GOOD NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL: MICHAEL ORDMAN
Another bone marrow patient saved by Israeli stem cells. Placental eXpanded (PLX) cell treatment from Israel’s Pluristem has saved the life of a 45-year-old man who suffered from bone marrow failure after undergoing chemotherapy and a bone-marrow transplant, due to leukemia. There were no side effects and the man has now been discharged from Hadassah medical centre in Jerusalem.
More hope for inflammatory disease sufferers. A Hebrew University researcher has uncovered a method of using a synthetic, anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic family of drugs to combat a variety of illnesses, while avoiding detrimental side effects. This is a different story to the anti-allergy discovery published on 28th Aug.
FDA fast-tracks Israeli tissues infection treatment. Israeli bio-tech Atox Bio announced that the US Food and Drug Administration has granted fast track designation to its lead product AB103, currently in development for the treatment of Necrotizing Soft Tissue Infections (NSTI). Currently, there are no approved treatments for NSTI, which has a high mortality rate.
Woody Allen was right. Fans of “The Sleeper” will recall that Woody Allen’s character woke up in a future world where it had discovered that “fat is good for you after all”. Well in 2012, Hebrew University researchers have discovered that a carefully scheduled high-fat diet resets metabolism and prevents obesity – in mice!
UK and Israel launch joint regenerative medicine projects. The British and Israeli governments will jointly fund five major research projects in regenerative medicine – the process of replacing or regenerating human cells, tissues or organs to restore or establish normal function in diseased ones.
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
Israel at AgriTech India. At the four-day Agritech-Asia business summit in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India Israel’s Consul General revealed the nature of the Centres of Excellence that Israel is setting up in the Indian state. These will focus on mangos, date palms and bananas.
Record number of Israeli teen volunteers. 4300 Israeli high-school graduates have chosen to start an extra year of community volunteering prior to their three-year military service. They will work primarily with schools, youth movements and with at-risk youth.
Israel & Nepal issue joint stamps. Nepal and Israel issued joint stamps to mark the long-standing friendship between the two countries. It is the first time that Nepal has issued a stamp simultaneously with another country. The stamps are themed ‘Mount Everest and the Dead Sea” – the highest and lowest points on Earth.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Tel Aviv to get electric buses. The Dan Bus Company, which serves Tel Aviv and its suburbs, has signed a deal with Chinese company BYD to buy up to 700 full-size totally electric buses over the next five months. Each bus will have a range of 100km and a 3-6 hour recharge time. Some buses will also have solar panels.
A new Israeli designed racing car. Engineering students at Ben Gurion University have teamed up with industrial designers at Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design to build a futuristic-looking racecar for a collegiate design competition in Italy this month.
Israel protects US border. The United States has selected Elta, a subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries, for a radar system to detect illegal immigration and drug smuggling at the border with Mexico. Elta’s systems can identify individuals at 300m to 20 km and vehicles from twice that distance.
November visit for Microsoft’s CEO. Microsoft’s Chief Executive Steve Banner announced that he will attend major MS-Israel events immediately following the launch of the Windows 8 operating system. Banner famously stated in 2008 that Microsoft was almost as much an Israeli company as it was an American company.
Desalinating water in Colombia. Israel’s Nirosoft has been awarded a $100 million contract to desalinate polluted water produced as a by-product of petroleum extraction in Colombia. Previously, the wastewater was disposed of in deep wells. Now, the purified water will be used to grow trees.
The secret is the letter “b”. Interesting article explaining the success of Israel’s bSolar. The company mass-produces bi-facial solar panels at low cost. The two-sided panels attract more sunlight than standard panels. Also, important is the b for “Boron” which is the key ingredient that improves efficiency by twenty per cent.
Advanced Israeli executive jet gets FAA approval. The G280 advanced executive jet, built jointly by Israel Aerospace Industries and Gulfstream Aerospace, has been given a certificate of airworthiness by the US Federal Aviation Administration. The G280 carries ten passengers up to 6667 km at Mach 0.8.
Israelis race to stay ahead of the pack. James Hurley’s article provides excellent insight into the challenges and strengths of Israel’s technology start-ups. Its talented ex-army entrepreneurs constantly face impossible problems, with limited resources and manage to “solve them yesterday”.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Israel tops OECD in civilian R&D spending. Israel’s national expenditure for civilian Research & Development totalled NIS 38.2 billion in 2011, 1.2% more than in 2010, and accounted for 4.4% of GDP. Next came Finland, South Korea, Sweden, Japan, Denmark, and Switzerland.
The first search engine for Israeli hotels. Just launched – for those who want to compare offers for accommodation across the country. (Not a recommendation, but just sent to me by http://www.janglo.net/)
Israeli complex physics model to avoid financial crisis. (Thanks to NoCamels.com) A team, including researchers at Tel Aviv University’s School of Physics and Astronomy, has developed a new method to assess and predict the risk of interactions between foreign markets. It could help avert a future global catastrophe.
“What differentiates Israel is its creativity”. Israel is a solid investment, despite the many challenges it faces, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz told the “Innovate Invest Israel” conference in New York. But it was Australian magnate Rupert Murdoch who summed up the secret of Israel’s economy – “The Human Mind”.
Israel is a mango paradise. In the 1980s there wasn’t a single mango tree in Israel. Now Israel produces 40,000 tons of the fruit each year and is one of the main exporters to Europe, the United States and even some Persian Gulf states. It has patented six new varieties – Maya, Shelly, Omer, Tali, Noa and Agam.
CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT
Shanananana Tova. Happy New Year from the Ein Prat Fountainheads. This is their 5772 Rosh Hashana video and “Dip The Apple” has had over 2 million views since last year. I love what they do with the iPhone.
Hadas Yaron is Venice’s “Best Actress”. Israeli actress Hadas Yaron won the Coppa Volpi Award for Best Actress at the 69th Venice Film Festival. The 22-year-old took the title role in Rama Burshtein’s film – Fill the Void (Lemale et Ha’chalal) – about the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Tel Aviv.
Red Hot in Tel Aviv. California rockers Red Hot Chili Peppers rocked 50,000 fans at Ganei Yehoshua.
Nine Israeli paralympic medallists. Six of the 25 Israeli team members won medals at the 2012 London Paralympics. One gold, two silvers and six bronze medals. Noam Gershony won a gold and a bronze in tennis and Inbal Pezaro won three bronzes in the swimming.
The gold medallist who came back from the dead. When his helicopter crashed during the Second Lebanon War, doctors did not believe Noam Gershony would survive. But last week he won tennis gold at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. This “must read” story sums up the fighting spirit of Israel’s sporting heroes.
THE JEWISH STATE
46% of Israelis earn academic degrees. Israel came second in the OECD ranking of adults with academic degrees. Only Canada, with 51% and Russia (not an OECD member) with 54% ranked higher.
Caught on camera. Some unusual, potentially dangerous individuals have been sighted near Israel’s security fences.
One million supporters of Israel. Christians United For Israel (CUFI) contains some of the most loyal non-Jewish supporters of the Jewish State. The organisation even understands that many Jews have issues with it.
Have you seen “Israel Inside”. If you missed the opportunity to watch this fascinating film about Israel’s achievements, “Israel Inside” will air on Comcast on Demand starting September 15 for limited release.
The NYPD branch of Kfar Saba. For those fans of “New York’s finest”, the NY Police Department has opened shop in the Sharon city. The office is to focus on the extradition of criminals, the transmitting of intelligence information and to assist in the location of missing persons, both in the United States and in Israel.
Massive reservoir found under Western Wall. The reservoir is approximately 1/10th the size of an Olympic swimming pool, and is the first evidence that water was available next to the first Temple.
The Walls of Jerusalem are restored. A five-year project to restore the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City has been completed. The $4.4 million project (“one of the most complicated, largest and important ever conducted in the country”) cleaned and repaired the 2.5 miles (4 km) of walls and seven gates constructed by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.
The “Zielony effect”. We never forget that some great people have been put on this Earth to help build the Jewish State into today’s miracle. Stanley (Shalom) Zielony – Friend of the Technion – who has just passed away, was one of those people.
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