A dry summer in Israel
The Israeli tourism industry took a big hit in the summer of 2014 due to the Israeli operation in Gaza <http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4557921,00.html>, making it the weakest summer in incoming tourism since 2007. According to figures released Tuesday by the Central Bureau of Statistics, some 182,000 people visited Israel in August, 164,000 of them tourists – a 36% drop from August 2013 in the number of tourists entering the country.
Visit the Holy Land before you die
The British newspaper, The Telegraph, listed “the Holy Land' as one of the places everyone should travel to before they die. It was included among 25 destinations at their “Ultimate travel bucket list,” alongside The Northern Lights, Galapagos Islands, Amazon, Taj Mahal, Grand Canyon, Antarctica and Great Wall of China. The name Israel, by the way, was not mentioned.
Read more “>here.
KISS Israel!
Is KISS on their way to perform in Israel? In a post published by KISS' frontman and Israel-born, Gene Simmons last week, he concluded the first part of his band's joint tour with Def Leppard, which came to an end recently in Houston, Texas. After thanking the road crew, he wrote: “But it ain't over. We're just beginning. Europe. South America. Japan. Australia. SE Asia. ISRAEL, and more. We have just begun to rock…”
Read more “> here.
New Apple Tech – a big win to an Israeli company
An Israeli company is poised to cash in on one of the new products and technologies Apple just announced. Its Apple Pay system is ideal for Rosh Pina-based On-Track Solutions (oti), a major player in the mobile wallet business. With Apple announcing that a new NFC (near-field communication) solution for mobile payments will be built into the new iPhone 6, 6+ and Apple Watch, oti said that it would bring the same capabilities to older iPhones, via add-on hardware. That was enough for investors to bid up the price of oti’s shares on the NASDAQ, and oti stock <http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=OTIV> was up some 75% at one point Wednesday before settling down by the end of the trading day.
Read more “>here.
A successful run for the Arrow 2 missile interceptor
Israel and the US Missile Defense Agency tested an improved Arrow 2 anti-ballistic missile at an Israeli test range over the Mediterranean Sea last Tuesday. Defense Ministry spokesperson Jonathan Mosery said that the Arrow 2 system, which has been operational for years and is intended for use against long-range threats, “like Iron Dome, undergoes ongoing improvements” to software and hardware and other components.
