NewsBank (Globes (Rishon LeZion, Israel))

The maximum price of government price controlled 95 octane gasoline at self-service pumps in Israel will rise on Saturday night at midnight May 1, 2022 by NIS 0.12 to NIS 7.06 per liter, the Ministry of National Infrastructures, Energy and Water Resources has announced. The charge for receiving full-service at pumps from gas station attendants will remain NIS 0.21.

On Monday, the Tel Aviv District Planning and Building Committee, headed by Eran Nitzan, will discuss the master plan for cycling paths in the Tel Aviv district. The plan, details of which have reached "Globes", calls for the paving of 758 kilometers of cycling paths, and is one of several plans being promoted as part of a general national plan. The test, however, will be in the execution of the...

A very wet winter but completely dry April has left the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) just 21.5 centimeters short of its maximum level of 208.80 meters below sea level, according to the Kinneret Authority. The lake began the month 35.5 centimeters from its maximum level but despite the absence of any rain has continued rising due to the heavy rains in late March. But in all likelihood the level will...

With the Ministry of Interior's Immigration and Population Authority struggling to keep up with demand for renewing passports, as Israelis flock overseas in the post-Covid era, the order allowing dual citizens to travel abroad on foreign passports has been extended until January 1, 2023.

Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) chairperson Arik Steinberg announced his resignation yesterday. In his resignation letter to the TASE board of directors Steinberg wrote that he was resigning "because of a lack of willingness in principle on the part of a substantial shareholder in the stock exchange to consider awarding stock-based compensation as part of the employment agreement for the position...

The sharp depreciation of the shekel against the dollar continues. In afternoon inter-bank trading, the shekel exchange rate is up 1.06% against the dollar at NIS 3.3269/$ and up 0.16% against the euro at NIS 3.5197/€.

The latest figures from Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics show that the number of job vacancies for software developers has declined for the first time since the outbreak of the Covid pandemic two years ago. For the past two years, the number of vacancies had been steeply and consistently rising, as Covid created new opportunities for the tech sector.

Following two positive results in tests for salmonella in two chocolate products sold to retail stores, Strauss has announced that it is expanding its recall to all products of the factory affected: Elite chocolate, Elite cakes, Elite waffles, Energy snack bars, Energy chocolate covered rice crackers, chewing gum and soft sweets, with all expiry dates.

Israel is accelerating efforts to sign free trade agreements with East Asian economic powers and Israel's vehicle market is likely to benefit from this over the coming months.

Israel cybersecurity company Check Point Software Technologies (Nasdaq: CHKP) has opened 2022 with a positive first quarter in which it beat the analysts' forecasts and was at the higher end of its own expectations.

Israeli Kubernetes open source security company ARMO has announced the completion of a $30 million Series A financing round, led by Tiger Global with Hyperwise Ventures and participation from existing investors, Pitango First and Peled Ventures.

Investors on the Tel Aviv stock market have been seized by something of an anxiety attack in relation to food company Strauss Group (TASE: STRS) over the past couple of days. The share price hasn't collapsed, but it has taken a sharp downturn in response to the salmonella scare at the company's Elite chocolate factory. Some analysts see this reaction as more than a stomach ache.

Bank Leumi (TASE:LUMI) announced today that it is selling Its Tel Aviv head office buildings including Beit Mani, for NIS 623 million to Shmuel Slavin's Sella Capital Real Estate (TASE: SLARL). After the sale Bank Leumi will report a pre-tax profit of NIS 524 million.

Israeli cell therapy company Gamida Cell Ltd. (Nasdaq: GMDA) today announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has clearance its investigational new drug (IND) application and removed the clinical hold for a cryopreserved formulation of GDA-201.

Investigators from the Israel Competition Authority yesterday raided the offices of food importers G. Willi-Food Investments Ltd. (TASE:WLFD) and seized computers and other materials. The raid follows the questioning of last month of Willi-Food chairman and controlling shareholder Zvi Williger.

Newly appointed Israel Electric Corp. chairman Dov Baharav has announced his resignation even before he assumed his new position. He said, "Less than three weeks ago, at the meeting in which you chose me to serve as company chairman, I promised to bring to the job management capabilities that would contribute to the company's performance and to continue implementing the reform and to add...

Insurance group Migdal (TASE: MGDL) is prominent among Israeli financial institutions for investment in data centers. The group has carried out several financing deals in this area, totaling NIS 3 billion, which represents 0.9% of the investments managed in members' portfolios and in the group's nostro account.

Production glitches that oblige a company to call on consumers to return products, certainly food products, carry the potential of turning into a media crisis that can easily slide into a difficult business crisis if the event is not managed correctly. In the case of Strauss, one of the biggest companies in Israel, whose products are to be found in just about every home in the country, many of...

Israeli remote recording platform Riverside.fm has announced the completion of a $35 million Series B financing round led by Oren Zeev, with participation from Lachy Groom and Alexis Ohanian's Seven Seven Six. This brings to $47 million the amount raised by the company to date.

In the past few days a small, little-known Israeli cyberattack company called Nemesis shut down. The company, which tried to compete with NSO Group with spyware that takes control of smartphones, was never exposed by the media, and did not even have a company website but its closure marks for many in the Israeli cyberattack sector, a new era in relations between the Ministry of Defense and the...

Israeli thermal energy storage company Brenmiller Energy (TASE: BNRG) has filed a prospectus with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a Nasdaq Initial Public Offering. The move comes nearly five years after the company held its IPO on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE).

The sharp falls in New York at the end of last week marked a symbolic low point for the Israeli tech companies that listed on Wall Street last year, either through an IPO or SPAC merger. Israeli ecommerce platform Global-e Online Ltd. (Nasdaq: GLBE) fell 3.81%, taking its market cap down to $3.893 billion, close to its valuation at its IPO last May. The share price is down a further 2% in...

The unemployment rate in Israel rose to 3.7% in the second half of March, from 3.2% in the first half of the month, the Central Bureau of Statistics reports. There were 160,000 jobseekers in the second half of March, which was similar to the number of job vacancies, so that the Israeli economy is close to full employment.

After taking over income-producing real estate companies Tnuport and Ispro, Kidan Dahari and Yaron Adiv now seek to gain control of Gazit Globe (TASE: GZT), currently controlled by Chaim Katzman. "Globes" has learned that the pair has made an offer to buy full ownership of Norstar (TASE: NSTR), which holds 51.6% of Gazit Globe.

The shekel weakened sharply against the US dollar at the start of trading on the foreign exchange market today. The shekel-dollar exchange rate is currently up 1.76% in comparison with the representative rate set last Thursday, at 3.2736.

This morning, food company Strauss Group (TASE: STRS) announced a recall of chocolate products and the halting of production at its Elite factory in Nof Hagalil because of salmonella in samplings. Among the products recalled are Elite "Para" chocolate bars, "Pesek Zman" chocolate covered wafers, "Reva Lesheva", and "Energy" chocolate covered rice crackers.

About a decade ago, the "Lean Start-up" wave swept up thousands of entrepreneurs who swore to follow its principles zealously, so as to fulfill their dreams of leading a successful high-tech company. Concepts such as minimum viable customer feedback (MVCF), build-measure-learn loops have become standard, and have largely become the foundation upon which the local startup scene has based itself to

As soon as the sporadic rocket fire of the past few days from the Gaza Strip began, Israel conveyed a warning to Hamas that it would respond in various ways. The first rockets brought Israel Air Force attacks on Hamas and Islamic Jihad installations, and at the same time messages were conveyed via Egypt and UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland that continued...

Israel's vehicle industry is preparing for a wave of price increases after the Passover holiday next week. Usually prices of new cars rise at the start of the year but car importers claim that prices rises in the second quarter this year stem directly from price hikes by most car manufacturers as a result of the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

According to a report published by the American Federation of Scientists entitled "Status of World Nuclear Forces," Israel is the world's eighth largest nuclear power.