World War Z’s Israeli wall sparks questions

Brad Pitt’s World War Z imagines a world overrun by a zombie pandemic, leading to an unlikely new global power structure. Two of the few countries that have kept the zombies at bay are Israel, which shelters Israelis and Palestinians behind a wall, and North Korea, which has removed the teeth of its citizens to prevent zombie biting

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Zombocalypse now

The defining image of World War Z, according to director Marc Forster, is not a zombie biting into someone’s flesh but the wildlife montage that plays behind the opening credits, which might best be summed up in the words of one of his characters: ”Mother Nature is a serial killer.

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Among the Palestinians, Some Sympathy for Bin Laden

If reactions to the death of Osama bin Laden run the gamut among Palestinians — and do they ever — one end of the spectrum is occupied by Issam Marbough, selling used cell phones from an overturned cardboard box on a sidewalk of downtown Ramallah. Five in the afternoon finds him oblivious to the news of the day and, even after hearing it, he is more inclined to discussion of his financial situation than talking about a man known for “injuring women and children.” He’s not broken up about it.

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Physicist held in France over ‘terror links’

A man arrested in France on suspicion of links to terrorist organizations is a physicist who was working with the agency known for being home of the Large Hadron Collider — the world’s most powerful particle accelerator. Talks between American diplomat George Mitchell and Netanyahu focused on efforts to restart the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and the two men agreed to continue their discussions in the coming days, the minister’s office said

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