The electric-car company founded by Shai Agassi lost $251 million in Q4 of 2012 and nearly double that over the year as a whole.

No matter how charmed the Israeli public is by Obama's visit, Israelis remain unconvinced that making major concessions will buy any real closure to the Arab-Israeli conflict, especially at a time when a hollowed-out American military can't ride to the rescue if everything turns sour.

In a message to pro-Kurdish legislators, Abdullah Ocalan calls for thousands of his PKK fighters to withdraw from Turkish territory: 'we have reached the point where the guns must be silenced and where ideas must speak.'

Around 150 people gather around Ramallah office during Abbas-Obama meeting.

Sam Bahour, who voted for Obama, explains why he has no expectations for the president's visit and why the Palestinian strategy in the United States has it all wrong.

WATCH: Shir Ariely and Talia Schein cover Carly Rae Jepsen's hit song "Call Me Maybe," earning tickets to Obama's much-hyped speech Thursday.

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says rebels have captured Khan Arnabeh, which sits on the Israeli-Syrian disengagement line and straddles a main road leading into Israeli-held territory.

On the second day of his visit to the Middle East, President Barack Obama traveled to Ramallah to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, after a morning viewing the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Israel Museum; later in the day, the U.S. president will address students at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem.

Have Israeli leaders co-opted the country's beauty queen to raise the issue of Jonathan Pollard with President Obama because she is Ethiopian? Do they think Obama will reconsider Pollard just because another black person asks him to?

Sources say his friendship with the mayor of Bat Yam, who is accused of similar offenses, may constitute a conflict of interests.