overall and first in the North Africa and Western Asia regional ranking, rising two

Israel’s Civil Administration announced its intention to expropriate large swaths of Sebastia, a major archaeological site in the West Bank, in the document obtained by The Associated Press. Peace Now, an anti-settlement watchdog group, said the site is around 1,800 dunams (450 acres)—Israel’s largest seizure of archaeologically important land. The capital of the ancient Israelite kingdom Samaria is thought to be beneath the ruins of Sebastia, and Christians and Muslims belie

Across Europe, politicians increasingly tout private pensions as a cure-all for reviving stagnant stock exchanges, fostering entrepreneurship and curbing ballooning public spending as populations age. But any governments that bet on this solution may be disappointed. A proliferation of individual piggybanks will not solve the deeper challenges that flow from having purchasing power ever-more concentrated in older hands. According to the United Nations, Europe’s population age

Officials say Dubai International Airport has seen 93.8 million passengers [in 2025], surpassing [2024’s] record. The rapid growth of passengers at the airport underscores Dubai as a key hub for East-West travel in global aviation and the need for its $35 billion project to build a massive five-runway airport at Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central. A real-estate boom and the city’s highest-ever tourism numbers have made Dubai a destination as well as a lay

Costa Rica’s President Rodrigo Chaves further restricted access to abortion, limiting it to situations when the mother’s life is in danger. The country’s previous regulations also allowed abortions if a pregnancy posed a threat to the mother’s health. No legislative approval was required for the change. In making the rule change through the Health Ministry, Chaves made good on a promise he had given religious conservatives at the Evangelical Alliance. While abortion access ha

The United States is the biggest recipient of China’s lending activities globally, according to a study which tracked Beijing’s credit activities and found it is increasingly lending to higher-income countries over developing countries. The report, published by AidData, a research lab at U.S. university William & Mary, said China’s lending and grant giving totaled $2.2 trillion across 200 countries in every region of the world from 2000 to 2023. Beijing’s portfolio size is tw

A Kenyan entrepreneur who designed an app that translates speech into sign language using AI-powered 3D avatars has won a major award for African innovation. “Think of it as Google Translate for sign language, that takes speech and text input and outputs photorealistic avatars signing,” said Elly Savatia, creator of Terp 360, a web-based app that uses 3D avatars to provide sign language translations from speech in real time, allowing users to communicate without relying on hu

As the Israel-Gaza war shows signs of winding down, another front of the conflict has intensified far beyond the region’s borders: a wave of global boycotts targeting companies linked to Israel. From fast-food chains and tech giants to consumer brands and airlines, activists have urged consumers to cut ties with firms seen as complicit in the war or operating in areas they deem as “occupied territories.” However, behind the visibility lies a more complex reality. Economists a

Egypt and Qatar have signed a landmark $29.7 billion investment agreement to build a vast real estate and tourism complex along Egypt’s Mediterranean coast—the largest Qatari investment in the country since diplomatic ties were restored in 2021. The deal was formalized between Egypt’s New Urban Communities Authority and Qatari Diar, the real estate arm of Doha’s sovereign wealth fund. The project, to be developed in the Alam Al-Roum area of Matrouh province, will span more th

Wikipedia’s “Gaza genocide” entry fails to meet the website’s standards and is an example of how neutrality needs to be improved, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said in a statement on the discussion page for the disputed entry. “I assume good faith of everyone who has worked on this ‘Gaza genocide’ article. At present, the lead and the overall presentation state—in Wikipedia’s voice—that Israel is committing genocide, although that claim is highly contested,” Wales said. “The

The Syrian Telecommunications Company signed an agreement in Tartus with Spain’s Medusa to lay Syria’s first international submarine cable through the Mediterranean Sea, a project officials say will directly connect the country to the global internet for the first time. According to the Syrian Ministry of Communications, the project will “improve the quality of internet services and increase the international capacity for data transmission,” changes that are expected to stren

Palestinian support for Hamas’s October 7th attack rose by three percent, from 50% to 53%, from May to October of 2025, a recent poll by People’s Company for Polls and Survey Research (PCPSR) revealed. The majority of respondents supported Hamas’s response to the deal, but opposed the disarmament of Hamas. Nearly three-quarters (70%) of Palestinians, including almost 80% in the West Bank and 55% in Gaza, opposed the idea of the terror group laying down arms. Meanwhile, 60% of

Journalism professor Thomas Hestermann’s team at the Macromedia University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg compiled their 2025 findings for the Berlin-based Mediendienst Integration, a research service for journalists that focuses on migration, integration and asylum. The results are alarming: “Foreign suspects are mentioned about three times more often than their share in police statistics.” A year later, about 1 million migrants arrived in Germany, around one-third of whom h

Mosquitoes have been detected in Iceland for the first time as the region warms due to climate change. The disease-carrying insect was first spotted by insect enthusiast Björn Hjaltason, who posted to Facebook group Insects in Iceland about a “strange fly” he spotted on Oct. 16. The mosquitoes are Culiseta annulata, a cold-tolerant species that live in the Palearctic region, which includes Northern Africa, Europe, and Asia north of the Himalayas, according to the National Ins

Around 20 million people in India’s capital woke up breathing the most polluted air of any major city in the world, a day after celebrations for the Diwali festival, during which revelers typically set off fireworks and firecrackers. New Delhi’s PM 2.5 concentration—a measure of pollutants in the air—was more than 40 times the World Health Organization’s annualized guideline level, according to Swiss air quality monitoring company IQAir. In 2020, authorities enacted a complet

China’s ruling Communist Party said it will focus on speeding up self-reliance in science and technology, a long-running push that has become more pronounced as the U.S. has imposed increasingly tight controls on access to semiconductors and other high-tech items. The communique contained few surprises, largely echoing the policy direction set out by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who wants to build China into a tech leader and global power with a robust military able to command

Israel, with an average life expectancy of 83.8 years, climbed to fourth in the world among OECD countries regarding longest lifespans, new data published by the Ministry of Health revealed. Israel trails after Japan (84.1), Switzerland (84.3), and Spain (84). Further, this comes despite low public investment in health, compared to many European countries. According to the report, Israel invests 7.6% of its GDP in health, while in Germany the investment stands at 12.3%, in Au

Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla prayed with Pope Leo XIV in a historic visit to forge closer relations between the Church of England and the Catholic Church. Charles, who is the titular head of the Church of England, and Camilla sat in golden thrones on the raised altar of the Sistine Chapel, in front of Michelangelo’s “Last Judgment,” while Leo and the Anglican archbishop of York presided over an ecumenical service. The event marked the first time since the Refo

The U.S. and China began charging additional port fees on ocean shipping firms that move everything from holiday toys to crude oil, making the high seas a key front in the trade war between the world’s two largest economies. China said it had started to collect the special charges on U.S.-owned, operated, built or flagged vessels but clarified that Chinese-built ships would be exempted from the levies. In details published by state-run broadcaster CCTV, China spelled out spec