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Apple acquires 4th start-up from Israel: RealFace, biometric facial recognition

Aimed at making passwords redundant, Apple makes its fourth Israeli acquisition, a Tel Aviv-based company that offers its users secure biometric logins, bought for an estimated $2 million.

News Agencies & Israel Hayom Staff

Multinational technology company Apple Inc. has bought Israeli startup RealFace Technology for an estimated $2 million, Israeli media reported Sunday.

Founded in 2014 by Adi Eckhouse Barzilai and Aviv Mader, the Tel Aviv-based startup is a leading developer of facial recognition technology. Its software offers users a smart biometric login, with the aim of making passwords redundant when accessing mobile devices or personal computers.

According to the Jewish Business News, RealFace has 10 employees, and it had raised $1 million prior to Apple’s acquisition. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Apple, Israel high-tech, Israeli start up

Israel’s first female Druse news presenter makes history on ITV Channel 1

Earning praise from the public and her peers, Ghadir Kamal Meriach became Israel’s first female Druse TV news presenter this past weekend, especially considering how the Druse community still takes a conservative attitude regarding women working outside their villages.

BY GREER FAY CASHMAN

There have been a lot of new faces on Channel 1 over the past 18 months, despite the fact that the Israel Broadcasting Authority is set to cease operations on April 30, to be replaced by the Israel Broadcasting Corporation.

While in the process of becoming history, IBA is making history. On Saturday evening, for the first time, its Channel 1 featured a female Druse presenter on the weekend news. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Druze, IBA, TV1

Escalation in the Sinai: ISIS fires 2 more rockets into Israel

IDF confirms 2 rockets fired from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula landed in the Eshkol Regional Council of southern Israel, with no injuries or damages reported.
– Latest round of launches come after ISIS reported five of its fighters were killed by an IDF drone on Saturday.

By Yoav Zitun

Two rockets were fired from the Sinai Peninsula and landed in open space in Israel on Monday morning, the IDF reported.

Part of an exploded rocket found – Photo: Israel Police Spokesperson’s Unit

The rockets landed in the Eshkol Regional Council, according to an initial statement released by the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, Drone, Eilat, Eshkol Regional Council, ISIS, Israel Sinai, Sinai rockets, Sinai Terrorism

Tunnel Boring Machine, ‘Golda’ begins digging Tel Aviv’s light rail train

The first tunnel boring machine, ‘Golda’, named after Israel’s first female Prime Minister, begins working on Tel Aviv’s light rail train route.

By Arutz Sheva Staff

The first excavation machine for the light rail route in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area has been named ‘Golda,’ after the late Prime Minister Golda Meir.

The excavation machine ‘Golda’ began work today (Sunday) to clear land for the laying of the tracks, which will serve Tel Aviv and surrounding parts of the Gush Dan region in the center of the country.

Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM) digging planed underground electric light rail train route – [illustration] YouTube

Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud) said: “Golda Meir was the first [woman] to serve as Prime Minister, and was one of the six who laid the cornerstone here. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Gush Dan, Light Rail System, Public Transportation, Tel Aviv, trains, Yisrael Katz

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Report: ISIS Claims Israel Air Force Killed 5 Terrorists in Sinai Drone Arrack

According to Arabic media report, an Israeli drone dealt with ISIS terrorist that 2 weeks ago fired 4 missiles from the Sinai Desert into Israel’s southern city of Eilat.

By YASSER OKBI & MAARIV HASHAVUA

An unmanned Israeli drone has allegedly bombed and killed five ISIS members in Egypt’s northern Sinai region, according to Arabic media reports Sunday.

According to outlets affiliated with “Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis,” the Egyptian branch of the terror group, the four died when they “fell as martyrs to the Jewish enemy.”

The Egyptian Army said it was opening an investigation into two large explosions in the area, however an army spokesman denied that it was Israel who was responsible. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, Drone, Israel Sinai, Sinai rockets, Sinai Terrorism

israelandstuffcom | February 19, 2017

Saudi Arabia echoes Israeli warnings against Iran at Security Conference

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Turkey’s foreign minister joined Avigdor Lieberman and the Saudi Foreign Minister urging the international community to punish Iran’s aggression and activities that are undermining regional stability.

By Itamar Eichner and Reuters

Israel and Saudi Arabia presented a united front on Sunday, issuing almost identical warnings of caution against Iranian aggression Sunday as the two countries urged the international community to punish Tehran for a myriad of activities undermining regional stability.Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman and the Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir closed ranks, despite their respective countries having no official diplomatic relations, as they rebuffed statements made by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif calling on Sunni Muslim Gulf states to help reduce violence in the area. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags: Avigdor Lieberman, Iran, Israel Saudi Arabia, Israel Turkey

israelandstuffcom | February 19, 2017

Customs authorities nab Palestinian smuggling ancient Roman coins out of Jordan

Returning Palestinian from the Arab village of Tulkarem was caught attempting to cross the Allenby Border Crossing from Jordan with a ‘heavy coat’ containing 53 historical coins from the Roman period.

By Ido Ben Porat

Customs authorities at the Allenby Crossing between Jordan and Israel foiled on Sunday an attempt to smuggle coins from the Roman and Mameluke periods into Israel.

The smuggler, a resident of the Palestinian Authority city of Tulkarm, was crossing back into Israel from Jordan when he was tagged for a more thorough search by the Israeli Customs Authority.

After the customs officer asked the suspect to empty his pockets, he noticed the suspect’s coat contained something heavy. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Allenby border crossing, Antiquities theft, Israeli Customs Authority, Palestinian, smuggling

israelandstuffcom | February 18, 2017

EU awards Israel’s Technion €7.7 million for extending food shelf-life project

The three year project aims at improving nanotechnology-based antimicrobial packaging for perishable foods, thus enhancing food safety and reducing food waste caused by early spoilage.

By Anav Silverman/TPS

The European Union recently awarded €7.7 million to the international NanoPack Project, led by the Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology, to develop a solution for extending food shelf life. NanoPack is funded as part of HORIZON 2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.

Dr. Ester Segal – Photo: Nitzan Zohar/Technion Spokesperson’s office

According to Dr. Ester Segal, NanoPack’s coordinator and associate professor at Haifa’s Technion, NanoPack is working to introduce nanotechnology-based antimicrobial packaging solutions to further food safety. Continue Reading »

Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Israel News | Tags: EU, NanoPack Project, Technion

Obsessed UN angered over deer photo included in Israeli Nature Exhibition

UN officials ask Israel’s delegation to remove the picture of two deers from THE NATURAL SIDE OF ISRAEL photo exhibition, because they claim it was taken in the Jordan Valley, which is outside the 1949 cease-fire line, not really ‘in Israel’.

By Gary Willig

UN officials contacted Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, to ask him to remove a picture of two deer from an Israeli exhibition at the General Assembly headquarters in New York.

The exhibition, scheduled to be shown in two weeks, was set up by the Israeli delegation to the UN and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, and is meant to show the beauty of Israel’s environment. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: anti-Israel Propaganda, Danny Danon, Jordan Valley, srael Nature and Parks Authority, UN bias

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REPORT: Australian Foreign Minister open to 1-state solution if both Israelis & Palestinians agreed

PM Malcolm Turnbull’s affirmation of Australia’s committed to the 2-state solution policy to the Israel-Palestinian conflict contradicted those made by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, who stated that if both sides agree upon a 1-state solution, Australia would recognize it.

By i24news

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Thursday that she would support a one-state solution if it were agreed upon by both the Israelis and the Palestinians, Sky News reported.

The comment comes ahead of Prime Minster Netanyahu’s visit to Australia, slated for Monday, making it the first time an Israeli prime minister has ever travelled to the country in an official capacity. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Israel Australia, Julie Bishop, Malcolm Turnbull

Palestinian officials purposely leak unpublicized meet between Abbas & CIA chief

Not to be ignored by the press while Israeli PM meets with Trump, Palestinian officials leak news of ‘secret meeting’ between PA autocrat Abbas and CIA Director Mike Pompeo.
• Abbas reportedly warns Pompeo that moving their Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem could prompt violence.

By Daniel Siryoti

CIA Director Mike Pompeo met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Tuesday, in the presence of Palestinian intelligence chief Majid Faraj, the Palestinian Maan news agency reported.

While the meeting was intended to be secret, Palestinian officials leaked news of it to media outlets in the West Bank ahead of the meeting Wednesday between U.S. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: CIA, Mahmoud Abbas, Majid Faraj, Mike Pompeo, US Embassy

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WATCH: Trump’s nominee as US envoy to Israel, heckled by Palestinians at Senate hearing

At the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Attorney David Friedman expressed regret over a past derogatory comment he once made comparing liberal American Jews to the Kapos, who assisted the Nazis during the Holocaust.
-WATCH Video

By REUTERS

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s nominee to be US ambassador to Israel faced repeated heckling at a Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday as well as tough questions on views he has expressed about liberal American Jews, Jewish settlements and a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

David Friedman, a bankruptcy lawyer who Trump has called a longtime friend and trusted adviser, has supported Israeli settlement building and advocated for the annexation of the West Bank, which Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 war. Continue Reading »

Category: The Diaspora | Tags: David Friedman, Palestinian activists

israelandstuffcom | February 16, 2017

With strong economic growth, Israel’s economy surged since mid-2016

Israel’s economy surges with a growth of 4% since the final months of 2016, even after a Bank of Israel forecast of a mere 2.8% growth.

By Reuters

Israel’s economy shot up in the final three months of 2016 and looks set to have grown annually by 4 percent, easily outstripping the central bank’s expectations.

It came on the back of robust exports, but also increased consumer spending.

Bank of Israel, in Jerusalem – Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Ester Inbar

On an annualized basis, gross domestic product soared 6.2 percent in the fourth quarter, the Central Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday, as it also revised up the annualized third-quarter 2016 growth estimate to 4.2 percent from 3.6 percent. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Bank of Israel, CBS, Central Bureau of Statistics, economy

israelandstuffcom | February 16, 2017