As the sun begins to sink over the Mediterranean, groups of Israelis gather each evening on hilltops close to the Gaza border to cheer, whoop and whistle as bombs rain down on people in a warzone hell a few miles away.
Old sofas, garden chairs, battered car seats and upturned crates provide seating for the spectators. On one hilltop, a swing has been attached to the branches of a pine tree, allowing its occupant to sway gently in the breeze. Some bring bottles of beer or soft drinks and snacks.
On Saturday, a group of men huddle around a shisha pipe. Nearly all hold up smartphones to record the explosions or to pose grinning, perhaps with thumbs up, for selfies against a backdrop of black smoke.
Israelis gather on hillsides to watch and cheer as military drops bombs on Gaza
Iran eliminates sensitive stockpile under interim nuclear deal: IAEA
Iran has moved to eliminate its most sensitive stockpile of enriched uranium gas under an interim nuclear deal reached with six world powers last year, according to a monthly update by the U.N. nuclear watchdog obtained by Reuters on Sunday.
The report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) showed that Iran had met the terms of the six-month agreement, under which it limited its atomic activities in exchange for some easing of sanctions that are crippling its economy.
GOP love for fracking in Colorado could flip Senate seat
Republicans love fracking in Colorado — and it could help them flip a critical Senate seat this fall.
The onslaught against Democratic Sen. Mark Udall (Colo.) reached a fever pitch this week when Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) had to cancel a special legislative session meant to keep two hydraulic fracturing initiatives backed by Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) off the November ballot.
Udall, who had stayed out of the fray on the two measures, was forced to take a side much to the GOP's glee.
Costa Concordia oil spill played down
The operation to remove the Costa Concordia from the island of Giglio in Italy has caused a small oil spill, officials say.
The removal operation team said "a small amount of hydrocarbons" had been spotted late on Saturday. Salvage workers started cleaning up the spill on Sunday. Maria Sargentini, head of the government's environmental supervisory committee for the project, told reporters on the island that the spill was "nothing to worry about".
Greenpeace had warned of the possibility of toxic waste spilling out of the ship as it was floated and towed away.
HIV infection rate in the US falls by a third in a decade
The rate of HIV infections diagnosed in the United States has fallen by a third over the past decade, researchers say.
After examining cases from all 50 states, the study found that the diagnosis rate fell to 16.1 per 100,000 people in 2011 from 24.1 in 2002. Experts celebrated the findings as a hopeful sign that the Aids epidemic may be slowing in the country.
However, there was a rise in new cases of HIV among gay and bisexual men aged under 24 and over 45.
Court tells Arizona to reveal source of death penalty drugs before execution
An appeals court ruled on Saturday that Arizona must divulge details about the drugs and qualifications of the medical personnel it plans to use to kill a death-row inmate, Joseph Wood, on Wednesday. If such details are not made available, the execution will be stopped.
Wood killed his estranged girlfriend, Debra Dietz, and her father, Eugene Dietz, in Tucson in 1989.
A majority of judges on the 9th US circuit court of appeals sided with Wood's attorneys’ argument, that he had a right to know who supplied the drugs the state intended to use to kill him and the qualifications of the executioners who would carry out the sentence.
15 Israeli soldiers killed in battles with Palestinians: Sources
Palestinian fighters say they have killed 15 Israeli soldiers and destroyed three military vehicles in battles against the Tel Aviv regime.
In a statement released on Saturday, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, said that six were killed after Hamas forces crossed into the southern Israeli region of Eshkol through underground tunnels.
"One of our select units, which was made up of 12 fighters, managed to infiltrate into the site in a new and stunning blow," read the statement.
Zero-Waste Supermarket Set to Open in Germany
With our World Cup wounds still raw, this probably isn't the best time to write about how great Germany is. But too bad: We're doing it, anyway.
Opening this summer, Original Unverpackt will be Germany's first packaging-free supermarket. The store will not stock any items that come in a disposable container. That means the store's shelves will be free of boxes, bottles, bags, jars, and jugs.
Most items will be sold in bulk crates or gravity-fed dispensers, and patrons will be encouraged to bring their own containers (presumably reusable ones) to carry out groceries. If you forget, or stop by to shop on an unexpected whim, the store will provide recycled paper containers as a last resort.
Israel: America’s Frankenstein Monster
With Israeli tanks rolling into the Gaza Strip and Hamas fighters firing dozens of rockets into Israel every day, the two sides in the endless Middle East standoff appear to be replaying scenes from a recurring nightmare, with real-world tragic effects. I don’t mean to suggest that the conflict is in any sense symmetrical.
As we have already seen, the worst price for this latest round of violence will be paid by the civilian population of Gaza, almost 2 million people fenced into a slice of arid seacoast with roughly the same land area as the city of Detroit. But for those of us in the West, and especially in the United States, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict plays out in public discourse, over and over again, as a drama of rhetoric and propaganda, accusation and counter-accusation.
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