Jerusalem - Israel's prime minister says thousands of Africans who have infiltrated into Israel will be sent back home. Benjamin Netanyahu declared Wednesday that Israel has halted the flow of African migrants into Israel over the past seven months. He spoke while visiting the fence Israel built on border with Egypt to keep migrants out. He said he will soon begin "repatriating the tens of...

Los Angeles - Al-Jazeera, the Pan-Arab news channel that struggled to win space on American cable television, has acquired Current TV, boosting its reach nearly ninefold to about 40 million homes. With a focus on U.S. news, it plans to rebrand the left-leaning news network that cofounder Al Gore couldn't make relevant. The former vice president confirmed the sale Wednesday, saying in a...

New York - Starbucks Corp. is rolling out a $1 reusable plastic cup at its cafes starting Thursday. The Seattle-based coffee chain already gives customers a dime discount each time they bring in reusable cups for refills. Now it's hoping the new cups — which bear its logo and resemble its white paper cups — will increase the habit. As with other reusable cups, the new cups will be...

New York - A federal judge on Wednesday rejected The New York Times' bid to force the U.S. government to disclose more information about its targeted killing of people it believes have ties to terrorism, including American citizens. U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon in Manhattan said the Obama administration did not violate the law by refusing the Times' request for the legal justifications...

Jerusalem - As in previous years, Israeli Chief Rabbis Yona Metzger and Shlomo Amar have come out with a letter in support of the controversial nonprofit, Efrat, an organization which works to prevent abortions. In their letter, the rabbis write in part, “We see great importance in the work of the Efrat association to save the lives of Jewish children; over its 30 years of activity, tens of...

Rockland County, NY - A suburban New York newspaper that ignited a furor by publishing the identities of thousands of residents who hold gun licenses has hired armed security to guard its staff after receiving an intimidating e-mail, a police report said. Among a "large amount of negative correspondence" that White Plains, New York-based Journal News has received since publishing permit...

Ramat Beit Shemesh - According to published estimates, some 20 percent of the population suffers from chronic neck pain caused by a variety of structural dysfunctions in the neck, resulting in impaired quality of life and lost work time. A German study published in The Journal of Pain showed that yoga appears to be an effective treatment for neck pain and provides added benefits of improved...

Washington - The number of FBI background checks required for Americans buying guns set a record in December, indicating that more people may purchase one after the Connecticut school massacre stirred interest in self-defense and prompted renewed talk of limits on firearms, according to FBI data. The FBI said it recorded 2.78 million background checks during the month, surpassing the mark set...

Mountain View, CA - Google's executive chairman is preparing to travel to one of the last frontiers of cyberspace: North Korea. Eric Schmidt will be traveling to North Korea on a private, humanitarian mission led by former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson that could take place as early as this month, sources told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The sources, two people familiar with the...

Tehran - A 24-year-old Iranian Jew, who was part of one of the wealthiest Jewish families in the Iranian Jewish community, was murdered last week as reported by Israeli Channel 2. The Iranian Jewish community is fuming. His name was Daniel Magrufta, the son of a well-known businessman. He was dating the the non-Jewish daughter of a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Channel 2...

New York - Stocks roared higher on Wall Street and around the world after Congress passed a last-minute budget deal to avert sweeping tax hikes and government spending cuts. The Dow Jones industrial jumped 308 points to close at 13,412 Wednesday, the first trading day of the year. That's the biggest gain the Dow has had since December 2011. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 36 points to...

Damascus - The United Nations gave a grim new count Wednesday of the human cost of Syria's civil war, saying the death toll has exceeded 60,000 in 21 months — far higher than recent estimates by anti-regime activists. The day's events illustrated the escalating violence that has made recent months the deadliest of the conflict: As rebels pressed a strategy of attacking airports and pushing...

New York - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was discharged from a New York hospital on Wednesday. Clinton has been speaking with staff and reviewing paperwork from the New York hospital where she is recovering from a blood clot in her head, the State Department said Wednesday. Doctors continue to monitor Clinton's progress and her response to blood thinners intended to dissolve the clot...

Yemen - Yemen websites reported on Wednesday that an Israeli citizen, who has been using two names: an Arab one - Abdallah Muhsan al-Himi al-Siaghi, and a Jewish one – Abraham al-Deri, was arrested in Yemen. This comes after recent news that an Israeli was arrested after crossing illegally into Egypt. Yemen news websites are reporting that Abraham al-Deri was arrested for working for the...

Washington - House Speaker John Boehner made a U-turn on Wednesday to clear the way for approval of $60 billion in Superstorm Sandy relief by mid-January after drawing withering fire from fellow Republicans, including New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, for canceling an earlier vote. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives will now vote on Friday on a $9 billion down payment for...