Free Republic

JERUSALEM — As the surging delta coronavirus variant forces countries to reinstate restrictions, Israel's new government is standing pat, expressing faith that the nation's high vaccination rate is shielding people from the variant's worst effects. The number of positive cases is rising, but few people are becoming seriously ill. Officials decided Sunday night that a spike in positive cases did not warrant a return to lockdown or significant restrictions other than reinstating an indoor mask mandate that had dropped just two weeks ago. “This past week, there has been a rise in the number of people testing positive in Israel,...

The world's leading chip-maker Intel Corporation on Monday announced a multi-year investment plan for India, totalling over $1 billion, including $800 million over the next five years for business expansion. The investment roadmap includes a huge chunk ($800 million) for expanding the company's business operations in India, Intel Chairman Craig Barrett told reporters in New Delhi. The investment would focus on expanding the research and development centre in Bangalore, in addition to marketing, education and community programmes. The investment roadmap also has a provision for setting up a $250 million venture capital fund in India. "The investment demonstrates the company's...

WASHINGTON - Registration forms being filled out in the offices of an Iranian aid group and in the presence of Iranian government figures offer volunteer suicide commandos the following three options, it emerged yesterday: attack American soldiers in Iraq, kill Israelis, or fulfill a 15-year-old fatwa ordering the assassination of the author of "The Satanic Verses," Salman Rushdie. The suicide commandos story, reported by the Associated Press yesterday in Tehran, puts into sharp relief the stakes of the latest round of nuclear brinkmanship between Iran's ruling mullahs and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Iran reversed its position yesterday and said...