Experts say the Islamic State is looting and selling cultural antiquities from Iraq and Syria on an industrial scale. The destruction and sale of these treasures is not only condoned but has been institutionalized within the Islamic State itself. And as Jeff Swicord reports, artifacts are beginning to show up on antiquities markets around the world. (Full Story)

Public employees in Venezuela will take long weekends under the government's latest bid to ease a nationwide power crisis. President Nicolas Maduro announced late Wednesday that he would sign a decree giving state workers Fridays off for 60 days, a move that drew scorn from critics who said the employees would just go home and turn on the lights and air conditioning. Officials have been warning for weeks that the water level behind the nation's largest dam has fallen to near... (Full Story)

One of the short-hand ways to sketch out the hawkish-dovish divide in Israeli politics and history is to contrast the approaches, worldviews and personalities of two of the country’s founding politicians: David Ben-Gurion and Moshe Sharett. (Full Story)

The terrorist attacks on the airport and metro in Brussels are casting a spotlight, once again, on Belgium's role as a European haven for jihadists. (Full Story)

You are sentenced to death. It's just a matter of time." This message, in Arabic, was sent by Islamists to Laurence Marchand-Taillade, National Secretary of the Parti Radical de Gauche (Radical Party of the Left). She now lives under the protection of the French police. (Full Story)

Well-known lawyer, Julius Grey, will speak about the «Uberization»  of society and its deleterious effect on the well-being of citizens. (Full Story)

  by Shabnam Assadollahi

 


In 2007, Aqsa Parvez (pictured above) , a 16-year-old Pakistani Muslim living in Toronto, was strangled to death by her father. Her crime was that, as a free woman in Canada, she chose not to wear a hijab. Yet, This Thursday, February 25, 2016, the city of Ottawa will be holding a public event celebrating the hijab, Islam's physical repression of women. (Full Story)

The motion picture and video exhibition industry generated operating revenue of $1.6 billion in 2014. Operating expenses were $1.4 billion, resulting in an operating profit margin of 13.0%. (Full Story)

Valentine’s Day rituals often begin in the classroom, where the holiday serves both as an enjoyable arts and crafts activity and as a pedagogical tool, teaching children about structuring love and friendship into a concrete, prescribed form. The ritualization of love continues throughout our lives, not only on Valentine’s Day, but through weddings, anniversaries, and Mother’s and Father’s Day. (Full Story)

By Ingrid Carlqvist  

Mass immigration is continuing to claim victims in Sweden. Murder, assaults and rape have become everyday occurrences in this small country, with a population just short of ten million, which last year opened its doors to almost 163,000 immigrants. The latest victim is 22-year-old Alexandra Mezher. She was stabbed to death on January 26, 2016 by a so-called unaccompanied refugee child at the asylum house where she worked. (Full Story)

By Meir Elran, Eran Yashiv, Mohammed Abo Nasra

On December 30, 2015, the Israeli government unanimously adopted a five-year plan (2016-2020) for the Arab population, estimated at approximately NIS 15 billion. If implemented with reasonable effectiveness, the program can serve as a solid foundation for a genuine improvement in the socioeconomic condition of Israel’s Arabs, allowing for the proper integration of one fifth of the nation’s population into Israel’s productivity enterprise. (Full Story)

Every day, thousands of refugees from Syria arrive by boat on the shores of the Greek island of Lesvos, hoping to find a new start in Europe.  (Full Story)